Pros
Brand new planes- we had 2016 model planes, then 2017, then 2018. The most recent planes are straight from cessna and haven't even had time to get ATP painted. Flying a 500,000 dollar plane with 000.0 hours is an amazing experience Coworkers- The staff at ATP is amazing. There's 20 instructors at my location and I can safely say I love them all. Sometimes there's an unpleasant instructor but they get weeded out pretty fast. The Program- This isn't a mom and pop store where they play things by ear. Every part of the program is agonized over and tested. Every rule has a backstory, every lesson has implications, and every detail has meaning. ATP has a reputation to uphold. If they don't they wont have business; so it's in ATP's best interest to have student's success at heart.
Cons
-The pay is terrible. I had 0/30 days off last month. Working my butt off, I'll make 27,000. -You're disposable. So you're a pilot with 200 hours? Reality check, you're a dime a dozen. Slip up and you can be on the chopping block. Sometimes it feels like ATP fires people for no reason. I know there's always two sides to every story, but us instructors always feel like termination is always an option. It's really bad for moral. -Sometimes student's suck, but you're stuck with them. At a different flight school, I can work with whom I chose. At my location, I'm assigned a student, and even if he's the worst pilot ever, he's my headache. Training department will work with you, (they're a bunch of great people) but you're still the conduit for which ATP talks to the student. I've had some pretty bad students and they really make your life miserable. If they suck, ATP looks at them and then they look at who's teaching them.