I was a Westwind student who is now quite happy to be at Pan Am. I would like to let prospective students know why I made the decision to switch to Pan Am.
Westwind has a real problem that has been created by the Right Seat Direct program. The people who complete the program are guaranteed jobs even if they are really not qualified to be instructors. I asked my instructor at Westwind what was involved in getting a CFI position after he completed the Right Seat Direct program and he said all he did was spend an hour with Jim Pittman going over company policies. He said he never even had to go up with a check airman to see if he was proficient before he was hired.
I had a few bad experiences that would not have been acceptable even at a local FBO. One time in the run up area the engine would quit when the throttle was brought back to idle. My instructor told me that since we had not flown lately (due to Westwind maintenance, I will get to that later) we should continue. I did not feel safe flying but felt pressured to do so, and we continued the flight. I made a bad decision I know, and I will never repeat that mistake. I should have stood up to him and said no this is not safe. My point is the CFI should have known better and not pressured his student to fly in a potentially unsafe airplane.
Westwind pays only lip service to standards. You can fly with 5 different people and be told to do the same maneuver in 5 completely different ways. The way I was taught by my instructor was completely contradicted by the check airman. I must say however that the check airman in question here was an excellent pilot and instructor and I have tremendous respect for his ability. Had every instructor been of his quality the school would be great, but thanks to the complete lack of standards there are few like him.
The school ends up costing more then Pan Am. You rarely get to fly, especially if you need a Cessna RG or Seminole. They have two few of these aircraft and half of them are usually down for service. There are many 6 or 7 day gaps in my logbook, days we could not fly because a plane was not available or down for maintenance. By the time you get back in a plane you have lost proficiency and you end up spending half of your time getting back to where you were on the previous flight.
As crazy as it may sound the biggest problem is not the lack of standards or incompetent instruction, it is maintenance. Half of the planes have burned out landing lights. They will not repair or fix many problems until the plane goes in for a 100-hour or an oil change. This means that a plane with a burned out light may go 40 plus hours before being fixed. At Pan Am this problem is fixed within an hour and the plane is back in service. This may not seem like such a problem until you realise that Tom Funk, a designated examiner, told our Commercial ground school class he would not fly a plane with a burned out landing light unless it had a resetable circuit breaker which the RG does not have. Under this logic you would never get off the ground at Westwind. They will not even fix a stall warning horn until the plane goes in for an oil change or 100 hour. You can throw FAR 91.205 out the window if you plan on flying at Westwind for very long.
If you want to be an airline pilot go to Pan Am, the cost ends up being about the same but Pan Am will get you there faster and make you a better pilot. Westwind is missing so many things Pan Am has. Pan Am has an in house recruiter who actively calls airlines to place Pan Am CFI’s.
The whole point is to be in the best possible position to get to an airline. Which school will get you there faster and leave you better prepared to deal with the interview process, initial airline training, and the flying you will do over the course of your career. If you want to know which school is better ask each how many of their instructors have moved on to airline jobs over the last year. Ask each school how many of the people that they send to airline jobs end up washing out. If you ask those questions you will make the same decision I did and go to Pan Am International Flight Academy.
GO PAN AM!!!!!!!!!!
Westwind has a real problem that has been created by the Right Seat Direct program. The people who complete the program are guaranteed jobs even if they are really not qualified to be instructors. I asked my instructor at Westwind what was involved in getting a CFI position after he completed the Right Seat Direct program and he said all he did was spend an hour with Jim Pittman going over company policies. He said he never even had to go up with a check airman to see if he was proficient before he was hired.
I had a few bad experiences that would not have been acceptable even at a local FBO. One time in the run up area the engine would quit when the throttle was brought back to idle. My instructor told me that since we had not flown lately (due to Westwind maintenance, I will get to that later) we should continue. I did not feel safe flying but felt pressured to do so, and we continued the flight. I made a bad decision I know, and I will never repeat that mistake. I should have stood up to him and said no this is not safe. My point is the CFI should have known better and not pressured his student to fly in a potentially unsafe airplane.
Westwind pays only lip service to standards. You can fly with 5 different people and be told to do the same maneuver in 5 completely different ways. The way I was taught by my instructor was completely contradicted by the check airman. I must say however that the check airman in question here was an excellent pilot and instructor and I have tremendous respect for his ability. Had every instructor been of his quality the school would be great, but thanks to the complete lack of standards there are few like him.
The school ends up costing more then Pan Am. You rarely get to fly, especially if you need a Cessna RG or Seminole. They have two few of these aircraft and half of them are usually down for service. There are many 6 or 7 day gaps in my logbook, days we could not fly because a plane was not available or down for maintenance. By the time you get back in a plane you have lost proficiency and you end up spending half of your time getting back to where you were on the previous flight.
As crazy as it may sound the biggest problem is not the lack of standards or incompetent instruction, it is maintenance. Half of the planes have burned out landing lights. They will not repair or fix many problems until the plane goes in for a 100-hour or an oil change. This means that a plane with a burned out light may go 40 plus hours before being fixed. At Pan Am this problem is fixed within an hour and the plane is back in service. This may not seem like such a problem until you realise that Tom Funk, a designated examiner, told our Commercial ground school class he would not fly a plane with a burned out landing light unless it had a resetable circuit breaker which the RG does not have. Under this logic you would never get off the ground at Westwind. They will not even fix a stall warning horn until the plane goes in for an oil change or 100 hour. You can throw FAR 91.205 out the window if you plan on flying at Westwind for very long.
If you want to be an airline pilot go to Pan Am, the cost ends up being about the same but Pan Am will get you there faster and make you a better pilot. Westwind is missing so many things Pan Am has. Pan Am has an in house recruiter who actively calls airlines to place Pan Am CFI’s.
The whole point is to be in the best possible position to get to an airline. Which school will get you there faster and leave you better prepared to deal with the interview process, initial airline training, and the flying you will do over the course of your career. If you want to know which school is better ask each how many of their instructors have moved on to airline jobs over the last year. Ask each school how many of the people that they send to airline jobs end up washing out. If you ask those questions you will make the same decision I did and go to Pan Am International Flight Academy.
GO PAN AM!!!!!!!!!!
