Transpac Aviation NOT CFI friendly anymore

[The_Duke182]

As one of the major flight schools in the Phoenix area, I feel it is important to give a heads up to any folks thinking about joining this place as flight instructors. I will be giving you the most up to date and how things have changed and not for the better.

Around August 2016 a new company took over Transpac with the idea of making the academy more profitable as well as wanting or what seemed at the time the intent to improve QOL for CFI's across the board.

Fast forward a few months later and these are the changes that have taken place.

-Compensation of $28.000 / year for 5 days of work at 10 hours (no less) each day. This translates to about $10.77 per hour. (Did not increase, this per my phone call to HR two weeks ago inquiring about pay for new CFI's)

-Compensation for working an extra day each week of around $100/day has been taken away.

-$100 bonus per student who passes their checkride on the first try has also been taken away.

-$100+ per month each CFI was getting back for declining health coverage has also been taken away.

-Salary 10k below national average for CFI remains the same with no plans whatsoever to get an increase.

-Actual flight hours per month during PPL work around 40 or 50.

-Actual flight hours of IR (many months after you start) around 80 since a 6th day is no longer paid therefore you wont get around 100+/month

Management rolled out an incentive bonus of $200 before taxes or around $150 after taxes per month based on companywide effort to achieve some unattainable numbers, which everyone laughed at since the amount of $500+ after taxes that each CFI was previously able to make per months PLUS extra flight hours have been reduced to $160ishh and NO extra flight time.

Before you sign a 12 month contract in which by the way the "free" instrument add on for CFI's is not that great because if you fail your checkride twice you are out AND still owe whatever money they put in towards your "free" CFI-I. With that said, simply ask them what the pass rate has been for CFI's instrument add on's in recent months and I hope they give you an honest answer, it has not been good at all.

 

[Mavmb]

That sucks. I guess even in a job friendly pilot market, CFIs still get treated like crap.

 

[JordanD]

The 28,000 a year is NOT a new thing, it's been that way for a long time. And at one point until the last 2 years or so it was better pay than first year regional FOs. Not saying it's cool but it's not a new thing.

 

[The_Duke182]

The 28,000 a year is NOT a new thing, it's been that way for a long time. And at one point until the last 2 years or so it was better pay than first year regional FOs. Not saying it's cool but it's not a new thing.

Thanks for validating my point man. If you read my post, the ownership was supposed to be fair and bring this up to match other flight schools, they actually did the opposite taking away the incentives I listed above.

The field is changing, you cant pay a CFI flying with students who speak very little english in OLD Archers $10 an hour with 10 hour work days.

 

[Deleted member 27505]

Thanks for validating my point man. If you read my post, the ownership was supposed to be fair and bring this up to match other flight schools, they actually did the opposite taking away the incentives I listed above.

The field is changing, you cant pay a CFI flying with students who speak very little english in OLD Archers $10 an hour with 10 hour work days.

Well, see, that's the problem, then isn't it? Apparently, you can...

 

[The_Duke182]

Well, see, that's the problem, then isn't it? Apparently, you can...

Trust me they are already seeing the reprecautions of this. unfortunately I can't disclouse any more info in that regard, but they wont be able to for very much longer. Specially if word gets out which is the purpose of this informative post in the first place.

 

[kryan11]

As one of the major flight schools in the Phoenix area, I feel it is important to give a heads up to any folks thinking about joining this place as flight instructors. I will be giving you the most up to date and how things have changed and not for the better.

Around August 2016 a new company took over Transpac with the idea of making the academy more profitable as well as wanting or what seemed at the time the intent to improve QOL for CFI's across the board.

Their first goal is to make the company sustainable. Management was very clear at the past rate things had been going, the company would not survive. It was vital that the owners make changes or else the company would go under, and 100s of employees and CFIs would be out of a job, which wouldn't be good for anyone.

Fast forward a few months later and these are the changes that have taken place.

