Flight Intructor kidnapped student

[Airbubba]

A former IASCO employee gives insight into the student training culture and McConkey and Hoser's San Francisco attorneys issue a boilerplate claim of client innocence:

Former IASCO employee shares experience with flight school

by Courtney Kreider

Tuesday, May 29th 2018

REDDING, Calif. — A former IASCO employee is speaking out about what she witnessed in her short time as a dispatcher for the Redding flight school. The former employee wants to remain anonymous but told KRCR when she heard the audio file that included multiple threats, one coming from IASCO Instructor, John McConkey, the other from the flight school's Director of Administration Kelsi Hoser, it sounded all too familiar.

"Sounds like the language they use in the dispatch office," the woman said adding she started looking for work after two months because of the way they treated the students. It was Friday, May 25 when Redding police officers say McConkey and Hoser went to student, Tianshu Shi's apartment and told him he was being sent back to China. When Shi refused to leave, he claimed McConkey and Hoser threatened him and attacked him, then took him to the Redding Municipal Airport.

Redding Police received a call from Shi's brother in China who said he was worried about him. McConkey and Hoser were later arrested at the Redding Airport for conspiracy and kidnapping. Both posted bail that same evening.

When asked if either McConkey or Hoser were still employed with IASCO or back at the school Tuesday, a member of their staff, who would not identify himself, said the flight school is "back to business as usual."

Jonathan McConkey is represented by attorney John M. Runfola out of San Francisco and Kelsi Hoser is represented by Naomi Chung, the attorneys released a joint statement that reads:

"Our clients vehemently deny the allegations that have been made and intend to prove their innocence.


In the coming weeks, we will provide you with additional facts, documentation, personal information regarding Tianshu Shi, and information regarding the complexities of training a foreign national post-9/11. This is a very complicated situation involving multiple agencies.

IASCO Flight Training Inc. expelled Mr. Shi early this month for failure to meet the standards set by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Mr. Shi was given every legally
permissible opportunity to successfully complete his training but was unable to demonstrate competency.


He was given ample notice that he was required by law to return home to China upon his expulsion from the flight program.

Mr. Shi’s mother and her attorney have flown in from China in a continuing attempt by Mr. Shi to circumvent American regulations and avoid shame and humiliation at home.

We ask the press and public to withhold judgment, afford our clients their presumption of innocence, their right to be tried in a courtroom and to respect their privacy as this process proceeds."

The former employee doesn't know Shi or the student, Zhang Xun Yi, who has come forward for similar reasons since. However, she remembers a culture of demeaning behavior when she worked there in 2016. She also stated the students do not have much of a life outside of school and it's not in their nature to complain which is why she can't imagine one of them getting to the point of expulsion.

"They don't do anything on the weekends, they don't go anywhere because it is ingrained in them that this is school," she furthered, "They will do anything to please their instructors. They're just young men here to better their lives."

KRCR called IASCO but they did not provide a response to the allegations. Runfola told KRCR over the phone the student was given every chance to complete the flight school before it came to this.

Former IASCO employee shares experience with flight school KRCR