Best of luck to all those affected by the recent events surrounding Pilot Assist. I was one of the SFT students out in Florida when it collapsed, and I remember vividly the heart ache caused during its disintegration. Let’s hope Pilot Assist doesn’t suffer the same fate.
I concur with Dean Johnson that the CAA really should shoulder some of the blame for the on going problem of collapsing Flight Training Organisations. The CAA effectively licences FTOs, and my understanding is that the JARs place a responsibility on the CAA to establish the financial standing of FTOs when approvals are given or renewed, yet for an on going renewal approval, all is required is declaration from the FTO that it’s not about to go bankrupt. Even if an FTO was in financial difficulties, I can’t imagine they’d not give that declaration, as it would spell immediate doom.
The JARs, thoroughly enforced by the CAA, place all manner of complex and often illogical restrictions on professional flight training supposedly to ensure high standards, yet they completely fail to address a fundamental issue effecting the quality of training, namely the ability of the FTO to have sufficient financial strength to continue trading during the period in which a course of training is undertaken.
Perhaps the solution would be some sort of bonding system for FTOs, perhaps similar to the ABTA system? It would increase the cost of flight training somewhat, but I for one would be willing to pay that price. Perhaps if the CAA organised this, it might go some way to reduce the bad blood felt towards the CAA due to the scandalous fees charged to pilots for services that bear no relation to the costs incurred carrying out that particular work.
Last edited by Gin Slinger; 8th February 2003 at 17:58.