-Compensation of $28.000 / year for 5 days of work at 10 hours (no less) each day. This translates to about $10.77 per hour. (Did not increase, this per my phone call to HR two weeks ago inquiring about pay for new CFI's)

This hasn't changed. Been this way for a while. Still on par. Skywest for instance, $37 an hour x 72 hours a month = $31,968. You're in the wrong business if you're in it for the pay. Pay with sign on bonus at Transpac is $33,000 a year.

-Compensation for working an extra day each week of around $100/day has been taken away.

It's the needs of the company, if you need the pay, become a stage check pilot and make more salary + time and a half on 6th days. Or don't work 6th days at all, no one's forcing anyone to.

-$100+ per month each CFI was getting back for declining health coverage has also been taken away.

They came out with a new health insurance plan that is much improved. Their cheapest plan is $120 cheaper than what's available on the open market. Good move so people can actually have decent health insurance.

-Salary 10k below national average for CFI remains the same with no plans whatsoever to get an increase.

Let's take a close competitor that pays $20 an hour for instructors, who doesn't provide training for a CFI-I, MEI, give a $5000 sign on bonus, relocation assistance, paid indoc, a $5000 retention bonus after 18 months, health insurance benefits, 401k, 10 paid holidays, 10 days of vacation, 5 sick days etc.

$20 an hour x 120 billable hours a month (could be more could be less, that's the disadvantage of not being salaried) = $2400. x 12 months = $28,800. Right where Transpac is without the bonus', incentives, or benefits.

-Actual flight hours per month during PPL work around 40 or 50.

Yep, but you make it up in instrument.

-Actual flight hours of IR (many months after you start) around 80 since a 6th day is no longer paid therefore you wont get around 100+/month.

I saw guys getting 120 hours a month in IR without 6th days, 160 a month with.

Management rolled out an incentive bonus of $200 before taxes or around $150 after taxes per month based on companywide effort to achieve some unattainable numbers, which everyone laughed at since the amount of $500+ after taxes that each CFI was previously able to make per months PLUS extra flight hours have been reduced to $160ishh and NO extra flight time.

They're easily attainable goals. Requires 96 completed missions per day. If I remember right, they usually schedule around 140.

Before you sign a 12 month contract in which by the way the "free" instrument add on for CFI's is not that great because if you fail your checkride twice you are out AND still owe whatever money they put in towards your "free" CFI-I. With that said, simply ask them what the pass rate has been for CFI's instrument add on's in recent months and I hope they give you an honest answer, it has not been good at all.

Not sure how true this is, but don't fail your checkride twice. I'm not sure how someone who made it as an instructor could fail their checkride two times. I do know that a lot of people don't take it seriously, think it's going to be an easy checkride and don't study or prepare, but that's on them.

This guy seems to have a grudge, maybe he should look at other options if he doesn't feel that Transpac is a good fit for him. No one is forcing him to stay there. It's not for everyone, but those who want to buckle down, work hard, care for their students, and have a quicker route to the airlines that wouldn't be attainable otherwise, this is a great option.

 

[The_Duke182]

Their first goal is to make the company sustainable. Management was very clear at the past rate things had been going, the company would not survive. It was vital that the owners make changes or else the company would go under, and 100s of employees and CFIs would be out of a job, which wouldn't be good for anyone.

With gas prices the way they are and how the field is changing the last place they should be cutting back on is on their own CFI's, perhaps they need to look at the contract they have in place with these Chinese airlines and make some adjustments.



-Compensation of $28.000 / year for 5 days of work at 10 hours (no less) each day. This translates to about $10.77 per hour. (Did not increase, this per my phone call to HR two weeks ago inquiring about pay for new CFI's)

This hasn't changed. Been this way for a while. Still on par. Skywest for instance, $37 an hour x 72 hours a month = $31,968. You're in the wrong business if you're in it for the pay. Pay with sign on bonus at Transpac is $33,000 a year.

