Loose ends...
 

I was sent this by one of the guys who attended - its an extract from the invitation to interview email sent by Will Gilligan to potential FOs. The fact it states the amount of money required upfront is in itself a damning indictment...especially if no training occurred and no reimbursement likely.

Let me support 01475's comments by suggesting to those who did receive this email (regardless of outcome) that they take it to the Thames Valley Police.

PP

There is a rumour of another pay to fly scheme in the offing using J31/32's.

Its not a Martin Gilligan-Lawrence enterprise is it by any chance? :ugh:

When you say "Scheme" do you mean "Scam"?

If there is another scam then it just reinforces the point that at the moment this pay to fly route is being unscrupulously exploited at the expense of young FO's. And its a culture we've created! :hmm:

Wouldn't it great if all the young FO's STOPPED paying for TR's and line training and put some value back into the pilot employment market for their own futures. :ok: Easier said then done.

In view of what is now known that e-mail is fraudulent - but do let the police know.

OAA's J31/32 sim is not even in Manchester, it's in Stockholm!

But they still do the ground school in Woodford.

The pay to fly thing has actually been mentioned on pprune.

If it does kick off I think the mods will again be put in a difficult position having to remove posts on the subject for legal reasons.

Concerning the email from Will Gilligan to VE FO Interviewees, I assume the fictitious name is pretty damning, but what if Halstead had sent them in his own name? Would it still be fraud? There are two more facts that are not yet in evidence, that could still make it fraud, and if they are proved later, make the case pretty strong. I will pose them as questions.

1. Did Varsity Air Service's contract with Links Air grant VAS the right to hire FO's for the flights or barring this, did LA and VAS have an agreement in place wherein VAS' Directors could recommend FOs to LA for this route?

2. Did Links Air or Varsity ever discuss with OAA that they would send FOs to Manchester (or Stockholm, or anywhere else) for OAA provided Jetstream 31 Type Ratings?

There are three follow up questions:

3. Where have Links Air previously sent FOs for Type Ratings?

4. Did OAA have a Jetstream 31 type rating course scheduled to start on the date in question, or if not already scheduled, could they have met that date?

5. How much do OAA charge for a Jetstream 31 Type Rating?

It is sad that the people who paid £15K got suckered in when the FO interview was with a company that did not hold an AOC and was subcontracting the flight ops. Shouldn't it have been Links Air doing the interviews and hiring? Links Air probably should have pulled the plug as soon as they heard VAS was interviewing FOs, but maybe they never heard since PPrune had to pull so many threads.

Potential has written that he applied for a Cabin Crew position with VE. The same set of questions applies to this, but since there are no claims yet of charging for CC training, perhaps there was no fraud in this regard. It does make me wonder why VAS bothered to hold CC interviews though.

I refer the honourable gentleman above to post 51....

Can I have a 'Told You So' t-shirt as well? :ok:

TA

I'm sitting in Terminal 5 and, with an hour to kill, bought a copy of Airliner World - as has been mentioned before it contains the most vomit inducing article about MH.

If you've not read it, you should (oddly, it's quite amusing) and so should the Police, but for different reasons. Anyway, let me give you the highlights (insert your own sarcasm/irony smiley as appropriate) :

Alpha1 only went bust because a Middle Eastern Investor pulled an investment of £250,000 but, happily for MH, he (investor) made an out of court settlement before Alpha1's lawyers could drag him through the courts.

Even more happily, MH ensured that all creditors were paid off out of his own money.

Fortune favours the good, obviously, and MH secured a job as a Flying Ambassador for Virgin, flying alongside cabin crew (not as one of them, clearly), giving advice on how service and operational procedures could be improved.

Then, out of the blue, he was offered a job with Blue Islands only to fall foul of the economic downturn six months later, being made redundant(not sacked - heaven forbid)...

Luckily, though, at just the right time, a group of Tenerife/UK based investors approached MH for the fifth time (no, honestly) and, although, MH told them that managing another airline wasn't on his agenda, he was persuaded. After all, as he so eloquently put it - "it was time to put baby branson to bed and sing him a lullaby. I want to be the first Martin Halstead from here on in."

Happily for all concerned the fundamental business plan was strong and a lot of funding was in place. Hence the reason that MH now owns 50% of the business, having invested some of his own money.

You might need to wipe a tear of admiration from your eye as you consider MH's final point :"I guess I had a point to prove to myself that I could do it."

I always thought the Michael Foot Labour party manifesto was the most damaging piece of self-puffery in the world but i've changed my mind....

At least Michael Foot didn't bring his mother along to the launch day to be photographed with a bottle of champagne.

