I too have recently been through this FTO and was asked to pay £200 for 2 170A's; in cash. My friend also had to pay twice, and when he asked for a reciept they refused.
What about when you asked did you get one ?.
I now have a copy of the brochure and on P10 it does state the charges for the various test fee's, so it is a legitimate fee even if other places don't charge it but it does seem it is collected in an unconventional way.
I just don't see why these fees cannot be paid out of your flying account with the club direct to the examiner rather than this potential loophole of cash/cheque only direct to them with no receipt, or why not just add it on to the cost of the course price so there are no grey areas when it come to paying it ?..
I still don't get where this extra charge is coming from though, you are paying dual rate for the a/c which is £59/hr more for the Arrow than the solo rates so surely this is where the instructor's part of the flight fee comes from, so why is another £100 stuck on top ?. As EK4457 said, they are not actually flying with you as an examiner, just as an instructor who happens also to be an examiner so their fee should be covered by the extra cost of the hire rate and I cannot see how it costs £100 for a form to be filled out.
This argument about having to pay alot of money to get into the position just doesn't hold either. Your line training/sim instructors in the commercial world I'm sure don't take money off you like this, as they are re-imbursed by the company, yet it has also cost them alot of money to get into that position so why should a training organisation be any different ?.
It was never my intention on starting this thread for the club/persons to be named/shamed, merely to find out if this was a legitimate charge and if other schools were doing the same, but maybe this particular club might want to re-evaluate the way in which this fee is collected if they are going to charge for it.
