Jandakot Helicopters - Closed for Business!?

[kwikenz]

Is there any truth to the rumour that Jandakot has closed its doors?

I hope that not too many students have been stung!

At least all the staff should be fine with the shortage of instructors about the place.

Anyone know how and why it happened?

[airmuster]

YES, but the new owners, Heliwest, will do their best to honour any monies paid out for flight lessons to the students.

[huey]

Heliwest??

Thats news to me!!

[ngt206]

Quote: "YES, but the new owners, Heliwest, will do their best to honour any monies paid out for flight lessons to the students."

Wow Mr Airmuster, that's a bold statement?! One that you can assure will be followed thru to the last cent i'm sure?
Or do the words "do their best" suggest that it is nothing more than a flakey statement, to lure the vunerable students over to the sypathetic arms of the good folk at Heliwest?

I can smell a rat here...:*

Hope they can prove me wrong,, but somehow i seriously doubt it :suspect:

[mustering guru]

Heliwest honour money! HA not likely! I got ripped off good and proper by them years ago!

Good luck to the staff!

[topendtorque]

I guess that if it's true then there are plenty of PROFESSIONAL pilots who will be glad that there won't be any more PRIVATE pilots let loose onto the commercial scene by these blokes.

That is as long as no one else decides to continue where they left off.

I guess we wait and see on both counts.

[airmuster]

To all the above.....

Can only recount what was emailed to me the other day.

I wish them luck on all counts. Don't like to see any business fail as it always leaves a few people with sour tastes...... and empty pockets.

[HELOFAN]

Can any one please shed a little light on this?

I knew the owner about 20 years ago through my old man and went for a flight with them about 10 years ago.

Did heliwest purchase JH or is it the same folk?

What was the story behind the closure... lack of students or better pastures?

Any info here would be greatly appreciated.

Sad to hear that they are closed.

It doesnt seem that Jandakot and helicopters dont seem to last forever though JH has been there for a long time.

Helicopters have been there for as long as I can remember just different operators.

Ahh well.

Memories as a kid from that place.

HF

[Charlie Foxtrot India]

The business changed hands a few years ago, was sold by Derek Doak to a guy called Philip Marcella. I bought the old "homestead" building when they moved about 18 months ago to bigger premises.

The business was subjected to a winding up order by creditors. It seems that Mr Marcella had stopped paying his bills. Wasn't for lack of work, there were always JH helis buzzing around. A sad day, for my mates and all the others who worked there, the many other local businesses who have been left out of pocket (raising prices for everyone else), the students and people like me who enjoyed a wee hover now and then.

AFAIK Heliwest have nothing to do with it, but they do now have a monopoly.

[ngt206]

Quote from CFI: "AFAIK Heliwest have nothing to do with it, but they do now have a monopoly."

Monopoly eh? Heliwest would certainly like to think so. Let's not make too many bold predictions. The flight training fraternity needs a choice.

Personally I hope they don't, as I sure as hell don't wish to throw my hard earned money B+G's way! I've seen how those rougues operate. I'll go do it over east if I have to.

Anyways, we'll watch this space...

[Charlie Foxtrot India]

Cool, it'd be great if someone could pick up where JH left off.

[SKYWORK]

Heliwest only does things to benefit Heliwest. Help out students hurt by JH, YEAH RITE:(

[pohm1]

Its bad luck for those students who may have lost some prepaid lessons, but that is the nature of "buyer beware" when paying upfront to a non RTO school.

I'd be interested to hear why some think Heliwest have some kind of liability here, after all, its a business not a charity.

P1

[SKYWORK]

I sure as hell would not be taking over offering to reimburse any student that lost out to another company, so I dont think Heliwest should either but if anyone thinks different or thinks that is going to happen they are wasting valuable time when they could be sitting down and replanning there training and where they are going to go from here.Dont sit around waiting for the magic wand from Heliwest to tap them on the shoulder to make it alright as it wont happen, Take charge of your career and go for it.... Good Luck and best wishes for all those involved.

[that chinese fella]

Of course no company has an obligation to help out those let down by others. It is a ludicrous proposition and one no other flight school in the country could sensibly afford.

These people deserve to be treated with the same ethics and responsibilities as any other new client or existing student.

ngt206, 'Rogues' for another company is a fairly strong term in the context of a thread where $2,600,000 to $2,700,000 was left owing to creditors by Jandakot Helicopters, many of whom were there own employees owed entitlements and pre-paid flying lessons.

It would be naive to think it was done by Marcella alone without the other senior people knowing, but hey keep those pre-payments coming.

