Unfortunately somebody has started this rumour some time ago and now it's finding it's way into the world. As I am student at the KLM Flight Academy I was startled as well by this rumour and needless to say, we (our class) wanted a full explanation from the school as it took us by surprise as well.
According to a school spokesman, this rumour is based on nothing and they were very annoyed with the fact that someone had started this rumour on the internet which puts the school into a bad daylight.
However, there is some truth in the rumour. Last year, we had a terrible mid-air collision involving two training aircraft, whereby two of our students and one instructor were fatally injured. This accident was investigated by three separate committees and resulted in a list of serious short-comings that had been lingering below the surface and indirectly manifested themselves in the well-known chain of events that led to the accident. Therefore, the dutch CAA (RLD/NLA) forced the school to take immediate action to improve its weak spots that had been discovered during the accident investigation. Not complying with the requirements from the dutch CAA, could mean that their flight training oraganisation license would be suspended. Needless to say the school took immediate action to implement the recommendations made in the investigation reports. This has been done in close relationship with the dutch CAA and according to a school spokesman,'the dutch CAA is satisfied with the improvements made over the last year and a suspension of the training license is totally out of the picture...'.
So far 'the good news'. On the other hand, the planning of the school leaves a lot to be desired. Last three months I have been working for a living, because there was a shortage of instructors at our training facility in the USA and thus we had to temporarily interrupt our training.
Twin engine training takes place on two Beech Barons in Eelde (The Netherlands), which is not sufficient to achieve the desired throughput of students. This is currently the biggest bottleneck of the training program.
The school is now very much aware of their planning problems and are making very hard efforts to prevent the problems we are suffering from for the classes to start. They got rid of IAPT, their training facility in Tucson, Arizona which was one of the bottlenecks. From now on all students will be trained at the Pan Am Flight Academy in Fort Pierce, Florida. After some start-up problems there, it finally seems that this part of the training will no longer be a problem. I myself will leave to Florida on May 28th and hope that our high expectations will be met.
Furthermore, a third Beech Baron will be added to the fleet this summer/automn, thus taking away the second bottleneck. Also a back-up facility for the full-flight simulator training (MCC/Jet Conversion Course), which now takes place on an Airbus A310 simulator, is looked for.
Therefore I have good hope that the KLS has left their main problems behind and can look forward with a fresh-mind. It's a pity for the classes that are currently enrolled, that for them most solutions seem to be too late to prevent any further delay. But for the classes to come, things look much better.
I hope I have taken your doubts partly away and that your son will enjoy every day of its training. The quality of the training has never been in doubt, which is supported by the fact that 'our' ab-initio students land their first job at companies like KLM, KLM Cityhopper, Lufthansa, Alitalia and Austrian Airlines.
If you want first-hand information you can always call the school and ask your questions. That's what we as students do all the time. In every case that gives the school the feeling that they are carefully watched and this may motivate them even more to deliver the product that you as a student are entitled to. (You have paid them a lot, a lot of money)
Good luck