First off propspilot, I bid and was awarded beech captain fair and square. I have no idea what shenanigans the company plays with Flica. My tolerance for BS is low after all these years. And I think if anyone is qualified to give advice about burning bridges it's me, for better or worse. In any case my record is impeccable.
Pilotandmechanic ask about wash out rates at Silver. He explained that he wasn't IFR and MEI current. He also explained that he held a good job as a mechanic at a major airline. I advised him to not risk his current job to come fly at Silver.I told him the story of my sim partner who had a similar background as pilotandmechanic and washed out. My partner and I had the late sim and we stayed 2 extra hours every night after Pan Am closed. Plus all the normal additional paper tiger flying on our own. My partner pushed himself to physical and mental exhaustion. He wasn't lazy or stupid. But his flying skills were weak.As you stated, nobody wants a weak pilot in the cockpit. All I'm telling pilotandmechanic is that it's not worth risking going to Silver as a not current pilot if it means giving up his mechanic job. My experience is that he can expect little extra help from the company and their is a high risk of failure if things remain as I saw them. Matt Bailey is a great instructor, but he isspread VERY thin at Pan Am. Pan Am Iinstructors like Tom Gordon are vast wells of knowledge, but they aren't going to be there if Silver doesn't pay them to be so.
Silver isn't the worst training, but it certainly has many bugs to be worked out. I'm not going to tell tales out of school though. I think the easiest way to sum it up would be to say lack of resources. But most regionals suffer the same problems. But, as I said, I know if some places that, at least in the past, gave pilots many more resources and gave struggling pilots more sim instruction.
In short, if you have any doubts about your abilities I would pick a different place.Personally for me it was smooth and pain free, but for others not.