Indoc

After completing CTP-ATP, I had a day off and then a travel day from DFW to the company training center for INDOC. Once again it was an early flight so there was some time to scout the area for food options and pick up a few things for meals. In addition, Uber Eats and similar were available which I used a few times for dinners during the week.

INDOC is a week of classroom training of all things part 121, company procedures, uniform fitting, etc. There is a lot of information condensed into a week of classroom presentations and at the end there is a 100 question knowledge validation (KV) that you must get at least 80% correct in order to move on to the next step of training. If you do have a bad day with the KV and get less than 80% you'll get a second try after some remediation. You'll want to avoid a second try because it reduces your "second try count" for future validations. There will be other validations that are much more difficult that you may need a retry on and if you use the retries up early in training it may keep you from continuing later on in the training process. 

Throughout the training, we had quizzes to complete after each topic and some computer based training (on the iPad) to complete before the end of the week. Here is a partial list of the topics covered:

Day 1 - Start of INDOC - "culture day". The presentation was all about the company's culture and a get to know everyone in the class day.

Day 2 - Company history, culture, travel benefits. badge photos, issued company iPads, measured for uniforms. Started in on lectures - managing documents, op specs, flight operations manual (FOM), etc.

Day 3 - Derived minimums, definition of marginal weather, PIC/SIC minimums, 17347 exception, duty/flight times, types of reserve,

Day 4 - Flight releases, airworthiness, different types of approaches, aircraft performance

Day 5 - Supplemental operation, emergencies

Day 6,7 - Off and time to study for the KV

Day 8 - Knowledge validation, 100 questions

After the KV, we were told that depending on the aircraft type that you were assigned to, you'd continue on with ground school or go home and wait for a ground school class to get assigned. In my case, it was the later and they scheduled a flight home for me the next day. It was kind of nice to get a break and that break turned out to be about two and half months off with training pay. So not a bad deal as after a couple of weeks in a hotel, I was ready to get home, plus it gave me some time to prepare a little better for a long hotel stint which would occur once ground school started. 

CTP-ATP

In order to take the ATP multi-engine knowledge test, one has to complete the CTP-ATP course. This course is a six day class that consists of classroom sessions covering ATP knowledge topics (30 hours) and 10 hours of simulator training to expose you to crew resource management concepts and some maneuvers that you'll see in the 121 environment. In most cases, the airline that hired you will pay for the CTP-ATP if you don't yet have an ATP multi-engine rating.

In my case, I was sent to CTP-ATP at ATP Jets in Dallas, TX. The airline paid for my travel, hotel, and the class (which can run $3800-$6000). I traveled to DFW, and had an early flight so got to the hotel in the afternoon and had some time to explore the area around the hotel for food options.

Classroom Day 1 - Up at 5:45 for breakfast at 6:00, shuttle to ATP Jets at 7:00. First 1/2 hour was sign in and show identification documents. Got a short tour and was provided with WiFi and access to account profile, schedule, etc. Class started at 7:45. No lunch was provided but a company called  Foodja was available to order lunch each day.  My class had about 80 students and probably 50 were from my airline and the remainder were folks taking the class on their own, a few from NetJets, and miscellaneous other airlines. I got back to the hotel around 5:00 pm and made the short walk to Walmart to get food for the week. The hotel had a small fridge and microwave. Spent some time studying for the ATP written test using Shepard Air test prep (the airline paid for the prep too).

Classroom Day 2 - Today and remaining class room days start at 8:00 am. Another full day of presentations. Got back to the hotel and did more studying for the written.

Classroom Day 3 - Today and remaining class room days start at 8:00 am. Another full day of presentations. Got back to the hotel and did more studying for the written.

Classroom Day 4 - Professionalism and CRM, 35 question quiz from topics discussed during the four days

Simulator Day 1 (Day 5) - CRJ AATD,  intro to FMS programming, CRM, callouts (takeoff, approach, descent, landings, takeoffs, ILS, RNAV, SID, STAR). 

Simulator Day 2 (Day 6) - Full motion A320, B777, Terrain escape maneuver, TCAS maneuver (RA). B777 crosswind landings, approach to stall, unusual attitude, normal landings, auto land 300 RVR, incorrect airspeed indication (failed 2 of 3 pitot tubes). KSEA, KMEM, KRNO

Day 7 - Off

Day 8 - ATM test (ATP multiengine written).  Test took about 2 hours (went back through each question a second time), passed with 95%.

Day 9 - Off

Day 10 - Travel DFW to airline's training center for INDOC class.