While most would agree that a monopoly is undesirable, it is arguably more palatable than the carnage left behind by the financial incomptence of JH.

I am sure it wont last long, it is a vibrant market.

Every company should look after itself with sensible profit margins and clever management. That way they can continue to provide a quality service and continued employment to those within the company. To not do so is criminal.

For those who may have done a course or 2 you may be familiar with the term the 'busy fool'. Lots of flying does not always equal lots of profit.

[topendtorque]

$2,600,000 to $2,700,000 was left owing to creditors


goodness me:{ very sad for a two bit outfit.

[ngt206]

Quote from the chinese fella: "ngt206, 'Rogues' for another company is a fairly strong term in the context of a thread where $2,600,000 to $2,700,000 was left owing to creditors by Jandakot Helicopters, many of whom were there own employees owed entitlements and pre-paid flying lessons "

Yep, it is harsh, but fair. You can only go by what you see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears mate. For the record I was one of the unfortunate stung by JH. But I am getting tired of listening to the accusations flying around pointing the finger at the staff, accusing them of ignoring the warning signs of a liquidation. I find that insulting. When your wages are being paid on time, why would you suspect any coverup?The only ones not owed any money were the directors and the accounting staff. How do I know this? One only had to read through the "Circular to Creditors" to find that every member of staff from CFI (I won't divulge the sum, but it was very substantial) down to new instructors present AND past are owed large sums of money (mainly super). Curiously enough, their names were missing from the list (apart from credit card debts),,,,,,,,,,, funny that! That's where the rot stopped. No super owed to them.

And as for Top End Talk. It would appear you have some beef with JH and any possible inheritors. It would be nice to have the funds available to buy my own machine and get licenced in it, but sadly I join the ranks of the working class. However I fail to see where they threaten us in the COMMERCIAL world as you suggest? I'm assuming of course you're a PROFESSIONAL pilot?

Bring on the reposte!!!! :bored:

[that chinese fella]

ngt206, it is indeed very disappointing to see anyone lose out in this situation. The list of creditors is very long and yes I have seen it too so I know the score. Makes staff think twice about accumulating too much annual leave as a basic premise.

I would not for 1 second defend the directors or the accountant who have done a nasty job on everyone, but I dont even work for the company and the rumours about financial stress were around months ago, so to suggest that people higher up in the organisation were oblivious to any of it is bollocks. There were a number of seasoned aviation people within and if they didnt have an inkling, I dont know what is worse.

You should be feeling insulted alright, by gross mismanagement of your hard earned cash.

I believe DA has already got a new company out there via email and TB would not be far behind on the spanners. We all hope that the staff can be looked after. As has been mentioned the core of the company had good people amongst it.

[ngt206]

To Chinese whatever,,, you don't know what you're talking about. Only the Directors and accountants are prive to the books. Full stop. This is not about defending anyone in particular. I have nothing to gain here. I'll repeat,,, The facts are that each staff member was shafted to the average tune of $10k. The "Seasoned aviation people" as you put it, were shafted by more than 10 times that amount. You read the C to C. So do you really think that they were a party to it?

Righto, we seem to be going nowhere with this, it's sounding like a broken record :ugh: ...so let's change the topic.

The question we're trying to ask now....
When a student wishes to regain his student file, who owns the file?
Can it only be given to another school, or can the individual collect it themselves?

[Sambo Boy]

So if the poor CP was shafted 100K how does he get the loot to start up a new business from being senior management in a failed company in record time? With the bags of cash needed to start up such an operation and the time to set up an AOC etc I smell a rat so it will be funny to see those shafted get ripped off again if they follow the Pied Piper...

[that chinese fella]

CAR 5.57 refers.

In a nutshell a copy of records can be verbally or in writing requested by the person or the 'new' school. The last line says they can only be given to the school.

[Doaky08]

My Dad Started Jandakot Helicopter's and ran it up until he sold it to Phil.
I think that the closure of jandakot helicopter's is something that we will probably not know every detail but from what i can work out for myself is that it was a bit of a suss set up once phil had it.
But it does arise lots of problems now with the transfer's of students etc most of them going to a new company called rotorvation. Heliwest did not buy jandakot helicopters they just bought some of the machinery. but they are now trying to sell some of their helicopters pretty quick :confused: hmmmm.....

[geriatric]

Phil and his buddy have a history of investment cut and run companies here in the UK. They should be looked at by your imigration people.

[HELOFAN]

Whats your old man up to now Doaky08?