On the Oxford News Website tonight:

"A YOUNG pilot claims to have been left high and dry by the demise of Oxford airline Varsity Express after he invested £15,000 to be trained by the collapsed carrier.
Twenty-three-year-old Peter Chilvers borrowed cash from his parents, grandmother and other family members so he could fulfil his childhood dream of becoming an airline pilot.
Mr Chilvers is one of four recently-qualified pilots who handed over a total of £52,500 to be ‘type-trained’ – to learn to fly the company’s 18-seat Jetstream 31 plane.
Varsity Express, which offered daily flights between Oxford and Edinburgh, was grounded after just a week, leaving passengers – and Mr Chilvers – stranded in the Scottish capital last week.
Thames Valley Police has launched an investigation into allegations of “fraudulent activity” at the airline.
However, the entrepreneur behind Varsity Express, Martin Halstead, has denied any wrongdoing and has pledged that all the pilots will be repaid in full.
Mr Chilvers was offered a £24,000-a-year job after being interviewed in London and had been due to start his first pilot’s job with Varsity in May.
However, he needed to hand over the money, including £4,000 from his 89-year-old grandmother Barbara, so he could be type-trained.
Mr Chilvers, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, in Staffordshire, underwent training at Oxford Aviation Academy.
He said: “I always wanted to be a pilot. I was incredibly excited to begin work. It would have been real flying and a great route to start off on, with short sectors all in the UK.
“Being based out of Oxford would have been the ideal location.
“Varsity held the interviews in the ‘Gherkin’ in London and that sort of thing doesn’t come cheaply, so I thought these guys were well backed.
“I’m desperate to get that money back.”
Mr Halstead, 23, from Summertown, said he had written off £3,500 of his own money that he put into Varsity.
However, he added: “The pilots will be reimbursed. We are in discussion with them at the moment about a payment schedule to get their refunds returned.
“That money was put into the company and used as part of the working capital, but we are working on getting it back.
“It’s a priority that no-one should be out of pocket on this.”
Mr Chilvers fears that losing the money would harm his chances of future employment in the industry, as it is now commonplace for pilots to pay for their training.
He said: “Currently in the airline industry companies that are taking on the most pilots want some financial contribution.
“Having no money rules me out of quite a lot of jobs in the industry that are open to someone of my experience level.
“My family have stood by me and helped me as much as possible but their finances have been completely ex-hausted.
“My main concern is being reimbursed for this money and being able to pay my debts off to my family. I’m devastated.”
Mr Halstead has already insisted that between 350 and 400 passengers who had booked trips with Varsity would be refunded within 14 days.
He said the pilots would have their money returned within three months."

Note that MH admits to using the £52,500 as working capital.

Good grief.

A further insight into the boys mentality if it was required. This individual has a sense of elevated importance over eveyone around him, I imagine it helps him be so ruthless towards his innocent victims.

Other pilots?
 

My goodness, what a mess. I simply can't understand how MH might think that using a fake name to do any of the following is not a business use of this fake Commercial Director -

1. Communicate with potential employees (as noted on this forum earlier)
2. Communicate with Oxford Airport (as confirmed by an Oxford Airport spokeswoman in one of the early press articles)
3. Comment on the state of the company in VE-issued press releases posted on VE's website and throughout the internet

MH was quoted as saying “I went along with it. I never saw it as an issue because Will Gilligan was never actually conducting any business for the company.” Making arrangements with airports, communicating with potential employees, making statements in VE issued press releases....that sure sounds like Gilligan was doing "business for the company," does it not?

I, too, have many questions. First of all - where are the other 3 pilots? Nothing has been mentioned about them. Surely they're wanting their money back too. I really hope they all come forward to collect their money back from VE and I hope those who were interviewed for the FO jobs will submit any info they have to the police. Also, admitting you used the pilots' money as capital for the company when they handed it over under the pretense that it would pay for their training...that seems like a horrible idea when trying to claim innocence, no?

I'm eager to hear what the police have found and whether or not there will be official charges brought against VE/MH. However, this is a very sad event for legitimate airline entrepreneurs. This will, no doubt, make it very difficult for future start ups.

Nice article Captivep - didnt know MH was so accomplished. He should go far...like Brazil. :} Anyway lets hope Mr Chilvers gets his money back and more...


- TR J31 with OAA = Euros 21375 PER CREW (includes CAA exam fees) or approx £19k.

- Given that the J31 is a multi-crew aircrfat it is fair to say that the cost for the J31 on your license is approx. £9.5K per crew member.

- This cost excludes base training - which, i think, OAA cannot conduct.

- £15k - £9.5k = £5.5k x 5 FOs = £27.5k

- The cost of base training for 5 FOs in one day would not amount to £27k (J31 = approx £800 - £1k hourly operational rate?) possibly £5k maximum.

