Mavmb
Well-Known Member
There seems to be a lot of interest in Pan Am lately, so I'll give my honest opinion of the school.
I was at the Pan Am Phoenix academy for six months. Basically, the more students they can attract, the more money they can make, and that is all the school really cares about. Now they have more students than they know what to do with. I started the instrument course and after about one month, myself, along with all of the other instrument students, were switched to a night time schedule which basically meant from four o'clock PM until 2:00 AM.
Flying twice a day also became a thing of the past and never really happened. Besides, when you are scheduled for sims at 10:00 and another at midnight, you can bet that the quality of training is not what it used to be.
In fact, the quality of training was terrible. The school is always changing its policies on what checklists and emergency debriefings students are required to memorize and recite before each flight. After you've memorized one set of a checklists, your instructor comes back from one of his/her instructor meetings and tells you have a new checklist to memorize. Students are left in the dark and never know what is going on. What's more, each instructor has about ten students each and is booked with one student directly after another. Often, there is not much time for debriefing after a lesson-- despite the 40 to 60 dollar debriefing fee you pay for each mission. And where does that money go? I guarantee that is what every student at the school would like to know.
Also, if you go to the school plan to spend about a month of your time doing absolutely nothing but waiting for stagechecks. When you are finally ready for a stagecheck, your instructor signs you off and then you have to wait four or five more days while your skills go dry. Then if you flunk the stagecheck plan about another two weeks for retraining missions and getting the stagecheck scheduled again. The stagecheck pilots have the biggest egos I have ever seen; and it is an everyday thing for a student to flunk a stagecheck two and three times. This is unheard of at other schools. One of my friends went to a university flight school and if someone ever failed two stagechecks, they were removed from the program. Stagechecks are not meant to be failed that often. It does, however, help the school make money, and is also the reason that people at FBOs finish much faster than students at Pan Am.
I'd say the only good thing about the school is the airplanes themselves and being immersed into an environment with a lot of other students. I did learn a lot from studying and working with other students and was able to pass both my instrument and cfii writtens with no problems. Also, Pan Am does have brand new Piper Archers and Seminoles with lavish GPS systems and air-conditioning. Several students at the school who decided to leave said they have learned more elsewhere, because GPS can become like a crutch since it does everything for you. I don't know if I agree with that or not, but I do think you can definitely get better instruction, a faster schedule, and save tens of thousands of dollars if you go to an FBO instead.
The only last warning I will throw out to anyone attending Pan Am or any other big flight school is to read the fine print. I know at Pan Am they make it a point not to show you any of the paperwork until the day you are ready to sign. And if you sign up for all of the programs, you have just signed yourself to a 2,000 charge if you decide to leave and go elsewhere. So, if you go just sign up for one program at a time. That way you can leave if something doesn't work out for you. I want to say good luck to everyone. This website has helped me a lot in pursuing a career in aviation, and if anyone else has any questions, I will try to answer them the best that I can.
I was at the Pan Am Phoenix academy for six months. Basically, the more students they can attract, the more money they can make, and that is all the school really cares about. Now they have more students than they know what to do with. I started the instrument course and after about one month, myself, along with all of the other instrument students, were switched to a night time schedule which basically meant from four o'clock PM until 2:00 AM.
Flying twice a day also became a thing of the past and never really happened. Besides, when you are scheduled for sims at 10:00 and another at midnight, you can bet that the quality of training is not what it used to be.
In fact, the quality of training was terrible. The school is always changing its policies on what checklists and emergency debriefings students are required to memorize and recite before each flight. After you've memorized one set of a checklists, your instructor comes back from one of his/her instructor meetings and tells you have a new checklist to memorize. Students are left in the dark and never know what is going on. What's more, each instructor has about ten students each and is booked with one student directly after another. Often, there is not much time for debriefing after a lesson-- despite the 40 to 60 dollar debriefing fee you pay for each mission. And where does that money go? I guarantee that is what every student at the school would like to know.
Also, if you go to the school plan to spend about a month of your time doing absolutely nothing but waiting for stagechecks. When you are finally ready for a stagecheck, your instructor signs you off and then you have to wait four or five more days while your skills go dry. Then if you flunk the stagecheck plan about another two weeks for retraining missions and getting the stagecheck scheduled again. The stagecheck pilots have the biggest egos I have ever seen; and it is an everyday thing for a student to flunk a stagecheck two and three times. This is unheard of at other schools. One of my friends went to a university flight school and if someone ever failed two stagechecks, they were removed from the program. Stagechecks are not meant to be failed that often. It does, however, help the school make money, and is also the reason that people at FBOs finish much faster than students at Pan Am.
I'd say the only good thing about the school is the airplanes themselves and being immersed into an environment with a lot of other students. I did learn a lot from studying and working with other students and was able to pass both my instrument and cfii writtens with no problems. Also, Pan Am does have brand new Piper Archers and Seminoles with lavish GPS systems and air-conditioning. Several students at the school who decided to leave said they have learned more elsewhere, because GPS can become like a crutch since it does everything for you. I don't know if I agree with that or not, but I do think you can definitely get better instruction, a faster schedule, and save tens of thousands of dollars if you go to an FBO instead.
The only last warning I will throw out to anyone attending Pan Am or any other big flight school is to read the fine print. I know at Pan Am they make it a point not to show you any of the paperwork until the day you are ready to sign. And if you sign up for all of the programs, you have just signed yourself to a 2,000 charge if you decide to leave and go elsewhere. So, if you go just sign up for one program at a time. That way you can leave if something doesn't work out for you. I want to say good luck to everyone. This website has helped me a lot in pursuing a career in aviation, and if anyone else has any questions, I will try to answer them the best that I can.
