Beijing Pan Am Academy

[eternity]

Hello All,

Just trying to seek some information.

I have applied for an instructor job with Pan Am, and they will be contacting me next week for an interview.

I am confident on my knowledge of the academy and the bases and operations, and of course the reasons why I want to work there,....

But, if anyone has some information as to what I may expect to be asked, I would really appreciate the feedback. As mentioned before, I am confident of my ability, but following the five P's (Prior Prep Prevents Poor Performance), I would like to be ready for the interview.

Therefore, if anyone who has been through the process has any information as to what I may expect, I would be indebted.

Cheers.

[broottmeenoo]

Hi mate
Nothing to sweat about...
First interview will be with Jessica and has nothing to do with technical interview:
the questions I have been through:
Tell me about your background (better to have your resume not far)?
Have you been to China? For how long?
(from there they may ask you what country you ever visited/lived, the more , the better)
How will you manage the Chinese food for 14 months?
(from there since I am French, we had a funny conversation about our respective cuisine )
You won't fly much for the first 4-6months and probably no MEL time, is this a problem?
etc, etc...nothing technical, they just want to be sure you can manage to be away from mom for some time>
Next interview I had was with Patrick Mc Murphy, general manager.
More questions about my background as an instructor but again no tech questions whatsoever.
He caled me again 2 days later and At the end of this 2nd conversation offered me the job.
So relax, just keep your resume on hand and a few notes besides, we never know...

[eternity]

Thanks broottmeenoo,

Good to get some feedback as to what I'm going to expect in the interview. I'll make sure I'm armed with both my resume and some notes.

Thanks again.

[flyneehao]

Originally Posted by eternity

Thanks broottmeenoo,

I'll make sure I'm armed with both my resume and some notes.

Thanks again.

Don't worry too much about the interview, they'll take anybody willing to go there. They are not really interviewing you, you will be interviewing them, believe me.
And don't be too excited to go to the "shiz"

[porridge]

I heard form a reliable source in Asia that the average flying for instructors out there is only about 20 hours a month due to weather and problems with PLA airspace restrictions? Anyone know if there is any truth in this rumour and whether pay is flying hours related?

[dartagnan]

I got an offer by panam 6 months ago.
water is contaminated, even water in bottle.
air is contaminated...smog, industry...

you work 15 hours a day, there is no cinema or EU restaurant.
Army control the airspace, you wont fly a lot.
You wait all day to get a clearance and you have to stick on your route or they will shot you down.

this is stories I have eared!nothing exciting there!

[2R]

Ooh where do i sign up for that ,sounds like a good job for a lazy man

[flyneehao]

Originally Posted by dartagnan

I got an offer by panam 6 months ago.
water is contaminated, even water in bottle.
air is contaminated...smog, industry...

you work 15 hours a day, there is no cinema or EU restaurant.
Army control the airspace, you wont fly a lot.
You wait all day to get a clearance and you have to stick on your route or they will shot you down.

this is stories I have eared!nothing exciting there!

Yes, this is correct. Some have also lost their medical while in China.

[flytoo]

Shijiazhuang

Hi Guys,

it is true that you will not fly a lot as long as you don't get a chinese licence.
and the difficulty is to pass the written tests first.... Some CFI fly but you don't work 15 hours a day. Nobody does it.
the planes are waiting for weather, ATC, CFI or students...it is sad to see so many planes grounded. China is a complex problem.
But life is nice: paid monthly without worrying about the number of hours flown to get a paycheck, accomodation is paid, the hotel is not so bad, no TV: who cares!, the food is a little bit boring but you can buy foreign products in town, McDonald's, Pizza Hut or other fast food are everywhere at a better price than in Europe or US, no clock to punch, no boss on your back..
take it easy and enjoy it ! Some schools in the US don't treat you so good.
If you are in a hurry to fly your B-737 think twice of course.
Asia is the future of aviation and growth is a sure fact, look at the acquisition of airliners...
Life is a big adventure and next day an unknown.
like they say: the other side looks greener.
Take it easy!

