Originally Posted by
Clare Prop
Caveat emptor.
If there are false representations about the product/services that is a matter for the State consumer affairs/fair trading department. Also at State level, the institutes that provide these qualifications.
If taxpayers money is being used as a lure then I would suggest there could be a level of corruption that goes pretty high at the federal level.
Would a bank lend a flying student the money for this? Bearing in mind there is no aptitude testing and a pilots career can be destroyed in an instant with a medical event?
If not then neither should we, the taxpayers.
Of course the schools will tell prospects what they want to hear...the government will pay for you to be a pilot and then you will get a job in a shiny jet. We all know it's bull**** but you can't expect the students to know.
Not all of us school owners want to be multi millionaires. Personally I get satisfaction from knowing when I hop on QF9 one of my old students will be flying me to London. What we watch is these schools come and go leaving a trail of destruction for students, instructors and suppliers, then another one comes along (often the same characters reappear) and the whole cycle begins again. The common denominator? Government loans.
Southern Air Services/GFS did a decent job until it was sold off to a large conglomerate. I went through there paying my own way for a PPL back in the late 90’s, while t they were running their Swinburne and Qantas courses along side their private customer side of the house.
I didn’t really see any gouging from them even even though their prices were on the higher side around the airport. But you were getting newish 172’s and the maintenance was decent at the time. So it can be done that a school does VET fee/HECS and holds up their end of the bargain.
The only thing I had to question and get removed from my account at the time was the seemingly random admin fees that kept propping up.