Fast Helicopters

[WhySAS]

Rumours are that there have been "occurances" at Fast's newly acquired engineering facility at Shoreham, can anyone shed any light?

[MK10]

whats your agenda???having looked at your other posts????
mk10

[WhySAS]

I am local to the area, and I own an aircraft, nothing more sinister than that I'm afraid.

I was looking to move my maintenance nearer home about the time Fast bought Eastern Atlantic Engineering hence my interest.

Sorry mk10 if you wanted something more!!

Back to the subject, does anyone know what's occuring?

[kissmysquirrel]

Do you mean with the management side of things or certain discrepancies with maintenance?:hmm:

[WhySAS]

Well, the rumour that I was told was that they had been left without a chief engineer.

[kissmysquirrel]

WHAT??? I can't believe someone would want to leave Fast Helicopters having only been there a short while. Great airport. Great ATC, Nice shiny new hangar. Fantastic management. Friendly staff. Maybe him leaving was just a rumour? :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

ps, I don't suppose he had a look at that bl**dy hangar door when he was there did he? Is it still sticking?:D

[gls.fly]

Kissmysquirrel

Do I detect a subtle hint of sarcasm ?

Whats the problem with the Fast setup ...generally speaking, not just the maintainence side...

Would be nice to know as I am think of doing some training there.

Thanks


GLS

[kissmysquirrel]

Hint of sarcasm? Me? Nah!!:E


Re training at Fast
You'll be trained by CAA certificated staff. You'll fly in helicopters that will be well maintained. I will only say one thing and hopefully Heliport will let it stand. Don't pay for hours upfront, pay as you fly after each lesson, and make sure that the you log the datcon time, but I guess that should be the same anywhere you fly. Shoreham is a great place to train from and is great for experience building in a busy environment, especially in the summer time. If you're going to fly with Fast, ask for Dave. He'll keep you right.

[gls.fly]

Kissmysquirrel

Have flown with Dave and found him really good.

Could you recommend by PM any other good training provider.... am around the Chichester area.

Would appreciate any advice.

Thanks

GLS

[HALF A PILOT]

Well for occurances , you need some rumours or at least some FACTS
try these
a used helicopter
some stolen parts
the police
the chief engineer to depart
an arrest
the caa to investigate
a grounded helicopter
disgruntled owner
discrepenies on the paper work
dispute of ownership
an engineering company with no chief engineer
is that enough for an occurance?

[ppheli]

I have nothing to add on the Shoreham situation, but a distant relative worked for the Hedgehog-like Group plc in their Croydon HQ as MD of a non-aviation subsidiary. He left just short of three months later because the admin there was in such chaos and he did not want to be linked to a company where regulatory authorities could get nasty if the files were not in tickety-boo order if a spot-check was called....

[kissmysquirrel]

I would only get into trouble for mentioning some of the things I know went on.

You could try Shoreham Helicopters or altrernatively Elite along at Goodwood. I believe they both still operate.

[Hughes500]

Overheard an owner saying he wouldn't let Fast maintain his push bike let alone his heli. That was after he was shown various things less than 10 hours after an alleged 300 hour check

[kissmysquirrel]

What do you mean?


Bose headsets? Paintings? Oh dear, they do come in for some criticism sometimes but I wonder how much is self inflicted? You only have to take a look at the staff turnover of decent instructors. The pay system is incredible. Would anyone in their right mind spend all working week sitting around in the office and only paid when you fly? Even days of bad weather etc expected to turn up and sit about and 'work' for free? Not me mate. Treat your non-salaried staff like sh*t and they won't hang about. That's funny, they don't. Ask a few of the posters on PPRuNe who worked there.

If they took a step backward and saw what everyone else seems to see.


So it's not only stupid birds that stick their heads in the sand.

[MD900 Explorer]

Maybe HeliEng can shed some light...:E

MD :=

[HeliEng]

Sorry to dissapoint you MD900, I don't know anything!!!! Reading this is all news to me! :ooh: :ooh:

[wheelbarrow]

Would someone correct me if I am wrong? Are Fast not part of a multi-million pound company along with Sterling TAMS and Air Atlantic. I believe the company recently bought Shoreham Airport. How do they end up with all these bad comments? Seems a lot of sour grapes here!!!!

[helimutt]

It's definitely not a case of sour grapes. I believe if you speak with past instructors who regularly post on here, you'll see that the Shoreham base has been run a certain way and certain individuals have a way of how shall I put it? 'manipulation to suit themselves'

Yes a large company may own them but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are a good company to work for. If the owners knew all that went on, maybe they would be interested to hear more, or perhaps they are happy with the management style.
It was bullying and management style that led 3 instructors to leave that I know of.

Just another helicopter company with their own way of doing things I guess. There are a few of them out there.

[Hughes500]

Wheelbarrow

How would you feel if you took your helicopter for a check which required the engine to be checked and found that they hadnt bothered but charged you for it !

[wheelbarrow]

H500 I'm not defending them!! Fast are part of a huge group and that group are quickly moving into the commercial market. They belong to property developers who have money to spare. If they did what you say, the companies that now use them should be asking a lot of questions. In this sleezy little world of aviation, that won't happen unless people like you prosecute and report to the CAA. It's unfair to hide on here and make accusations. Back it up.