What is so bad about Pan Am

[daddysquared]

Now, before all the Non Pan Am folks get too excited, I would like some honest opinions from those who have attented the Pan Am Academy only. Every route to the airlines has its negatives. I know all of the positives about Pan Am, but what, (besides cost if you consider it a negative) are the negatives. I am going to attend either Pan Am or DCA (and I am putting this same topic on the table on the Comair board) and would like the student/instructor perspective on the negatives only. Thanks, Gents. Keep it real.

The negatives.... well, it is really high paced and the pressure can seem relentless. There is a lot of stuff to learn in a small amount of time. Maybe a little higher expectations than other places. You do not have too much personal freedom. The thinking at the school is that it is a total immersion program. You should be 100 percent committed to spending a year getting your flight training done. Many people drop out. some to private matters, money matters and some can't take the pressure and start lashing out at the school.

other than that, it is hot in the summer.

The good news is, if you do your private and instrument here, the rest is not very hard.

[TheFlyingTurkey]

I would have to agree with shortfinal. The pressure is very high. I started my training September 1st last year, did Private, Instrument, & got half way through private-multi, when we had Christmas break. Boy did I need that week and a half off, I was approaching burn out. The day after your checkride they have you scheduled to start on the next rating. They don't fool around at Pan Am, which is why I finished private through MEI in 10 months.

The Turk.

[Lima_Charlie]

I concur... VERY Fast paced. VERY high expectations. Very little control of your schedule. Very little personal time. If you aren't in a ground school, you are "flying" 2x per day. Pan Am doesn't allow you take any passengers up that aren't students at Pan Am due to "insurance" reasons. I was quite dissappointed with the quality of the ground school instruction for my instrument rating. (Private GS was GREAT!!) 90% of Inst. GS consisted of video's that I could have purchased myself for a fraction of what I paid for the ground school. I am hoping it is just a weaklink in the groundschool department.

[Mavmb]

Daddysquared if you want info about Pan Am just check all the Pan Am posts from as far back as they go, a year or more.

[daddysquared]

Thanks, Mav. I have. What I found most was arguing between those who are currently attending and those who aren't. There are a myriad of reasons why someone would leave, i.e., costs too much, don't like the structure, costs too much, don't like the other CFI's, costs too much, couldn't get up to standards, costs too much, etc. etc. And if one leaves prematurely, that individual will most likely complain about something. This is what I can gather by the reasearch that I have done on these boards. Now, it is another thing entirely to hear the negative side from those who are still there. Their criticism is usually more accurate because they are as upset and don't have a chip on their shoulder. I think I read on a thread somewhere that you attended there at one time, but left, don't remember the reason though. If this is true, why exactly did you leave?

[Tired]

Many of the people that I know that used to post in this forum have moved on from Pan Am, hence they no longer read this forum. That would explain the lack of responses to your question.

[Mavmb]

What is so bad about Pan Am. Everything lol, where should I begin! If you want the details Private message me and I'll tell you all about it. I posted all that on here about two years ago, and about every week somebody comes along with your question and I feel like I'm repeating myself daily.

I take a lot of heat in the forums because I'm of the opinion that NO flight academy or 4 year college program is worth the money. Of course, to everyone that sounds like I'm making a blanket, generic statement and I get insulted for it. However, the academies and the 4 year flight schools costs tens of thousands of dollars extra. 10s of thousands! Now that is a lot of money; not just a couple hundred bucks and not just a thousand dollars. That means 10 20 30 40 and 50 thousand more than an FBO, and for various reasons, the quality of flight training is much worse than what you can find at the smaller schools.

The bottom line here though is you don't pay money to become a good pilot. To become a good pilot you have to be self motivated and study and research things on your own. Develop your own pilot library of books in your home. That will make you a better pilot than an 80,000 dollar loan to one of the academies ever could.

[mtsu_av8er]

[ QUOTE ]
. . . Of course, to everyone that sounds like I'm making a blanket, generic statement and I get insulted for it. However, the academies and the 4 year flight schools costs tens of thousands of dollars extra.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not a completely accurate statement. If you go to ERAU, then you would pay 10s of thousands of dollars extra. However, a 4-year degree in aviation costs the exact same as a 4-year degree in English. If you factor in the flight training, it will cost pretty much the same as it would if you were in a non-unversity flight training program.

Crunch the numbers at some of the schools with aviation programs, and come back and report what you're found....I'd be interested to see how your argument stands up.