PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - how is Panam (florida) for A320 type rating
Old 31st Aug 2014, 01:31
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Alwayswannafly
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
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Hi OP I was there a week ago and this is my take of the place, others may disagree.

Pan Am customer service is bad...They won't let you know who you are partnering up with so you guys can figure out accomodations together, which could potentially save you at least a thousand dollars. First day of ground school was delayed because paperwork issues even though they repeatedly asked for our paperwork in the past weeks, nobody seem to be communicating within each department, one day is accounting, one day is sales, another day would be training dept asking for your files AGAIN. So we wasted 4 hours of the first day doing paperwork that should have been sorted out beforehand.

The groundschool was a total waste of money and maybe that's why you have the option of homeschool, the instructor just clicked through an endless presentation of systems, no practical knowledge of say Overhead Panel (in preparation for the oral) or the MCDU (in prep for the sim), it's basically a whole week of crunching thru a very boring CBT that you could have done at home.

The schedule will be very tight, you will be expected to know your SOPs (flows) by the end of the 2nd sim and be ready for your oral (you are expected to fail one because there's literally not enough time to study both) I suggest requesting a day off BEFORE your oral.

The level D sim (sim 9) is nicer, a lot more room, newer equipment and a whole lot better visual BUT I'd suggest sticking with the level C sim (sim 8) simply because it costs less and still offers all that you need for a TR, I wasn't there for the looks I was there for the training. And that's what Pan Am is strong at, my instructor was very good, he was very strict and demanding but understanding at the same time, the end result was a very smooth checkride. PM me if you want the name of the inst.

If you are indian, then you'd need to use a level D sim, your DGCA requires it (There were a couple of indians and they used leve D sim exclusively which costs 1000 extra).

Overall I would give Pan Am 3.5/5 for bad customer service, very dissapointing groundschool but very good flight instructors, who are dedicated and understanding.
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