Wycombe Air Centre takeover by Cabair [Archive]

Apollo_

23rd Sep 2006, 21:52

I can't believe there isn't more information on this forum about the take-over by Cabair of Wycombe Air Centre. It is very sad for the GA community

Apparently they sent out a letter to each member. By the time the letter got to the staff many employees had heard the news from other people who didn't even work at the company.

From speaking to current employees of WAC, everybody say that it is an excellent place to work, very friendly staff, a very relaxed atmosphere in the clubhouse and many members just pop in for a chat. This informal, relaxed atmosphere is the main reason many stay as club members rather than perhaps going to other local airfields which may be closer to where they live. This is likely to dramatically change once Cabair have got their foot in the door.

A lot of the commitment from the staff came out of loyalty to the three ex directors, who are all well respected within the company.

The other main thing that hasn't even been mentioned yet is the engineering department. WAC engineering has an excellent safety record and a well maintained fleet of aircraft.

Another local flying school will never be the same again.

HON

24th Sep 2006, 23:27

Quite correct, now that cabair have snapped WAC up then everything will change and have to become cabair blue!! All literatre, prices etc will become the standard cabair rip off prices. It will be intresting to see what happens to the ppl training side of the school, its the staff and students I feel sorry for now as everything will have to become integrated into the cabair way. Profit is always at the number one of every business but as a former employee of cabair I can tell you its not nice every monday morning to have the directors breathing down your neck questioning every hour not flown and every weather dicision made etc. With wycombe being grass to it will be intresting to see what they do in the wet winter months. Costs behind the scenes will be cut, staff at a minimum but the price the customer pays will be hiked up every year or so and then there is the other hidden charges that the customer pays like the fuel surcharge, or the insurance surcharge or the surcharge for the surcharge!! For example a trial lesson that is adveristed at £99 could end up costing the customer £130 at the end of the day (not a great sales pitch to attract new customers). I really am sorry for the customers and staff and moarn the loss of another locall flying school and a great name in the GA community is lost to the cabair machine!

Wycombe

25th Sep 2006, 15:29

Although not a current member at WAC, I was for 8 years and would agree with many of the reasons above that made it a good place to fly.

WAC never was the cheapest, but for what you paid you got virtually new, well-equipped and well-maintained aircraft to fly in (at least over the last 4/5 years with the new 172's), engineering back-up nearly always available if there was something wrong, committed instructors and a fairly relaxed approach to things like a/c utilisation (eg, happy to let you take an a/c for the day, providing there was 2-3 hours on the hobbs at the end).

WAC was a professionally run Club, with a friendly atmosphere and seemed to be good at finding the right balance (eg, instructors always uniformed, but no sign of the Cabair "shoulder-gold").

Just hope the 3 ex-Directors have been seen right in all of this.

Sleeve Wing

25th Sep 2006, 16:17

Yep, sad day, guys. Won't be the same without old Dickie there.
Still, you can always go across the road to the BAFC - that's another good outfit with a sound pedigree.
BTW, HON, how long has Wycombe been all grass ?

TheOddOne

25th Sep 2006, 16:57

Quite so, landed on 24 which is most definitely asphalt, last week. Departed on 17, which IS grass, though.

TheOddOne

Apollo_

25th Sep 2006, 19:48

Yes there is the British Airways Flying Club option on the same airfield, and although they too are very professional in their approach to flying training and have an equally well maintained fleet of aircraft, there is definitely something lacking in their approach to their club members.

Wycombe Air Centre is by far the more friendly and relaxed place for both people learning to fly and advanced training. That is the point I am trying to make about WAC, you can only get their atmosphere from a local privately owned club which is going to be totally lost once cabair get their feet under the table.

And yes Booker does have 1 tarmac and 2 grass runways, so wet weather operation not normally a problem.

Kenny

25th Sep 2006, 22:52

What a damn shame, I did my PPL/IMC at WAC in the summer of '96.

