Questions for current students?

SierraPilot

New Member
1. Do they offer living disbursements?

2. What is the maximum living disbursment you can receive?

3. Did you loan get paid directly to the school or did the school hand the money over to you to pay as you go?

4. How often do your flights get cancelled for weather?

5. How often do your flights get cancelled for maintence?

6. How often to do get cancelled for lack of a plane being available? (scheduling issues, etc)

7. What is the current wait-list for CFI's at your school?

8. If known what do CFI's get paid at your school?

9. What is the instructor to student ratio?

10. How far in advance are you scheduled to fly?

11. Do you have any say in scheduling?

12. Are you happy with the school your attended?

13. Did you tour the school prior to attending, and if so, did they allow you to talk to other students or ecourage you to do so?

14. Is there anything you would change? (Be honest.. I know we all feel some pride for the schools we attend but there is always something what we would like to see changed or improved).

Enough questions for now.. your cooperation is appreciated..

Ryan
 
Hey Ryan, I just started about a week ago, and can answer a few of your questions, but I am sure some more experienced people can fill in the blanks a little better than I can...

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1. Do they offer living disbursements? <font color="red"> If you go w/ a Key Loan to pay for training, I think you can get up to $20k dispursed for living expenses, if your loan is over and above cost of the school. Best person to talk to would be Bonnie Shankle. She is the Financial Aid guru for Pan Am. (Very nice and very helpful!)</font>

2. What is the maximum living disbursment you can receive? <font color="red"> The $20k is divided up in 4 dispursements of $5k apeice every 60 days or so. Again, ask Bonnie.</font>

3. Did you loan get paid directly to the school or did the school hand the money over to you to pay as you go? <font color="red">Key bank dispurses your loan money in chunks throughout your training, not all at once, and not directly to you. Another Bonnie question... </font>

4. How often do your flights get cancelled for weather? <font color="red"> I think it depends on what campus you are considering. I am in Phoenix. I personally haven't seen any flights get cancelled for weather, at least not w/ the group of new students I am with. The weather can be hot, like right now, but I think for the most part, Phoenix weather is pretty good. I have no idea what Florida is like...</font>

5. How often do your flights get cancelled for maintence? <font color="red"> Maintence might happen a little more often, but dispatch does everything they can to get you up in the air. I think that since the fleet is pretty new, they are much easier to keep on the line. This might be a good one for some of the more senior PanAm people to answer.</font>

6. How often to do get cancelled for lack of a plane being available? (scheduling issues, etc) <font color="red"> I have not had a flight cancel due to scheduling. I have seen some flight go up late, because the previous instructor/student overshot their training time.</font>

7. What is the current wait-list for CFI's at your school?

8. If known what do CFI's get paid at your school?

9. What is the instructor to student ratio? <font color="red"> The last rumor I heard was that we had about a 3 to 1 ratio at Phoenix. Probably another good one for a senior PanAm person. My class has 19 people in it.</font>

10. How far in advance are you scheduled to fly? <font color="red"> The next day's schedule is posted at 5pm. </font>

11. Do you have any say in scheduling? <font color="red"> I haven't really been concerned w/ when my flights are scheduled, so I am not sure how much say I could have. I think your instructor has more "say" than the student.</font>

12. Are you happy with the school your attended? <font color="red"> So far I am quite pleased. I think my instructor is great, and my interaction w/ other staff has been quite pleasant. I have only had one cancellation, but it was not the school's fault. The equipment is fairly new and well maintained.</font>

13. Did you tour the school prior to attending, and if so, did they allow you to talk to other students or ecourage you to do so? <font color="red">I did tour, and they definitely encouraged me to talk w/ a few other students. I never got a chance to, though.</font>

14. Is there anything you would change? (Be honest.. I know we all feel some pride for the schools we attend but there is always something what we would like to see changed or improved). <font color="red"> Hmmm.... My only issue, and a small one at that is that we didn't receive one VERY important book when we first enrolled, but again, I don't think it was the schools fault. It is a problem w/ the manufacturer of the book that has caused the delay.</font>

Enough questions for now.. your cooperation is appreciated..

Ryan

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<font color="red"> </font>Hope that helped. Good luck in your search for the right school for you!
 
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not all at once, and not directly to you. Another Bonnie question...

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I'd be leary of a school that holds onto your money for you, I think there might be some post in another schools forum where that created a few problems
 
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not all at once, and not directly to you. Another Bonnie question...

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I'd be leary of a school that holds onto your money for you, I think there might be some post in another schools forum where that created a few problems

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Actually the school does not hold onto ALL of your money. The bank dispurses your loan money to the school in chunks. (The bank will send you a dispursement schedule.) Just like they would if you had a student loan for college. PanAm then puts the money into an account that is charged when you complete a lesson. You can, and they recommend that you monitor the activity on that account to make sure that there aren't any problems.

The process is very similar to what happens when you take a out a student loan for college.

I think this person is referring to the ATA fiasco in Florida. There are more posts in that section if you don't know what happened there.
 
I'd be leary.

At Flight Safety, they would disburse your loan to you and it was your responsibility to keep your account full. Same loan, different school.

I don't think I'd want my school making interest on money I'm paying interest on.

Anyway....

Has anyone from PanAm been hired by Airnet recently? I heard they have hired a few and was wondering if any PanAm guys were in on the action.
 
I believe two instructors went to Airnet, about 2-3 months ago. Another went to interview, was offered a job but declined. I guess he didn't like the working "enviornment" there, and felt he could make more money instructing. Two other instructors have training dates at Trans States airlines for later this month, although one of those was furloughed and re-called.

The Turk.
 
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