Jetlinks haven't put anyone through a type rating they use contract pilots.

There are 2 options for J31 ratings you can go the sim solution which is 8 sessions of 4 hours. Sim is @ 400 quid an hour and the TRI/TRE is 900 quid a day but that does a crew. Then LPC which is 4 hours and 900 quid for TRE. Base training again is 900 quid for the TRE and 800 quid an hour for the airframe plus approach fees. Factor in staying in Sweden and flights to Sweden it ramps up.

Second option is in the aircraft which I think is 8 hours min and you already have the 6 landings so you don't have to do base training.

After training it is very rare in the UK for jetstream 31/32 pilots to ever see the sim again because of the costs. All the checks are done in the aircraft.
Which if you don't have your own TRE are going to cost 2k plus per pilot.

Tech training last time I heard was under 2k for the 2 weeks.

I refer the honourable gentleman above to post 33.......

Does that mean I get a t-shirt too?!?!? :)

- Once again, the true and useful value of PPRuNe is identified, if these posts saved one person from depositing £15k into a bank account for nothing then it's been worth it. There were so many clear questions to be asked that I strongly believe it was worth asking them.

Learjet50, who I'm very pleased to know by his real name off this board, was knocked for his views (and spelling), yet he was spot on.

Those of you who know him will know that he doesn't hold back on his opinions and as they were blunt people naturally dived in with a "it's the recession, the guy's trying" defence. Well, yes, it is the recession, but alledged fraudsters will remain regardless of the economy and the views of people like Learjet50, who have been around for years and have seen it time and time again are very valuable and shouldn't be so readily dismissed - even in an anonymous forum where it's easy to do it. The good thing though is that when we're wrong, I'm always confident that we're the first to hold our hands up and admit it.

Like I said though, if our collective postings saved one pilot from shedding £15k for nothing (and don't knock them too much, they are new to the industry and it's no different to the requests I'm seeing from pilots who will fly for food at the moment) then I think we should be pleased with what PPRuNe can achieve.

Danny can proudly add another one to his tally.

- Finally, I can only hope this is the last the industry hears of Martin Halstead. This a microscopically small industry and the likes of the failings of AlphaOne and now Varsity Express do nothing to serve any of us - they leave the industry in general with a bad reputation with the travelling public and make our collective employees (pilots, cabin crew and engineers) trust us less with every failed venture because the people who usually get hit the most financially (percentage of income-wise) are them.

And still the attempted cover up and lies continue. I received this today:

Unfortunately on March 8th 2010 at 3pm Varsity Express ceased services due to operational differences with the operator, Linksair

All passenger refunds have been processed and customers can expect to receive their funds within 14 working days. Varsity's credit card clearing house, Pensio, is based in Denmark and are handling the refunds. All passenger funds were kept securely away from the working capital of the company and so all passengers who were unable to fly with Varsity can be assured of a full refund

There are currently many inaccurate and factually untrue media reports surrounded the Varsity Express operation and the individuals behind it. Many of these stories are completely false and untrue and the company will not be drawn into discussion over such claims.

Many thanks to all of our customers, it was with deepest regret and under very trying circumstances that we were forced to withdraw services. We apologise for the obvious inconvenience caused

Varsity Express Customer Services
][email protected]
www.flyvarsity.com

Adios, point taken. Although perhaps we need to do everything we can to deter other people who might think to emulate MH?

Anyway, lets leave it to the police and the courts to decide.... :}



PP

So either MH is going to sue The Times, or sue himself.... it strikes me that our journo cousins have done a pretty fair and accurate job of reporting this debacle. Going waaaaay back to Stansdead's comment:

or from Adios:

it seems obvious to me that he is completely oblivious to the damage he has done, since he himself is a legend in his own bedroom...

Yeesh. T-shirts for Daifly as well btw!

http://rlv.zcache.com/i_told_you_so_...65t5z0_210.jpg :E

TA

Looks like somebody prepaid his website since it is still in the air :p

Anybody care to ask MH errr Customerdisservices whatv the lies are on his e-mail adress :}

Actually, I thought I might write to him and ask for a copy of his business plan - although I don't live in Tenerife or have extensive property or entertainment interests I do rather like the idea of investing in an airline.:):):)

Mr Halstead
 

Mr Halstead,

We here at PPRuNe would like you to give answers to some worrying problems that your operation, Varsity Express, presents to us. We are so concerned in fact that we wish you to offer you the opportunity to give your personal response to the accusations that face you on PPRuNe. We have always felt a great need to protect those who use PPRuNe. Indeed, we feel we have a duty of care to ensure that our readers be they pilots, cabin crew or ops or aviation in general and therefore a fraternity that is us, to make certain they are not dis-advantaged by anyone.

What worries us is that you had an operation called Alpha1 and we at first allowed it to be mentioned on these boards, then we discovered that it wasn't all it seemed and we decided to discontinue its name being mentioned. We do that if their is doubt as to its worth in terms of credibility and integrity. As it turned out we were right.