They were always a thoroughly professional group of people.

smarthawke

26th Sep 2006, 10:10

The 3 best ex-directors apparently got shafted by the other one......

porridge

26th Sep 2006, 14:40

I guess they will become a PPL school only now as the Commercial, IR and FIC is conducted at Cranfield and I doubt whether they (Cabair) will want to dilute their training base for advanced that close to home. To be successful at Booker they will have to be competitive with PPL rates and/or bring in diesels to remain competitive and make money. The Elstree base has seen a considerable fall of in PPL work, so perhaps they will relocate the locus of their London PPL work to Booker.
Whatever the outcome it will concentrate PPL and other training in the hands of a couple of schools so it will not do much for the competitiveness of the industry. I see more schools moving to the sport/recreational arena where is more money to be made at much lower costs that the Group A part of the industry.

Apollo_

27th Sep 2006, 14:59

My posts are being quite unfairly censored by the moderators, I have not written anything that is untrue.

Smarthawke you are spot on with your post.

hobbit1983

27th Sep 2006, 16:28

As someone who did part of their training with Cabair Denham, and got along well with the instructors/ops people, can I just ask (purely out of interest; no axe to grind or arguements to start) what has happened with Cabair in the past to generate a lot of predictions of doom & gloom on hearing this news?

I understand how a big faceless corporation could be worse than a independent flying club, but am just interested in a little background info if possible - has this happened before?

smarthawke

28th Sep 2006, 12:17

Apparently, the first two Commercial students arrived at WACAIR the Monday after the 'take-over' (sorry 'merger' as the nameless director termed it to the staff) so it isn't PPL-only yet.

I understand the staff was told to find space for them - the fact that they were already busy didn't matter.....

Apollo_

28th Sep 2006, 20:14

I understand that WAC will concentrate more on the advanced training, with many students coming from Cabair sources. This in itself is not a such a bad thing as the advanced training can generate a steady income.

This shouldn't be pursued at the expense of the PPL training. If there any no new PPL students, then who are the advanced training instructors going to train in the future?

A and C

30th Sep 2006, 18:01

It is indeed a very sad day for all at EGTB the WAC was a top rate company that was run ethicly, as some have said not the cheapest but always value for money.

The only winner out of this (apart from one of the directors IF and I stress IF what has been said above is true) will be the British airways flying club.

The BAFC is also a very well run club with high standards and I am sure will do very well when Cabair move in. It won't take long for people to catch on to the hidden extra's pricing policy of Cabair when just across the ramp they will find the BAFC's honest and open attitude of "what it says on the list is what you pay".

wac flyer

9th Oct 2006, 15:04

I have been flying from WAC for 19 years and I did not receive a letter advising of the change of ownership!!
Sadly I am sure they will loose a lot of members which will result in yet more lapsed PPL's.
My understanding is that only one director came out of the deal on top, may be we should accept that the hard realities of business had to take priority over the needs of the members and staff.
They will breaking up a great team!

VOR_DME

9th Oct 2006, 19:15

It's a shame this has happened really. I've got just over 15 hours now building up to my PPL, so i havn't been there all that long, but I just hope the brilliant standards don't drop due to the change over!

Anyway, in my opinion it can't get as bad as :mad: over the other side of the apron! (If I'm allowed to say that???)

To be fair that's all I've heard anyway, and from the fact that on a couple of occasions I've been checking out the plane, a couple of their instructors have hurled snide remarks from the fuel pumps. There again, the people I've heard that from are long-time WAC flyers, so I'm sure they're a tiny bit biased ;)

(Sorry this edit comes after all the comments asking why I don't like BAFC, but as you can see in the "Reason for Editing", the last paragraph here was for some reason cutout - hope it explains all!)

smarthawke

10th Oct 2006, 12:37

VOR DME

Rather harsh comments regarding the 'other' people at Wycombe, why for you have that opinion? Just interested, I know quite a lot of very happy people over there who have been flying there for many years.