- Line training can be done during normal commercial/revenue earning sectors.

So even if MH had paid for the TR with OAA and had sent the email in his own name that still leaves the question of the £20k odd leftover. Where did it go? :=

Given he did not enter into consultation with the FOs with regards to the real cost and how this extra cash would be distributed contractually then this in itself is fraud. The fact he used Will Gilligan as an alias to solict the money in the first place just galvanises any case against him further. :D

He talked about "Will Gilligan" as if its a real person.
I found that interesting and looked-up "pathological".
Its worth a look, gives a lot of answers!
lsh

Interesting discussion. I recall at the time of the interviews the TRs were being advertised as being with OAA/CAE in Stockholm. I spoke to CAE before deciding whether to submit an application to VE, they (Stockholm) were very helpful and advised me they had no knowledge of VE or any bookings in their names. Furthermore, they said £15k was a lot for a J31 TR and wondered if it included line training?

No, I didn't apply and, yes, I did pass the info on to those I knew invited to VE for interview. Their views are shown elsewhere.

In response to the post by captivep. Some may remember the september 09 issue of airliner world and their patheticaly sensationalist pat-on-own-back, for playing their part in uncovering the 17 year old Adam 'Tait' and his bogus airline.

Perhaps the bosses at the mag should take a look at why they can vindicate a young kid who, after themselves suggesting he had a form of autism, was setting out to hurt no one, yet they are prepared to give good publicity to 'baby Branson' and his next failed venture. Incidently it would seem his actions have had serious financial implications on a number of people...

Im sorry for side tracking the thread, just thought it was worth pointing out. Perhaps they will be backpeddling for their next issue as i type this? hmm

The waters around Oxford seem to be getting murkier and murkier. If you hold solid information, not hearsay or papertalk, you should consider passing it on to the authorities. This man is a menace and has temporarily destoyed the dreams of guys who were about to embark on their future life's work. This is, of course, why we re-opened this nightmare - so that you are aware as you could be.

PPP

Hidden truth
 

Back several months ago colleagues were approached by an aviation consultant with industry experience at other airports, saying he was representing a new airline operation interested in linking EDI, CBG, OXF and NCL amongst other destinations at a later date. It looked and smelled like another infamous green liveried J31 operation with all the hallmarks of MH. As time progressed, the consultant clearly focused on OXF-EDI rather than CBG and that was that. Having blatently denied any MH involvement when asked, lo and behold, once commitments to launch the OXF-EDI route had been secured, who should crawl out of the woodwork but MH.

I don't think our friends at EDI or OXF would have let the outfit through the door had they known from the outset, hence the whole charade with fake backers, fake directors, fake addresses, fake finances, fake employees etc. Once the route was announced and sales of tickets went live, it's argually too late to tell the operation to forget it and dissapear - you go with it and hope it all works.

Fees to the airports would have been paid upfront by the actual operator, Linksair, not Varsity who were just a marketing brand and ticketing agent, so they ought not to be out of pocket.

Unfortunately, everyone else touched by this outfit would appear to be owed money.

All who seem to have had contact with Varsity/MH from the tail end of last year to even the papers yesterday seem to have been consistently lied to. It's just a catalogue of deceit.

MH clearly has a mental problem and actually needs therapy. He's probably not a true 'criminal' in the conventional sense, nor stupid in the low IQ sence, but very foolish, nieve, desperate and simply dishonest.

Lucky escape really!

I rather think LONDON AIRPORT (OXFORD) !!!! with the fancy sign on the Langford Lane roundabout would be an embarassment for any sound organisation based at Kidlington....a piece of puffery appropriate as a setting for the Varsity Express Enterprise.

At least young Halstead didn't try to sell his tickets from LONDON to Edinburgh!

Pilot Positive,

I don't think the fact that the numbers don't add up is criminal. Does anyone doubt that Ryanair profit from SSTRs? There would be nothing illegal about MH marking up the training, either for profit or for off-setting costs of some sort. Exploitative? Maybe, but not criminal in itself.

The reason I asked about the cost of an OAA J31 rating was simply to get an idea if he was even in the ball park with his figures because I doubt he ever priced it out or checked on course availability, much less reserved course seats or drafted any contracts. I would not be surprised if he just pulled a figure out of thin air, a nice round figure at that.

MH secured a job as a Flying Ambassador for Virgin, flying alongside cabin crew (not as one of them, clearly), giving advice on how service and operational procedures could be improved.


I have flown with the guy at VS and was quite surprised to read the above. He was Cabin Crew, a junior in fact and the ambassador title is given to normal crew members who volunteer to gain other crews views regarding the service onboard any route.

Must admit some of his stories told were a bit OTT.:bored:

Cheers