Do I have to be connected to the Internet to study?   No... that would be too limiting for our subscribers.  A lot of people study while traveling with laptops and often don't have internet access.  However, you only receive automatic database updates you have an Internet connection.

Do I have to call you to sign up?   Yes.  Since we're here 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, there doesn't seem to be a reason at the moment to have automated internet sales. Internet commerce programs come with service fees, so by doing all the sales over the phone, we can keep the price down.  If calling us is not an option because of where you are in the world, email us at SheppardAir@aol.com and we can sign you up via a different method.

Why isn't your technical support a 1-800 phone number?   We're just trying to keep the purchase cost down.  1-800 numbers cost money as you know.  Some subscribers end up not needing much technical support, while others use it a lot.  So if we added an additional amount to the purchase price to cover the 1-800 number, some people would be paying more for a number they'll hardly use, while others won't have paid as much as they'll need. So we'll pay for our own tech support experts to be available to support you 24 hours a day, and then those of you who end up using it the most pay the most in phone charges.  In addition, people often call us with their cell phone, and most cell phones don't have long distance charges attached to them any more.

Are FAA question changes done once a year?  - or - It's December... should I wait until January (next year) to buy your test prep... that way I am studying the newest question bank from the FAA?   No, there is no special "timing" consideration to taking your FAA test.  It's a common mis-conception that the FAA puts out a new bank of questions once each year.  Perhaps this comes from the "test prep book" publishers publishing their books once a year and stamping a new year on the cover.  But FAA changes can come at any time and are very fluid.  The FAA usually puts out two, and sometimes three, question bank changes per quarter.  These can come anytime during the quarter.  Because of the frequent FAA database changes, we're Seriously concerned about the currency of the materials you study with our program... after all, we've guaranteed you no surprise questions and that you'll get 90% on the ATP or FEX tests.  So our 24-hour a day support team works very hard at staying ahead of question bank changes.  Also, and perhaps just as important, we're making you study at a computer with a software program (not a book) so that when we put out a Question Bank update, we have a good chance that our subscribers will get the changes thru our automated system the next time they begin studying.  (Each time you start our program, it checks for updates if an Internet connection is available, retrieves changes if necessary, and then briefs you on the changes so you don't have to search to find them.)  Study when you want... take the test when you want... we'll be here 24-7 watching your back and keeping you current.  

Do you provide a prep for the FAA ATP 135 knowledge test as well as the ATP 121 test?    No, we don't.  Both the ATP 121 and ATP 135 exams satisfy the prerequisite test requirement for the ATP flight check... therefore you can take either test.  If we made an ATP 135 prep and made you the same no-surprises guarantee (no questions on the test that weren't in the prep), you'd have to learn about 175 more questions than you have to learn for the ATP 121 test.  No one wants to work harder just to accomplish the exact same prerequisite.  So most pilots take the ATP 121 exam instead of the 135 test.  According to the FAA's statistics, available on their web site, 5729 people took the ATP 121 exam in 2006 as compared to only 968 who took the ATP 135 exam.  

How do your subscribers do on their tests?    Ok, there's a couple of ways to answer that question.  First, let's see how we did in FY2011, with our guarantee of a minimum score of 90%.  In FY2011, 2.1% of our subscribers called to get their money back after their test because they got less than 90%.  Now how about average scores?  In 2006, the national average score on the ATP 121 test (amongst all test takers, no matter what prep system they used), according to the FAA's web site, was 86.24%.  Our subscribers averaged 96.8% on the ATP 121 (average of the scores reported to us).  Similarly, in 2006, the national average score on the Flight Engineer (FEX) exam was 94.97%.  Our subscribers averaged 99.25% on the FEX exam (average of the scores reported to us).    

I'd never heard of Sheppard Air until just recently?   Yes, although we've been providing these test preps for over 12 years, pilots don't usually hear about us until they need us.  In other words, most of us come up thru Private Pilot, Instrument Pilot, and Commercial pilot using one of the many other prep makers (see the next question).  But it's only after you get your flying/teaching career started, or are ready to apply to Regional or Major air carriers, that you need one of the professional career preps we produce (ATP 121, Flight Engineer, Flight or Ground Instructor, Military Competency, or Dispatcher).  Most of our subscribers find out about us thru word-of-mouth, an online forum, or a web search.