VMF-214 "Pappy"

10th Oct 2006, 17:27

Sad…very sad… and what a lack of style!

I got the “sad news” a couple of days ago reading the announcement inside one of the UK top aviation magazine. I’m currently flying at WAC and as a member, I would have appreciated a couple of nice words tracing the past and illustrating the future…

As a member….Ooops …maybe I’m not anymore…I might just be a paying customer…I never considered myself a paying customer at WAC…but a pilot... a pilot, part of a club…

…sad…very sad…

I loved the professional support that the staff and the instructors gave us every time we showed up.
We… “The members” felt special…and part of a special Club…what’s left now?

Is it the new style?…or just a lack of style…!!!

A letter (have anyone received one…) tracing the glorious past and shaping the future would have made the difference … a letter...two nice words…just that…

Is WAC’s top management sensible to “members loyalty” and what we represented so far…I doubt it now…

Dear “Management” …you just lost my support…

Sad…very sad… and... in what lack of style!

VOR_DME

11th Oct 2006, 15:29

Rather harsh comments regarding the 'other' people at Wycombe, why for you have that opinion? Just interested, I know quite a lot of very happy people over there who have been flying there for many years.

Sorry about that - If you look at my edit, you'll see what I actually said! For some reason, it didn't publish my last paragraph! :hmm:

DenhamPPL

11th Oct 2006, 18:11

Sad news indeed:sad:

I first flew with WAC 90's - chose them over BAFC for the more "clubby" atmosphere.

Don't like the sound of Cabair taking WAC over although if their business standards are as questionable as some of their instructors training methods then they won't be there for long. I have lost count of the number of times I (and fellow non-Cabair flyers) have been "cut up" and had to go around in the circuit (at Denham) by Cabair students+instructors returning from the local area and busting into the circuit pattern straight to final. So much for the "conforming to the pattern of traffic formed.." rule.:ugh:

BRL

11th Oct 2006, 19:14

My posts are being quite unfairly censored by the moderators, I have not written anything that is untrue.

Smarthawke you are spot on with your post.

I have not touched any posts of yours :confused:

What has been censored?

Apollo_

11th Oct 2006, 20:18

I have not touched any posts of yours :confused:

What has been censored?

Some sentences have been cut short, and one post didn't appear at all....
Maybe that post was lost at my end - I don't know.

Apollo_

11th Oct 2006, 20:24

I have not touched any posts of yours :confused:

What has been censored?

I've just noticed that the thread has been moved, were you moderating right from the start when the thread was in Non-Airline Forums, Flying Instructors & Examiners?

BRL

11th Oct 2006, 20:39

Nope. If you discover anything censored again, will you please email me with some details so I can look into it. If you have been censored then you should have at least been told about it by someone. :)

smarthawke

11th Oct 2006, 23:05

VOR_DME

12th Oct 2006, 16:11

VOR_DME

Me thinks any anti-WAC chat from BAFC staff is no more than 'in the best possible taste' stirred into something more sinister by chinese whispers and bar talk.

As far as I know all the staff of WAC and BAFC get on just fine - one big happy family (present directors excepted...).

You're probably right; sorry my post (being my first ever on PPRuNe) caused such a stir. As I said, I'm just going by my own small bit of experience!

VOR_DME

scottiedogg

13th Oct 2006, 21:37

Aye it is a shame about WAC, and there are far too many rumours going around about whats happening.

I have flown at WAC since last year, i did my PPL there. Im currently doing the ATPL groundschool training at oxford but i still plan to go back to WAC for my MER, CPL and IR.

As far as im concerned with it all, when i went up to the club the other week i asked what was happening. The whole response i got is nothing is changing... There are no major changes planned for the next year, and all the ex directors are staying on for 3 years at least, including Dicky.

