A flight school operating at Virginia’s Manassas Regional Airport/ Harry P. Davis Field abruptly shut down on Aug. 1 leaving several of its students stranded.
Another one!
(Then pad my post because Av… demands 20 characters.)
When are people going to learn that you don’t pay up front in full. Unfortunately, this has happened too many times in aviation education. Too many uscsrupulous operators using flight schools and unknowing students as a patsy for getting rich.
Obviously it’s too late for these folks ,but ,do your homework . Several excellent flight school’s available. Flightsafety still around ! Several flight colleges Have Great 4 year curriculum .
The flight school where I did my primary training a lifetime ago offered a 10% match for every thousand a student would put down on account. Seemed like a good investment at the time, so I paid the entire anticipated amount up front. Being unfamiliar, I equated the flight school and the airport as the same entity and had no concern that they might “go under”. My experience was great, but I found out several years later that they eventually did go under and quite a few students lost their money.
I would suggest that flight schools should be bonded, or deposits held in a trust (or whatever the legal/financial guys will say is the proper vehicle for what I am expressing). Contractors allowed to work in my municipality are required to be bonded to avoid just this sort of thing. Shouldn’t be that difficult to implement.
Business debt of between 10 and 50 mil. That’s a wide range of uncertainty. Plus, that seems like debts going in that direction would have been seen and addressed more quickly. Lot for a flight school.
I did my primary, instrument, multi-engine and helicopter training at Manassas airport. My helicopter training was with American Helicopters, which changed its name to American Aviation long after I got my rotorcraft-helicopter rating. Too bad about the closing. They changed their liability policy to make the rental pilot wholly responsible for damage to the helicopter even if a flight instructor was on board. That convinced me not to rent from them or get recurrent training from them.
Excuses Abound…. Sue, regardless of the circumstances.
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