Rainbow Air Avoid Like The Plague
Ok where do I begin....
Well first let me introduce myself my name is Steven Morgan CFII & MEI, and I very unfortunately did training & even used to work (if you call being a slave without pay work) for Rainbow Air Academy in Long Beach California. I have experienced the Black Rainbow for over 2yrs...!! I know everything about the place & will be glad to tell all to anyone who has questions..
First off everything you have read here is correct missing alot more horrible stories & truths but all correctly stated. Rainbow was a halfway decent place when Dave Parsons was part owner DP is an A OK guy I have to say that cause he is. Unfortunately he is gone, long gone...
However when Ray Grimmett took complete ownership it was a quick downhill spiral from there... Ray Grimmett (Owner of Rainbow Air) is the Biggest Dirtiest Most Disshonest Dirtbag the US Aviation Industry has to offer the guy is flat out a jerk & will rob you, or his own mother blind if it makes financial since for him... DO NOT TRUST HIM EVER, PERIOD...!! I can put you in contact with dozens of Aviation industry professionals who will all give you the same response about him & his dissfunctional company. Rainbow & Ray have the worste reputation possible in the aviation community I am not kidding you when I say you would be hard pressed trying to find anyone who has anything good to say about either. Every single person who has ever had any business dealings with Ray has been screwed one way or another do not work for him do not hire his delapegated charter planes which are far from respectable king airs they are flying junk.. Basically avoid him and any of his companies like the damn plague..!!
Now here is the low down on training, it sucks.
There are NO formal ground classes, NO training aids, NO standard Syllabus, NO organization of anything, Dispatch is pointless, NO account keeping (Your Money is GONE once Paid) NO Books, NO Videos, NO Scheduling (or any that is adhered to that is) There is NOTHING accept a building, rude dispatch personel & broken P.O.S planes...
You will get maybe 10-15hrs of in-experienced ground instruction of sorts MAYBE for an entire commercial course, you will be put in 1967 AST-300 simms that DO NOT WORK for 50hrs of your training, they are total junk & everyone just turns them on & runs the time basically waisting their money..!!
You will mainly fly P.O.S 152's which some are far from airworthy & should be sent to the junkyard, Instruments Dont Work, Radios are HORRIBLE at best, Transponders Fail Always, they fly like crap and are honestly dangerous to the novice pilot...
Oh best of all your accounts are billed $150.00 for everything 152's, 172's, Piper's & the Simm, which never made since to me at first because they dont even track student account balances, but you soon realize Ray just makes sure that all the money is drained away and accounted for just incase someone ever tries to dispute anything he can show that the money was used, not to mention every instruction hour is $60 now so thats $210.00 per hr. for a 152w/instructor... Or even a Ast-300 simm thats broken...
Rental Insurance, hahahaha yeah wait until you bust up a plane which has happened oh gees 6-8 times in just the last year or so, yeah that insurance which is suppose to be included in your package funny doesnt seem to protect you in Ray's world & he will try & charge you for damages to the tune of $10,000-$20,000 and if you dont or cant pay simple your kicked out no money refunded.. Actually quite frankly RAY never pays out money to anyone HE HAS NEVER ISSUED A REFUND and never will your money is gone as soon as you pay it, period.
Rainbow a 141 certified school approved by the JAA or CAA, that is simply a joke honestly THERE IS NO JAA or CAA compliance never has been there is NO conversion program never has been, that conversion program consists of see-ya go home & figure it out oh and goodluck... Nobody there even knows what JAA or CAA stands for. The 141 cert. now this is one thing I cant figure out cause Rainbow Air has been out of regulations for 141 certification for over 2yrs, they garduate no-one under 141 rules, there is NO 141 syllabus, there is NO Chief Pilot, No Approved Aircraft 136RJ was the only approved 141 aircraft previously, however if it were inspected today it would fail misserably, they absolutely 100% positively DO NOT ADHERE to NOR MEET 141 guidelines, the only thing I can figure is Gary Lackey aka head of KLGB FAA FSDO is buddies with Ray & has for several years now overlooked all of the problems due to this & has not pursued proper courses against Rainbow Air.
The Aircraft, simply P.O.S (Piece of ****)... NONE of their planes are any good, they are all well over T.B.O times and I mean by like 100's-1000's of hours past overhaul reccomendation times, the instruments are all junk, the radios are barely readable & very dangerous as communications are next to impossible... Nothing is standardized every plane has a different set-up, some planes such as 181RJ are not even airworthy but still on the flight line ready to be rented.. I had a plane 130RJ Piper Warrior catch fire in mid-air on me I mean tottally engulphed in flames (Look it Up on NTSB website) luckily I was close to Redlands airport & was able to make a safe emrgency landing, VERY LUCKY... The plane proceeded to Burn to a Crisp.. The final outcome besides having an un-athorized experimental fuel pump installed the carburator had failed (Very Unussual) spraying fuel into the hot engine compartment catching and ignition source & presto burning plane while flying.. Oh it gets better when I called the office after dealing with the fire department, the NTSB and the FAA feild rep MYSELF.. I was not only rudely talked to by Ray cause he was upset because I followed the letter of the law & reported it immeadiattely to the NTSB, but when I tried to get a plane sent out to pick me & my student up to bring us back we were told NO Rainbow is not in the business of supplying air taxi's call a cab or friend to pick you up, we were a 3hr.+ drive away from home base, yeah no im serious we where told to pay for a what $500 cab ride. Needless to say one of my fellow instructors dissobeyed & came and got us in a plane, but that was Ray's response after we where almost killed by his unsafe aircraft, take a cab...!
MORE TO COME ALOT MORE...