Bealzebub,
What you have done is indeed scaremongering and i am sorry to say that you have in my opinion contributed nothing useful to this thread apart from worrying someone who is heavily in debt who has read your post. You have lifted information courtesy of a search engine and have not qualified the source. I find this worrying as you appear not to have a grip on qualifying information as fact or opinion as a pilot.
I would suggest you have actually lifted it from a website that sells debt solutions like IVAs and warns people off bankruptcy, as that is where insolvency practitioners make there massive profits from charging extortionate fees and these sites actually look like they are providing honest and free advice and even look like some government advice websites do. Trust me that i know as i have done a lot of research on this and i have a great deal of personal experience now on how that industry operates and i am very keen to make people aware that insolvency practitioners are not there to help you and are only out to line their own pockets which they do very well (check share prices for insolvency firms).
I was told to sign up for an IVA and lie about what i could afford to repay as it would then qualify me for bankruptcy. I signed up in the belief that i would never have to go ahead with the scheme and was then told to start making repayments despite being told it would never come to that. I challenged the company and threatened to report them to their professional body and they agreed to release me from the IVA. They stood to take over £5,000 from £11,000 of repayments towards an original debt of £47,000- not bad eh!
Having earned a living for a decade now from GA (explains why i am broke!) i am well aware of how the industry works and how FTOs sell the dream. Having actually worked in the flight training industry i have had to tell grown men who have taken 50h to solo not to sell their businesses in order to become airline pilots while i have had unpaid maintenance bills on my desk although i would liked to have taken their money just to pay the wages of the instructors for another month! FTOs tell people they are selling a solution to someone’s problem of wanting to become an airline pilot when in reality they are not actually capable of doing this so yet again you are very wrong in comparing them with ‘car dealers’ who can actually deliver a desired product!
I hope i don’t sound bitter as asides from my financial situation it has all worked out beautifully for me and i landed the flying job i dreamed of for years the day after i passed my IR, which will pay more than most airline jobs will in time and i also have the privelege of not having to work for an airline which is the opinion of many of my friends who fly for major operators!
So thanks for your time but please don’t offer an opinion on something you have no experience of. I am not advocating bankruptcy as a means to become a pilot free of charge, what i am saying is that if you can't afford to repay your flight training debts then don't let the stigma put you off becoming bankrupt, beware insolvency practitioners and people giving you misinformed advice about the consequences and above all don't get depressed and top yourself as its only money!!!
Best regards
Last edited by HN1708; 25th Sep 2009 at 15:40.