Nothing is changing relating to the fleet, it is still sticking to cessnas, although theres hope the aging twins might get replaced :ok:

As far as ive been told so far WAC is not changing into one of these guinea pig farm ATPL schools like some of their other clubs, its just going to be branded as 'cabair at WAC' or something.

Id like to say i never got a letter about it either... lol

The idea seems to be to leave it as it is in its main entirity. Lets hope so.

S

S-Works

14th Oct 2006, 08:31

What is it with pilots and resistance to change? I found nothing unusual in a company being taken over, better than going bust. I bet if you dug around there are probably very good reasons for the sale.

Whatever you may think of Cabair they are an expanding business and looking at the last accounts a very stable one. If GA is to survive then I amfraid we will have to get used to the coporate faces rather than the romantic notion of these cosy little flying clubs. Romantic notions do not pay the bills.

Take a look at the Cabair fleet, modern well equipped aircraft with a charging structure that supports proper maintance and upgrading. They are also an organisation that I would feel comfortable handing over a course fee up front.

smarthawke

14th Oct 2006, 09:01

B Fraser

14th Oct 2006, 09:01

I have lost count of the number of times I (and fellow non-Cabair flyers) have been "cut up" and had to go around in the circuit (at Denham) by Cabair students+instructors returning from the local area and busting into the circuit pattern straight to final. So much for the "conforming to the pattern of traffic formed.." rule.:ugh:

The circuit can be extremely busy with three simultaneous patterns in use. The boys and girls in the tower at EGTB will not stand for any nonsense :=

smarthawke

14th Oct 2006, 09:20

B Fraser

I should quickly edit your last post to the correct order of 'girls and boys' if I were you or you may never get another clearance again!! Never lose sight of the all conquering girl power........

B Fraser

14th Oct 2006, 09:37

errrrrrrrrr............ I was listing them in alphabetical order :uhoh:

See what I mean folks ! If you ever call "Golden Ball" before you get there, you will soon be known as "Missing Ball".

S-Works

14th Oct 2006, 10:11

scottiedog
The 'nothing will change' has been said so many times it must be true - or, like one member of staff was apparently told - 'unless they decide to change it'...
I'm sure that everyone that works there really hopes that things won't change but Cabair aren't known for having that high on their list of credentials.
As for the 3 ex-directors staying on for '3 years at least' - you might be mistaken on that one, although my sources tell me that those 3 (and any non-director staff that felt obliged to leave) would certainly be sadly missed around Booker.
bose-x
If/when you've been directly involved in GA in the UK long enough (ie 'in the industry' rather than a 'partaker') you may realise that all you say is about as untrue as it gets!
PS A quick edit to include the immortal phrase: "all that glitters is not gold"....

I am sorry I do not see the point of your comment to me? My point was that all that glitters is not gold.

Cabair are not everyones cup of tea and are certainly not mine. I fly from an uncontrolled strip and buy the aircraft I want to play with.

However looking at it from a business perspective (and I am pretty good at making money in business) they are stable and achieve economies of scale. They generally provide desirable aircraft for training and rental and charge a rate that sustains the business not one the reflects other schools endless round of failures.

I am sure non of the companies I aquired and often dismantled over the years were always ahppy about it. But thats business.

Oh and be careful about assuming my providence when it comes to aviation.

scottiedogg

14th Oct 2006, 11:26

scottiedog
The 'nothing will change' has been said so many times it must be true - or, like one member of staff was apparently told - 'unless they decide to change it'...
I'm sure that everyone that works there really hopes that things won't change but Cabair aren't known for having that high on their list of credentials.
As for the 3 ex-directors staying on for '3 years at least' - you might be mistaken on that one, although my sources tell me that those 3 (and any non-director staff that felt obliged to leave) would certainly be sadly missed around Booker.

I do hope that the club stays relatively the same, but the general idea i have had from everyone up there i have spoken to is that no one is leaving - after all no one will really want to leave and be unemployed. Yes there must be bad feeling up there, but theres also positive vibes coming from WAC.

