There are many things I love about Pan Am and there are many great people. And for the most part I have not run into the majority of the problems that I have heard about people running into. I will say this though. The program is really hard to finish. For one, the training costs. But that aside it is really hard to finish because of inflexibility. you cannot get a job to cover the extra living expenses because you have absolutely no control over your schedule. And lets face it, a lot of the delays are far beyond your control like waiting a week for a stagecheck and check ride or waiting 8 weeks for a cfi instructor. add it all together and you have 2-3 months added to your training. thats like 3-6k in living.
I think that it is time for pan am to change the "we're an airline" philosophy and adopt the "we're a school" philosophy because there is a major difference between working for an airline and going to school: you get paid while working for an airline.
also the dynamics of a learning environment are different that of a job. my training in college wasn't like my job after college. one was a optimal learning environment and the other was an optimal business and professional environment.
the simple fact is, they can't deliver 14months or less to an airline. in fact in my observation they can't deliver 10 months to complete the training. The thing is, when we all quite our jobs and moved 1/2 way accross the country, we took them at their word and planned for 10 months. oops.
I think Pan Am is going to and already has developed a negative reputation because of policies that make it hard to complete the program. and trust me, it isn't because the school weeds people out, that the training is so tough that only few can complete it. we're getting the same ratings as every other school and we are failing checkrides all over the place, it is because they don't create and environment where people tend to be successful.
it is amazing what a difference a pre flight briefing makes, it's like a pitcher in the bullpen before pitching from the mound. but the way it is scheduled there is not time. the blocks should be 2.5 hours. 1.25 flight and .5 brief. the flight instructors shouldn't get paid for pre post flight because they rarely if ever are even there, usually shooting the ---- in dispatch while you preflight.
where is the sincere committment to our success? in the short run Pan Am may profit but unless they sincerely drive to deliver on their promises, no one is going to enroll. I think management should blame themselves, their program or their instructors for student failures. It is the system that produces an 80% fail rate.