Take a look at these two links below for Envoy and Endevor Air for 1st year pay and tell me that $60.000 for first year is no longer possible. And that's besides the point, these are NOT flight schools.

http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/airlines/regional/endeavor_air
http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/airlines/regional/envoy_air

Funny thing is I am in the field because I like to fly and YES it happens that airlines are now paying a good money, seems like you're stuck in what it used to be my friend.

-Compensation for working an extra day each week of around $100/day has been taken away.

It's the needs of the company, if you need the pay, become a stage check pilot and make more salary + time and a half on 6th days. Or don't work 6th days at all, no one's forcing anyone to.

Perhaps my goal is not to be stuck in a classroom testing students on ground knowledge and waste more time doing paperwork and observations etc.. to become a stage check pilot.

The 6th day was NOT being paid at time and half, so realistically if 5 CFI's worked an extra day on a given week, this would be the equivalent to 1 additional CFI working a regular work week. Yet, they are paying $1000 bonus to refer a CFI, this makes sense huh.


They came out with a new health insurance plan that is much improved. Their cheapest plan is $120 cheaper than what's available on the open market. Good move so people can actually have decent health insurance.

I have asked SEVERAL CFI's and all have declined health coverage because there is not room on your paycheck for it. Either you pay rent or get health coverage.



Let's take a close competitor that pays $20 an hour for instructors, who doesn't provide training for a CFI-I, MEI, give a $5000 sign on bonus, relocation assistance, or a $5000 retention bonus after 18 months.

This is how I know your information is not correct. The closet competitor is across the parking lot, Westwind which pays $25 per hour NOT $20 here is a link to my facts.

http://www.westwindaviation.com/about-us/employment/

-Actual flight hours per month during PPL work around 40 or 50.

Yep, but you make it up in instrument.

-Actual flight hours of IR (many months after you start) around 80 since a 6th day is no longer paid therefore you wont get around 100+/month.

I saw guys getting 120 hours a month in IR without 6th days, 160 a month with.

160 hours a month, you would have to move into the airplane to log 160 hours a month


They're easily attainable goals. Requires 96 completed missions per day. If I remember right, they usually schedule around 140.

again, the amount of $500+ after taxes that each CFI was previously able to make per months PLUS extra flight hours have been reduced to $160ishh and NO extra flight time

Before you sign a 12 month contract in which by the way the "free" instrument add on for CFI's is not that great because if you fail your checkride twice you are out AND still owe whatever money they put in towards your "free" CFI-I. With that said, simply ask them what the pass rate has been for CFI's instrument add on's in recent months and I hope they give you an honest answer, it has not been good at all.

Not sure how true this is, but don't fail your checkride twice. I'm not sure how someone who made it as an instructor could fail their checkride two times. I do know that a lot of people don't take it seriously, think it's going to be an easy checkride and don't study or prepare, but that's on them.

I know this because I have seen CFI's leave because they have failed them twice. Please ask the standardization department what the success rate is for CFI instrument add on checkrides, they will look at you funny. A CFI trainer who left recently told me not a single CFI had passed in months.

This guy seems to have a grudge, maybe he should look at other options if he doesn't feel that Transpac is a good fit for him. No one is forcing him to stay there. It's not for everyone, but those who want to buckle down, work hard, care for their students, and have a quicker route to the airlines that wouldn't be attainable otherwise, this is a great option.

Uh yeah there is a 12 month contract that is FORCING me actually until the end of September. Thanks again for letting me debunk every single point of yours.

 

[BajtheJino]

You're in the wrong business if you're in it for the pay.

NEWSFLASH: People only go to work for the pay. It's how they pay their bills.
Question: Should CFI's provide their own lube? Its sounds like they're grabbing a fair amount of ankle under new ownership. And if I'm not mistaken, Asian airlines are paying top dollar for their cadets to come to the US so they can enter their indentured servitude upon returning home. At least that's the way it was 10+ years ago when I did a stint in China instructing cadets. They signed 20 year contract. And the airlines paid the full cost upfront for their cadets. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[kryan11]

Envoy and Piedmont start at $38 and $39 an hour, they just sweeten the pot with their bonuses and they're on the very top end. If you look across the board, the average seems to be $37-$40 an hour.