As far as its been made out to me WAC isnt to be branded as a cabair airline prep school like say cranfield, and theres still other share holders along with cabair, so not all decisions will be purely Cabair. From a business perspective yes they are out to make money, but look at their track record and how many people fly with them out of there zillions odd schools - they must be doing something right.

At the end of the day in my mind it can only be a good thing that theyve taken over - cabair have always been good at keeping good fleets of aircraft, and it would be nice to see this maintained.

Also I know all of the staff up there and 99%of the instructors at WAC, and none seem to be leaving, so really i dont think in the next year or so much will change at all. To be honest if the staff stays the same on a whole i dont think it will feel any different, its the people that make the atmosphere.

Like with everything in aviation changes cost money, and theyre not going to want to pour money into somewhere theyve just purchased overnight. Any changes that will happen will be many many months down the line.

Scott

Apollo_

14th Oct 2006, 21:11

I do hope that the club stays relatively the same, but the general idea i have had from everyone up there i have spoken to is that no one is leaving - after all no one will really want to leave and be unemployed. Yes there must be bad feeling up there, but theres also positive vibes coming from WAC.

Also I know all of the staff up there and 99%of the instructors at WAC, and none seem to be leaving, so really i dont think in the next year or so much will change at all. To be honest if the staff stays the same on a whole i dint think it will feel any different, its the people that make the atmosphere.

Scott

The 'positive vibes' are probably the staff you have seen putting on a brave face in front of the customers, after all there is still a job to do and WAC are very professional.

As for none of the staff leaving, you are a little out of touch. There is 1 who is definitely leaving and several seriously thinking about it. As you said in your post it is the staff that make the atmosphere, and the staff are the company. Yes Cabair have bought WAC and all its assets ie aircraft/equipment, but they can't buy the staff. Of course many people will stay as it has always been a good place to work and they are hoping that things remain the same, but also others may feel Cabair is not the right company for them.

The changes probably won't happen straight away, as any new purchaser would want to see the company in action before implementing any 'improvements', but give it 6 months to a year......

scottiedogg

14th Oct 2006, 22:10

The changes probably won't happen straight away, as any new purchaser would want to see the company in action before implementing any 'improvements', but give it 6 months to a year......

I totally agree, any major changes to be made im sure will be implemented or discussed within the next 6-18months.

Well i do hope the majority of the staff stays on, im flying at WAC tomorrow so hopefully i will find out a bit more of whats going on

Scott

SmoothFlyer

15th Oct 2006, 01:32

Hello all,

I am a student at WAC and started in May this year and have flown about 22 hours with them. I have come across some excellent instructors and appreciate the professional and friendly approach.

I was also a bit surprised when I heard the news about Cabair taking over, but so far every thing seems to be the same. Maybe I am missing out on some of the tension as I only tend to fly on weekends.

As someone mentioned above, it is the staff that contribute to the evironment of the club, and WAC do have some excellent people. It would be foolish if Cabair came and tried to "improve" that part of the business.

I live in North London and although Elstree would be closer to get to, I still prefer to take the time to go to WAC, precisely for the warm and friendly environment.

I hope that Cabair would have the commercial sense to maintain the staff and the friendly atmosphere at WAC

A and C

15th Oct 2006, 07:19

If Cabair run true to form they will sit and watch for a wile not touching anything and then without warning things will change overnight.

The WAC will change and it won't be for the better very soon you will see attractive prices with lots of "add on's" that make the prices much less than attractive!, membership deals that seem very good but read the small print because the deal won't be nearly as good as it seems and as a student you are likely to end up paying to position aircraft for maintenance at your expence.................. just how much will you get out of EX 7-8 on the way to and from Elstree?

like a number of people have said a very sad day.

scottiedogg

15th Oct 2006, 16:57

As for none of the staff leaving, you are a little out of touch. There is 1 who is definitely leaving and several seriously thinking about it.

