7 July 2015
TransPac Aviation Academy Reviews
2.4
34% would recommend to a friend
Joel Davidson
32% approve of CEO
28% positive business outlook
TransPac Aviation Academy has an employee rating of 2.4 out of 5 stars, based on 45 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The TransPac Aviation Academy employee rating is 36% below average for employers within the Education industry (3.7 stars).
Reviews by job title
45 reviews
1.0
5 Mar 2015
Long work hours, and mediocre pay.
Former employee, more than 1 year
Phoenix, AZ
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook
Pros
Build time quickly, in a short timeframe
Cons
Executive management consistently favors making money over safety. Their horrible safety record is evidence. Safety culture is lacking, and was generally one of fear of retribution. No work life balance.
3.0
20 July 2017
You have to know what you're signing up for
Current employee, less than 1 year
Deer Valley, AZ
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook
Pros
It's a flight instructing job. It seems most people reviewing here didn't know what they were signing up for. I enjoy teaching, but came here to build my hours more quickly and it's definitely getting me closer to my goal. In PPL like fewest I flew in a month was 50 hours and that when all my students were soloing. The most in PPL I flew was 90. I consistently fly over 100 hours per month teaching instrument. It's nice to have a scheduling department. I just check my schedule and come to work and do what it says. The students have ground school and are generally hard workers so at times little brief time is required before flight - they come prepared. You won't get this at a smaller part 61 school. The salary is bad, but somewhat comparable to similar schools in the Valley. The benefits are actually pretty good (Health, Dental, Vision, 401(k) match, etc). Remember you don't come here to get rich, you come to teach and build hours. Weather in the Valley is good - it's rare to have a flight cancel for weather with the exception of monsoon season. I've seen bad remarkers regarding the maintenance here. I think it's amazing compared to other schools I've either worked at or been a student at. If you squawk a plane, it's down. Most of the time the mechanics come out and fix it right then if it's something minor. If ever I have a concern with something with my preflight, I call and they come right out and address the concern. I've never been tempted to fly something I didn't feel was safe nor have I had any mechanical issues on flights with over 500 hours flown here. If this is your first flying job, don't expect it to be glamorous. It's not. But the flying you'll do here will make you a better pilot if you choose to take your job seriously. Partnership with SkyWest is very nice. Extra money for CFIs who go there from TransPac.
Cons
There's WAY too much pressure to satisfy all missions. They're under immense pressure from the airlines to get these guys finished with their training quicker, and that pressure is simply pushed down to the CFIs on the line. This is an awful and potentially dangerous way to run a flight school. If a student is not ready for a solo, he shouldn't solo. If he's not ready for a checkride, he shouldn't be given a sign off. Luckily all my guys have excelled and I haven't had this dilemma but I know many guys who have. They incentivize completed missions by promising 200 dollars to all employees at the end of the month if we hit a goal. Again, stupid and dangerous. They're trying to incentivize pass rates by giving us overtime pay ONLY if they rolling 30 day pass rate is above 60 percent for first time check ride attempts. This means you don't even know if you'll get paid for it until you're already working. I hate to say it, but quite a few CFIs here are utterly worthless. Your students will fly with these people and they won't care about their performance because they have nothing to lose. I get that there is a shortage of instructors - but it's a bit draining to surround yourself with other instructors who either have no clue how to teach, or don't care to be a good teacher for these guys. On the flip side, I've met really awesome people at TransPac who will undoubtedly become lifelong friends. They treat everyone the same, no matter how hard you work. Scheduling is nice, but makes mistakes. A school with 500 students, it's going to happen. Managers are usually pretty good at addressing the issues though. Flying in the Valley can be stressful. Thousands of pilots per year are trained here an the airspace is busy. ATC is awesome dealing with it but you gotta be on your game. You'll be flying at night during instrument until 0400. No relaxing while you're up there trying to stay attentive to teaching, managing fuel, and not busting bravo.
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