I actually wasn't referring to that flight school, but if you would like to use them as reference we can, $25 x 120 hours a month x 12 = $36k. Still in the range, but I've never heard of them offering the benefits that Transpac has.

Finally, no one is forcing you to stay there. That contract says you can terminate the agreement at will at any point. You should do this, because obviously you're not happy with the situation you find yourself in.

 

[The_Duke182]

Finally, no one is forcing you to stay there. That contract says you can terminate the agreement at will at any point. You should do this, because obviously you're not happy with the situation you find yourself in.

So you are telling me that they paid lawers thousands of dollars to come up with a contract that is not valid?

Everyone reading this, this is the type of management that represents the compamy, just so you have an idea of what it is really like.

 

[kryan11]

So you are telling me that they paid lawers thousands of dollars to come up with a contract that is not valid?

Everyone reading this, this is the type of management that represents the compamy, just so you have an idea of what it is really like.

Negative, the contract is there to make sure that if you receive the sign on bonus or CFI-I training and don't finish the full year there, that you pay it back at a pro rated basis.

 

[Flyinthrew]

@The_Duke182 : Why don't you organize? You don't need to make a union, but it sounds like there's a big enough CFI group to make an association of some type. You have the passion, which is the thing that "The Man" is counting on their hideous white short-sleeve button down wearing, don't-shave-yet CFI crowd NOT having. We have reached or are very close to the inflection point where if you can get them all to walk, there won't be anybody to replace you...and the school can't have the Chinese contracts going unfulfilled.


I'll just be over here part time making $35/hour flight and $31/hour ground...The clock starts when I close the door behind me...which is 15 minutes after I got into the building. The clock stops when I sign your logbook. You have learned what I wanted you to learn. You're (probably) not Chinese.

 

[Deleted member 27505]

NEWSFLASH: People only go to work for the pay. It's how they pay their bills.
Question: Should CFI's provide their own lube? Its sounds like they're grabbing a fair amount of ankle under new ownership. And if I'm not mistaken, Asian airlines are paying top dollar for their cadets to come to the US so they can enter their indentured servitude upon returning home. At least that's the way it was 10+ years ago when I did a stint in China instructing cadets. They signed 20 year contract. And the airlines paid the full cost upfront for their cadets. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

All I know for sure is that at least at my old school, flight instructor pay increased ~120% from its 1971 rate of $10/hr to its 2016 rate of $22/hr. (I was digging through old boxes in one of our hangars one day and found the old pay stubs.) Meanwhile the price of airplanes has gone from $8-$12 /hr back then to $110-$160 /hr now. For those of you who prefer math to political platitudes, that's a ~1275% increase at the low end and a ~1233% increase at the high end respectively; ... So, while instructor pay has a bit more than doubled, the cost of airplanes has increased almost 14 times. Meanwhile the CA CPI has increased ~6.5x while the national CPI has increased ~6x.
Bottom line. In 1971, if you worked 40hr/wk, 4wks/month you'd have $1600 gross. If you worked the same now, you'd have $3520 gross. And that's IF you worked a full 40hrs every week. A guy could live in the South Bay on $1600/mth in 1971 and still have a bit left over for beer. Back then the South Bay was much more like the rest of the nation in terms of costs. It's hard now to live anywhere on $3500/month... except under very unusual circumstances, you can't live in the South Bay today on that money.
Lets say you paid $1000/month for your "basket of goods" (House and expenses, car and expenses, clothes, fees, food, etc) in 1971. According to the CA CPI, that would cost you $6,496 today ($6020 per the national CPI). One caveat is that housing is NOT included in your basket of goods, but that doesn't make it better; That makes it worse almost everywhere and far, far worse in most desirable areas.
Real wages have stagnated for the past 30+ years. This is one reason why there are a lot of people who are sad and present that sadness to the world through anger. But the cause for wage stagnation is not foreigners and people of races other than one's own. In aviation at least, one part of the reason for wage stagnation is people volunteering for serfdom because they are mesmerized by shiny tubes. They abrogate responsibility to themselves and others. If you don't say no to BS, no one is going to say it for you. This applies not just to decision making in the airplane, but also to decision making in the office.