As far as your new venture is concerned we were equally concerned about its aims, particularly with one aircraft, which never does make a success in our experience, yet you went ahead.

However, that was not for us to question. Others were doing that as well as we would have done. We would therefore hope that you would in the interests of clarity kindly answer some questions.

1. Is it correct to say that you ceased operations because you failed to pay Links Air for their ACMI costs in the first week and they then, not unexpectedly removed their aircraft?

2. Did you accept large sums of money from passengers who booked flights with your organisation. Have you therefore repaid them and if not why not. Please clarify. And where is the Escrow account you have and why has that not been activated - passengers DO want their money back. And why does your defunct website say "the Board" when you are the board - trying to impress again?

3. There are pilots on this thread who assert that they met with you and a Mr Lawrence in a hired room in the Gherkin in London, which may be regarded to impress, for the purpose of an interview for the position of First Officer and that you did, in the first instance, require them to pay you up front £15,000 for a type rating on the J31, some finding it most difficult sum to find, and you have not yet paid them back and have, it is reported in the Oxford News that you will do so in 3 months. Would you care to answer that? Where is that money now? Why 3 months? And as it is also alleged that you failed to pay Links Air and all your other costs, which would have only have been a few landing fees and handling fees - not much in the scheme of things so can you explain where the money has gone. That total sum according to the press from your own mouth indicates that it is over £50,000 in type ratings alone - where is that and the pax money now? We know you have said that some has gone in working capital but can you justify that much in writing? You may have to.

4. Would you care to answer why you have changed each story as and when you were asked by different newspapers and how you can defend these differences as nothing more than lies.

5. We now know that 'Will Gilligan' is a fiction and in your imagination so can you tell us why you have fraudulently used that name as a 'Commercial Director' of VE when in fact he is you pure and simple, you being the only director as per searches in Companies House clearly show. Is that because you knew that if your past effort with Alpha1 came out no-one would do business with you? Have you in fact paid your fees at OXF and EDI?

6. Can you also answer how you claimed to have used, or were going to use the only sim available for a J31, which is in Stockholm. They have refuted that and said that "we have never been asked by any company called Varsity Express, or have we been asked by Links Air on behalf of Varsity Express." These are pretty damning assertions given that you received such large sums for sim training.

We would be most pleased to hear your answers to these questions, and some of your reasons for planning such an abortive operation that brings aviation into disrepute.

Finally, we believe that there is enough information in this thread for us to instigate some action against you to protect some of those who have used money borrowed from, a grandmother and his father and his own resources only to have his dream taken from him. It will be all well and good if you repay him and the others but if you do not I personally will do I can to alert the authorities to some wrongdoing. Of course, that may too late and they may already be asking you questions.

Please Mr Halstead, do answer. But please do not insult us. We are very experienced in the field of airline operations and will immediately spot any attempt to fool us.

This is a genuine proposal to give you a chance to challenge the accusations made against you. If you do not answer you will never be allowed near aviation again. In other words do not underestimate the power of PPRuNe.

Oh! I almost forgot. This from your statement.

So some of the stories are true then, and 'what individuals.' Repeating yourself is a sign of weakness.

PPP

A thoroughly excellent post, PPruNe Pop. I look forward to the response.

But I'm not going to hold my breath!

TA

Me Neither excellent post we shall await the Boys Reply .There will not be one.

Excellent summation by Pprune Pop - can I suggest, if you haven't already done so, that you email the questions direct to [email protected]?

Just to add a bit of background information - I run a business which takes credit card payments and the money appears in our bank account the day after the transaction; I'm sure most payment providers run in a similar way. I stand to be corrected, but I've never come across a situation where the intermediate company would hold onto the money.

For start-ups, especially in fields where there's a high rate of chargeback, the processing company can hold on to the money for up to 45 days. They don't want to be in a position where the company goes bust and they are left refunding all the customers. My personal trainer has started a studio and, because it's lumped into generic `leisure', he's having to wait thirty days for payments to come through. So it's not totally implausible.

Captivep - isn't that what happened with flyglobespan ?

I'm happy to stand corrected! At least there may be some hope for passengers getting their money back then.

EastMids

Fair enough I withdraw it and will delete the reference to it.

BTW, I have copied the thread, in particular the post, to that email address but...............I won't hold my breath either.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire
 

Bravo PPRune Pop! :D

Lets hope he responds - it would be interesting to hear how creative MH can be with his lies....

For the benefit of Mr Reed :ok:

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/1747/tosort0053.jpg

Thanks for the flyer picture BIGBAD!

Good luck in the sand next month !!

Cheers.

When I first saw the photo of the Forth Rail Bridge, I thought it was an advert for the train! (being a railway bridge and all that)

Why is this thread being so heavily moderated, posts are being deleted all over the place?

Edit: A friendly one. You are new to PPRuNe and the best advice is go with the flow, follow the rules, learn and then enjoy.

PPP