Well i went up today and theres no talk of anyone leaving for definate, theres talk of one engineer leaving possible in a few months time, but thats nothing to do with cabair taking over.

S

pulse1

15th Oct 2006, 17:16

When Cabair took over Bournemouth Flying Club there was very little change evident on the operational side for some months.

At the time, BFC had a very lively social side which was heavily supported by the majority of members who did not often fly club aircraft. Either they had their own aircraft or were just social members. This aspect of the club died very quickly and Cabair set up the bar/restaurant as a seperate business and this was open to the general public. As a flying club it all but disappeared and the restaurant and bar never seemed to be terribly busy inspite of its situation close to the threshold of 26.

I am not too familiar with the club setup at WAC but, unless Cabair have learned something, this side of the club may start to deteriorate quite quickly.

smarthawke

15th Oct 2006, 19:09

Totally agree with the other comments re the quality of staff - at the moment all is fine but if the new rulers follow their normal route things will change and it won't be for the better. Needless to say, everyone hopes that they might have learnt from their previous customer service 'ideas' and leave things be this time...

As for an engineer leaving, I think you'll find the move was caused by the Cabair deal - as with most people who have worked with/for certain outfits, they don't want to go there again. And the engineers are just important as everyone else even if they are mostly grubby and hidden away in a hangar!

Oh, and bose-x, I assume nothing re your 'aviation providence', I've known you too long to have to assume. Now that you help out at Spanhoe and have 'moved' from airfield to airfield before that doesn't quite make you an industry expert. Surely you don't really believe what you write about yourself...

scottiedogg

15th Oct 2006, 19:14

Well all i can say is having flown there myself for the past year ive grown to know everyone very well, and theres nothing in some way i dont get to hear about. Ive got a great friendship with alot of the instructors and know alot of the other people behind the scenes really well too. I can safely say at the moment that there isn't anyone definately leaving.

Well, i cant see the staff changing all too much over the next few years personally, id certainly like to see it stay the same.

As ive said before cabair seem more interested to leave it running as it is, just boost the CPL and IR training which would leave the PPL side alone.

Im still going to finish my atpl training there, which will be within the next year, so hopefully if there is any horrible changes down the line they wont affect me, but it certainly would be a blow to both the club, the people who work their and all the people who fly there and also those who have flown there over the years and have fond memories of the place.

Scott

Apollo_

15th Oct 2006, 19:35

Well i went up today and theres no talk of anyone leaving for definate, theres talk of one engineer leaving possible in a few months time, but thats nothing to do with cabair taking over.

S

I think you need to talk to full time staff/instructors.

There is one engineer leaving, don't exactly know when but I understand he has handed in his notice. As far Cabair having nothing to do with the decision I think you will find that Cabair has a lot to do with it.

Yes the engineers are tucked away in the hangar for most of the day - occasionally let out for tea breaks (even the grubby ones!) - but they too are a very important part of WAC. The reputation of a flying school comes partly from the overall standard of the school fleet, and I don't mean having glossy brand new aeroplanes, I'm talking about having an aeroplane that will get you airborne for your lesson/jolly and get you safely back down again without too many dramas in between. Every time I have flown a WAC aircraft I have the utmost confidence in the airworthiness of it, and that goes a long way to keeping members.

Unfortunately, I haven't got the same regard for Cabair maintained aircraft. I hope that no big changes happen in the engineering department at WAC to alter my view of the WAC fleet.
I'm not implying that anyone of the current engineers at WAC would in any way compromise safety, but 'improvements' may be forced upon them....

I think that takes this post full circle and perhaps part of the reason that an engineer is going now...

S-Works

15th Oct 2006, 19:38

Jesus what a load of bitter subjecture. Why don't you wait and see what happens rather than endless hints of how crap it is and the aircraft are going to fall out of the air.

I have never seen such a load of twaddle.