 

[BajtheJino]

I believe a small addition should be made to why the cost of GA aircraft has increased by more than 1200%. Lawyers.
Every person thats ever killed themselves in an airplane and had family sue the manufacturer of said airplane, DG, AI, GPS, radio, seat belt or whatever has done a tremendous amount of damage to this country*.
(*Unless there really was a serious flaw that caused said crash/death...but I doubt there are many).

 

[drunkenbeagle]

I believe a small addition should be made to why the cost of GA aircraft has increased by more than 1200%. Lawyers.
Every person thats ever killed themselves in an airplane and had family sue the manufacturer of said airplane, DG, AI, GPS, radio, seat belt or whatever has done a tremendous amount of damage to this country*.

Eh, product liability certainly does add some cost, but it is a pretty small part of it. The avionics in use now are far more complex than they were 40 years ago, that costs money. Software engineers aren't cheap. EE's aren't cheap. And the market isn't all that big, so the R&D cost is spread over relatively few units. New airplanes now tend to have lots of avionics, and bigger engines (expensive), and are therefore bigger to support all of that weight (and thus more expensive).

There could be simple C-152-like trainers built now. Why aren't there? No market for them. If there were a demand, they would be produced.

 

[Itchy]

Well how bad would they have it if you all felt the same way and organized?

Food for thought... I dunno how many CFIs they employ, but they can't be incredibly easy to find. I think you're in the drivers seat and just don't know it.

 

[A150K]

Why the low pass rate for CFII add on's? That was one of the easiest rides I ever took..

 

[A150K]

The 28,000 a year is NOT a new thing, it's been that way for a long time. And at one point until the last 2 years or so it was better pay than first year regional FOs. Not saying it's cool but it's not a new thing.

$28K was about what I made at another international student flight school working much longer hours and 6 to 7 days per week a few years back...

 

[tcco94]

Some truth being thrown around in this thread. I know @kryan11 personally and he's a good guy. Don't beat him up too much he's got a super positive attitude. Something TransPac lacks.

In instrument you don't need the 6th day. July/Aug/Sept/Oct/Nov I was in instrument exclusively getting 110-120/month. My highest was 135. I sometimes had 80 hours at the halfway point in the month. I actually made my lessons faster to get home early and the students home early cause I didn't really need the time.

TransPac pay is not great...true. Just filed my taxes with a year at TransPac and a couple CFI referrals I made $30k last year (got my sign on bonus 2015 so that was without the bonus). Obviously airlines make more and so do the schools around the valley.

That being said I do want to say that the company may work you a lot but with seniority (and not making stupid instructor decisions) they will do what they can for your hours. When I finished my students they gave me more instrument students, not putting me back through private.

Another great thing I liked was they did care about me. I had an appendix rupture one night after work. Rushed to the hospital blah blah blah. Took about 2 1/2 weeks off until I was healthy enough to come back. I didn't legally qualify for medical leave but they had a special agreement with HR to still pay me by making my sick days negative and not having me pay back for those days. Rare exception but my manager made sure I was alright and gave me all the time in the world to recover. I didn't have to stress about my bills or getting paid. Not saying other companies don't do that, but they do care. After that I felt much more than just another CFI that they needed on the line. During that almost all my 12 students sat without flying either making my managers job tough.

I try to be honest that it's not a great place for $$$ for the amount of work you do but you will get hours and that's a big thing to people. Get through PPL and go to instrument and the hours are there. Maintenance is good with the 50 hour checks and progressive inspection, great airline partnerships....I didn't really go to TransPac for the QOL. I took a hit on my QOL, got in and out in 12 months and picked a regional that makes my QOL better. Would do it again that exact way if I had to go back in time.