Why not sign up for a prep course at an ATP program, like at ALL ATPS, and take the test there?   Lots of reasons:
1)  Guarantees... no other program guarantees no surprises on the test or a mimum score of 90% or your money back.
2)  Cost... ALL ATPS gets $295 to use their software prep and test together.  With us, it's $75 for the software and then $140 or $150 to pay for the test at the testing center of your choice... worst case total of $225... you save at least $70.
3)  With us, you can study as long as you want (not to exceed a year) so that you don't have to take the test until you're confident you'll get the score you want.  So why sign up for a program that will not allow you to study for more than 1 day?  How tired will you be after staring at a computer screen for 8-10 straight hours at ALL ATPS?  Would you be rested and ready to fly the next day if you had to?
4)  Wouldn't it be better to learn the questions for the ATP 121 written at your own pace, go take the test, and then spend the rest of the days before your ATP flying program memorizing the aircraft and other knowledge you need for the flying and checkride (approach plates, Oral Eval guide, checklists, etc.).  So why get to the flying location and have to jumble all that aircraft info with ATP 121 test questions, and make yourself tired in the process?

There's an ATP question file on the FAA web site at http://www.faa.gov/education_
research/testing/airmen/test_questions/media/atp.pdf. 
Aren't those the questions that will be on my ATP 121 test?    That would be great, but the answer is no.  If you look carefully at those 398 questions in that file, they come from 5 different FAA's tests: ATP 121, ATP 135, ATP helicopter, Dispatcher, and Flight Navigator.  The questions provided in that file are very similar to actual test questions for those tests, but there are only a few from each test.  The FAA calls these parallel questions, and they serve as example questions for a person who is trying to prepare for one of the tests independently (by themselves).  The FAA's active test bank questions have not been available to the public in any way  since the court order expired in 2001.

How can your approximately 800 questions possibly prepare me for the ATP 121 test, and guarantee me no surprise quesitons on the test, when other companies say I need to study 1400+ questions to be prepared?    Until 2001, what the FAA called the "ATP Question Bank" was publically available on their web site.  (Since then only parallel questions are available on their web site... see the previous FAQ.)  At that time, the FAA said that the "ATP Question Bank" provided questions for the ATP121, ATP135, Flight Dispatcher, Flight Navigator, and ATP Helicopter tests.  But the FAA did not identify for anyone which questions were for which tests.  So if you yourself had wanted to write a test prep book or test prep software, you could have gone thru the 1735 questions at that time in that big "ATP Question Bank", looked at each question, guessed at which of the 5 tests it might appear on, and marked it accordingly.  However, if you did this, you would have also found that many of the questions seemed to be applicable to more than 1 of the 5 tests, so you would have marked those questions for multiple tests.  By doing so you would have over-selected questions... ie. you would have selected questions that did not go with a certain test, and would have not selected questions that did go with a certain test.

When I installed the program, I got the Open File Security Warning - Publisher Could Not Be Verified message (Windows XP) or the Unidentified Publisher message (Windows Vista or 7).  What does that mean?   It means we refuse to pay a registration company, like Verisign, $499.00 per year to have a digital signature in our software.  That digital signature might be nice to have if you were writing software at a brand new company and were concerned that people wouldn't trust your program, and therefore wanted this type of third-party good-faith endorsement.  But we've been doing this since June 1999, and most of our new subscribers heard about us from a friend who has used our program.  So we're going to assume you wouldn't have paid your hard earned money to buy our software if you didn't trust us, and that'll save us the $499.00 a year.  If you do have concerns about your privacy and computer security while using our program, then please click here to see our Privacy Policy .

This next question is more propaganda than anything else, but we had to include it...
I looked at the trial version, and you're software's not too flashy/fancy?    You're right.  We haven't imported high-resolution aircraft photos or flying animations into our program.  Fancy graphics just take up space, increase download time, make a program sluggish on older systems, and make the software less stable and reliable.  Instead, our focus during software development sessions is on your results... accurate questions and answers... fast automated database and software updates across the internet from our central computers... software functions that enhance studying and help you avoid memory errors... refining our study methods so that you spend as little time as possible preparing for your test.  Unlike other study systems, not a single feature of our software will EVER positively reinforce a wrong answer.  So you have a choice... you can have fast and effective study with half the questions using a software program that takes up very little space or resources on your computer, or you can have fancy screens and graphics and study twice as many questions for twice as long a time with another company.  You'll be glad you studied with us.