� Q:I am wrapping up my aviation degree. I had hoped to spend maybe a year or so building up time as a CFI and then make my way into the regional airlines. Well, the FAA threw that first hurdle with the ATP requirement for all first officers. Then, you write about that ATP Certification Training Program that will further complicate my life, requiring more money, academics, and simulator time before I can even take the ATP knowledge test! At what cost? Where? I am frustrated!—Kevin from Columbus
� A: Please don’t shoot the messenger! The ATP CTP requirement becomes the rule on July 31 (see “Career Pilot: ATP Me,” November 2013 Flight Training). At this moment, the answers about cost and where are just not there to any great extent. In recent discussions with CFIs and pilots at AOPA Air Safety Institute Flight Instructor Refresher Clinics, virtually nobody has even heard of this requirement, which is addressed in AC 61-138 and Section 61.156 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. Anyone on track to flying for the airlines or even Part 135 jet operators should research the rule. I am speculating that some aviation universities with a Part 141 flight school will ramp up, offer the academics on campus, and partner with a simulator training center or airline for the sim/FTD training. Some regional airlines might offer their own in-house ATP CTP to some of their best recruits. Other than that, it is imagined that commercial sim centers such as FlightSafety, Simcom, and CAE will offer something.
The most curious language in the rule is this: “After July 31, 2014, a person who applies for the knowledge test for an airline transport pilot certificate with an airplane category multiengine class rating must present a graduation certificate (from an ATP CTP).” What if a pilot wants to earn the ATP with an airplane single-engine rating only? The FAA will be offering two separate knowledge tests: one for single-engine and one for multiengine. Of course, the ATP-CTP will not be required for taking the ATP ASE or ATP Rotorcraft-Helicopter knowledge test. Once passed, the ATP knowledge test will be good for two years.
