My Own Opinion
- Dear Mr. Eddie Russell - C.E.O - Canadian Aviation Academy
I completed the online application exam over 1 year ago on your website for what was P.R.I. at the time. I have absolutely nothing against you or your company CAA / PRI. I am explaining my experience and what I took from our telephone conversation.
Shortly after completing the online exam satisfactorily I received a call from yourself to arrange an interview. When I asked what exams I would need to complete to be accepted Mr Eddie Russell told me I had completed the exam successfully and once he interviewed me I would be accepted on the course.
During the telephone conversation I took notes as I usually do. I had some questions about the training that I wanted to get information on.
When we approached the topic of job prospects I was told about the instructor positions available to the students at PRI and that if I was successful in my first year I would be offered a job instructing.
Then came the topic of year three onwards and employment expectations etc. Mr Russell stated the following to me.
- That a senior captain from Air Canada was associated with the school and that former students of PRI were flying for Air Canada.
- That some regional and smaller air lines in Canada also had former students from PRI working for them, you specifically mentioned a direct link with Bear Skin airlines and that you had placed pilots there (only found out they existed after a search online) you also mentioned another airline but I can't make out what I wrote in my diary at the time. (writing fast to keep up with phone conversation) im not saying this is untrue but what I was told.
- That Air Canada also recruit Pilots from the above mentioned regional carrier/s
- That there was also great prospects to work in Africa or Asia and that they had placed a lot of newly qualified low hours pilots in airlines working within Africa.
- That the Canadian professional pilots licence was one of the highest standard ATP Licences in the world and would give me eligibility to work in a lot of countries!
- That I would have to complete a conversion if I wanted to work in Europe.
- It was left open to suggestion as to whether i could work in FAA Land.
- It was explained that extra curricular activity was pre paid as part of the course costs which in my view is a good, you live different experiences and get away from exams.
- That yes accommodation and food was paid for and some flights home.
- That if Canada did not suit me for training they would arrange for me to finish my training in Ireland and transfer my remaining training funds to the new school I would attend.
Based on the what was explained it seemed as though job prospects were very good.
Mr. Russell I personally have nothing against you or your company! I am merely writing here what was explained to me by yourself during a telephone conversation over a year ago. The above I have taken from the notes I made in my diary during our telephone conversation.
If it was you that came up with the concept of the course at what is now CAA then well done to you. The concept in general is very forward thinking and brings some great attributes to the course. It seems like everything has been thought of. Not everyone is good at looking after themselves food wise, money wise and accommodation wise. CAA control all those elements of the course and even have some action planned stress busting trips away paid for also. On the whole it is a unique training experience and has a lot of very unique selling points.
The points you suggested to me was I may work for Air Canada and the job opportunities were abundant. You explained that your company would work to place me in one of those fantastic jobs. May be if you sold the course focusing on its unique selling points that you can guarantee like the trips away, the food, the accommodation the flight home etc all included in the price you might have less negative comments or less disgruntled past students.
If you mention something like placing past students with Air Canada a well known Flag Carrier then it is more than likely going to come back around to haunt you. A short time after our telephone conversation I emailed Air Canada simply asking had they any direct links with training schools from whom they recruited low hours Pilots. The answer was very polite and basically made it very clear that they did not!
Mr Russell, your training approach is very different and has the potential to be fresh and new. Don't promise something you can't live up. No FTO can guarantee a job after training, least of all over a telephone conversation after completing an online exam without seeing my flying ability for real!! May be where PRI CAA have fallen down is by not focusing on the many positives your course has going for it that you can guarantee.
To me there may be some past students here that are not happy and seem to feel let down. I agree that it is impossible to please all your clients all of the time, however, there is seldom smoke without fire. These people obviously put a lot of trust in your company and feel very let down. It reflects badly that this has been allowed to escalate to you posting a legal threat to people who posted on this site. I personally don't see such a post as being completely professional or achieving a lot. It may appear as resorting to bully tactics. If you had not posted (CAA LEGAL) the thread would have been forgotten about by now. It had not received any post in the previous 5 days before you put your comment on there. It may indeed put potential students off attending your FTO.
When a customer has a problem with a service it really is a golden opportunity to win them over for good, simply by reasoning with them and meet a common ground. If that is not possible then parting ways on agreed & fair terms is the best approach. It is also wrong to threaten (CAA LEGAL) "These individuals have been identified through their internet service providers and are being investigated" as already mentioned data protection laws prevent this and if the names were provided you would be leaving yourself & company open to some serious legal risk.
Mr Russell you stated in your original post before you edited that these people would be pursued legally for "Criminal Damage" criminal damage refers to physical damage caused to property or goods. Here is the definition of "Criminal Damage" under Irish Law. http://acts.oireachtas.ie/zza31y1991.1.html#zza31y1991s1
Finally I am not a past student of PRI / CAA I did consider going there but with promises of Job offers ect and Air Canada being mentioned I looked into things for myself and decided it would not be in my best interests to attend PRI.
A lot of FTO's publish on their website the number of past students and the date they passed and what airline/company/FTO they work for now. Why don't CAA do this and end a lot of speculation!?Especially the speculation that only 2 completed the fixed wing training!!!! If you had a serious issue with what was being posted in this forum and could back it up, why not contact the pprune administrators and have them investigate it and deal with the situation. They could ask the members posting to back up their claims ad if not the could reprimand or remove the posts and individuals who posted them. This surely would have been a better option than throwing you and your company in negative light with supposed legal actions and heavy handed threats!!!
This post contains both positives and negatives but is in no way intended to cause harm in any way to CAA or PRI. It is simply how I personally interpreted our telephone conversation and the posts I have viewed in this forum. This is my own personal opinion and does not reflect the opinions of others, others may interpret the postings here in a different manner than I have.
Finally Best of luck to you Mr Eddie Russell and your company and to those students who are currently attending CAA! Focus on the positives and the achievable! Stastics of previous students acheivements (if available) posted on the CAA website would soon sort out the truths from rumour and speculation!
Last edited by alotaflyin; 2nd November 2008 at 15:47.