Apollo_

15th Oct 2006, 19:40

scottiedogg

15th Oct 2006, 19:44

I think you need to talk to full time staff/instructors. There is one engineer leaving, don't exactly know when but I understand he has handed in his notice. As far Cabair having nothing to do with the decision I think you will find that Cabair has a lot to do with it. Yes the engineers are tucked away in the hangar for most of the day - occasionally let out for tea breaks (even the grubby ones!) - but they too are a very important part of WAC. The reputation of a flying school comes partly from the overall standard of the school fleet, and I don't mean having glossy brand new aeroplanes, I'm talking about having an aeroplane that will get you airborne for your lesson/jolly and get you safely back down again without too many dramas in between

All very fair points, and i havent heard anything from any of the fulltimers, and i speak to alot of them regularly every week - there one of the main places i get my gossip from!

i understand the engineers are very important part of WAC, i dont see why your trying to argue with me and tell me otherwise.

i trust the engineers dearly, if i didnt i wouldnt fly the planes. Ive got to know them all individually and even flown with a few of them, they are all superb guys.

The whole cabair situation may be a string in a bow of many problems that may be making people considering leaving, and we dont know what history some people may have with cabair, especially in the past.

I was just about to say what bose-x has rudely just said...
At the end of the day im not going to argue about it, we'll all have to wait and see what happens and hope for the best. I certainly hope it stays fairly the same, and in the foreseable future i cannot see it changing all that much to be frank. The cabair situation certainly hasnt put me off the place, in my mind i think it may benefit the place and others not, but i think it will be a good thing eventually. I do hope nobody leaves and that the a/c stay in the same good state, and i hope the staff stays the same. Arguing about future changes isnt worthwile because theres a million and one possibilities. Were all entitled to our opinions - lets stick with them and see what happens.

Apollo_

15th Oct 2006, 20:02

i understand the engineers are very important part of WAC, i dont see why your trying to argue with me and tell me otherwise.

Certainly wasn't trying to argue with you, sorry if it looked that way. I was just trying to elaborate a little more on some of the points that have been raised.

As for waiting and seeing what will happen, realistically that's all we can do, there's not a lot anyone can do about the situation.

bad bear

16th Oct 2006, 05:50

If people dont like what WAC is changing to , they can always join the gliding club. Great flying at very low cost and the gliding club are always looking for tow pilots (must be glider pilot first though). Booker is still one of the best gliding clubs around so why not drop in to the log cabin on the corner and give it a go?

VOR_DME

4th Nov 2006, 14:40

Well, I received a letter this morning from WAC saying:

The modular training fleet now encompasses 6 x Beech Duchess, 2 x Beech Sierra and up to 4 Piper Arrow plus the Cessna 182RG

Does this mean they're replacing the fleet, adding these too it, or...??

VOR_DME

smarthawke

4th Nov 2006, 19:31

Me thinks there may be a bit of creative speak here. I would think the letter means that WAC has access to, or rather Cabair has access to the fleet as you describe not that the WAC fleet is about to change to that.

There is a big choice of aeroplanes out there to use - particularly if the boss man were to run a ruck of GA aircraft leasing businesses and happen to lease them to his other company..... Confused, you will be!

rons22

18th May 2007, 19:30

Is there anyone who completed or is doing CPL/IR at High Wycombe? It'd be nice to hear about quality of training there as I am considering couple of schools at the moment, one being High wycombe?

scottiedogg

18th May 2007, 19:38

hi rons22.

I completed my CPL @ wycombe air centre last month and i am about to finish my IR next week also. I really rate the standard of the training there, its all very professional and well organised. Superb instructors and great staff alround. One on one tuition for CPL and IR, no question too much for an explanation either.

Good fleet of aircraft, all aircraft tech problems always sorted asap for advanced training.

In house CPL/IR 170a examiner and MER examiner to boot.

Im really pleased i did all my training from PPL up there (minus ATPL groundschool as they dont do it) and certainly very pleased i did the CPL there, first time pass on minimal hours and was finished in a month. IR is running into 5 weeks and test looming....