[don quichote]

pan am in china?

Hi

I have been thinking of sending them a resume myself
but i am not sure if my career would benefit from working there.

Not much flying is done, and the only high performance aircraft
they have is being sold to another school within china.
I fail to see what opportunites can be offered to instructors working
there.

I have also heard that if you dont belong to a "select group" of "friends"
close to the higher management, dont even think of any promotion within the company.

I have also heard that this place has got the worst record in the world
concerning the rumors floating around, and these rumors are the only
source of information the staff has

So? maybe think first, china later

all the best for your job hunting

[eternity]

Thanks all for your replies and opinions.

Over some time, I have read throughtout pprune, jetcareers.com, etc etc, all the posts relating Beijing Pan Am. And quite frankly, many of the posts are very negative. I am great believer in the saying, "Where there's smoke there's fire", therefore, I do certainly take into account the fact that the grass may well not be greener on the other side.

However, the reason I'm looking at places such as Beijing Pan Am, is because I'm looking to base myself in China, with the hopes of eventually FO'ing with some of the expanding carriers there.
GA in Australia is nice but it is such a s**t fight to get into any of the large carriers here that I'm exploring the road less travelled and going to where aviation is really moving.

I understand that Beijing Pan Am may well be difficult but I would only want to spend a couple of years there before moving onto a large carrier there or India.

If anybody has any opinions or thoughts on my 'grand plan', by all means please do.

Cheers.

[thenextdoor]

HAHA a close circle of friends?
You are telling us!!!
I was told that one of the manager's friend has been given a kind of managing position even before he arrived. After a while he was flight standard department manager, and then flight department manager. A week later he was "selected" to be trained on the citation in the US, even though the aircraft has not even arrived in china. This guy has not flown more than 30 hours with a chinese student in one year!

[Pilot in China]

Yes, I like Panam!!!

Like a lot of pilots in the community, I am reading the pprune forums, and I have been reading all the posts concerning Beijing Panam for some time.
I have read all kinds of things there, but this time I feel like I should add my contribution to the debate.
I have been working there for some time, and the first thing that strikes me when I read the posts, is the amount of nonsense relayed by people who don't even work there!
"I have heard this...", "I have been told that...", "the rumor is"... and this goes on and on.
Come on everybody!
Anyone who has worked there will tell you: come and see it for yourself!
This is the first flying school of its kind in China, so there has to be some minor problems, but hey! what flying school has never experienced some problems?
As to the allegations concerning the "group of friends", "the close circle of friends", getting all the promotions, this is all nonsense.
The fact is that it is a close community of expats, and we are all like a family. Every instructor who works for this company is given the opportunity to rise, and the promotions are based on hard work, consistency, punctuality, seniority and experience.
As to the management team, they all have my complete trust and support.
They are always here for us, you can call them day and night, they really make you feel that you are a part of a great community. These guys are highly experienced and highly respected people in the industry, I really trust them to make the right decisions.
I feel happy to be involved with such people.
So let me just say: come and see for yourself what a great place this is.

[thenextdoor]

pilot in china, you must be kidding!!?

[don quichote]

hahaha
it seems that pilot in china has been there too long
come back to earth man!

[dartagnan]

this is a great place for people looking for adventure,a new life style,a new mentality...
if you have 200h tt and a FAA or JAA FI and you are single, go for one year and you will make contact with the aviation industry and get a better job later.

and when Chinese airlines will start to recruit foreign pilots, they will hire pilots with a Chinese license first!

if you don't like or you think they didn't respect the contract, you can still disappear as long you keep your passport with you!

If you have really nothing better in your country, would be a good idea to contact them.

[oowl]

hello everybody!!

are there people here ,working for beijing panam flight school??

i' d be interested to get informations about instructing over there !

thanks in advance