KCDW
Most likely the large number of schools all operating the same sort of planes and attracting mostly customers who don't have much money. I have known some instructors at Shoreham and they were paid £10/day retainer plus £20/hr for any flying. Some were paid zero retainer. This is one of the ways a school can "survive" for some years.
Shoreham would be a really great location for a well managed well funded operation but with all the competition it would never make money. It would have to go after an entirely different client base. According to the local press, Transair were going to set up a Cessna Pilot Centre (which is what ACE appeared to be) but I haven't heard any more about that, which doesn't suprise me as at the time it would have brought the total of fixed wing schools to nine, and Transair is definitely a well run business. The average punter can't tell the difference between a new Cessna at £150k and a 30 year old one.
The company originally trading as ACE Aviation was Stanair Ltd - they used a "Stanair" callsign if I recall correctly.
Last edited by IO540; 24th Aug 2004 at 08:23.