What happened to Akuna seaplanes?

[havick]

Was just driving past their office at Maroochydore and their is a sign saying up for lease, no website etc etc? Bankrupt, sold off, folded?

[AirlinePirate]

Arr.

They be pillaged on the high seas.

Arr.

[FOD_Hazard]

Could it be that they were unable to sell enough of thier $17,000 Professional pilot packages?
Am interested to know if they managed to get any takers at all for that particular course.

[TwoTango]

Maybe the 737-200 floatplane didn't work out so well for them... ;)

[havick]

yeah, they were going to upgrade the 737 to a SR71 on floats.. I think the potential customers baulked at the hourly rate.

[FOD_Hazard]

If they have folded it will be interesting to see what their 206's sell for. Dont think there was ever any chance they would sell for anything near the $350k asking prices.

[TurboOtter]

:E Are they all...... washed up?!:}:}:ugh:

[jetflite]

I contacted them last year about doing a float rating, I got sent the information for the "Professional Pilot Seaplane training package".

It was $17'000 with only 20 hours flying on a 206.
They pestered me for a while about doing it and then going on to work for them. I declined and said for me to spend close to $20'000 i'd want more than 20 hours, For that price i could do my Grade 3 instructor rating or my MECIR.... i couldn't fathom spending that sort of money on something that in my opinion was very over priced.

They offer you 4 months employment with a retainer of $200 P.W + $25 per MR hour flown. I asked how many hours you'd expect in 4 months and they couldn't give me a figure to plan off.... Just all came across as not very professional for a "Professional Seaplane Pilot Package"......

Quite a shame because I thought it would of been a great gig.... Anyone worked for them or did the course...... care to enlighten me ?

[weloveseaplanes]

With a bit of luck we'll be driving past their three(?) bases in a few weeks and will see what we can find. I gave them a call in January and they were most pleasant and friendly so I hope everything is alright.

Was very interested in them and had been watching them for a year or so on the net and was impressed by their recently updated website. Pilots with direct experience with them have also reported very positively on them in previous posts.

Am very interested in the state of things there and the future of the company, planes and pilots there.

Here's hoping everything will work out.

Good luck guys

[flyboyUK2003]

FOD - we had 4 people go thru the Pro Course, and another 2 lined up when the company sadly closed its doors. Main reason for this was the absolutely shocking summer season we had due weather. Seriously, 'Sunshine Coast'??? ;)

[weloveseaplanes]

Gidday Gidday flyboy,

Thanks for the info on Akuna. Its great to hear you enjoyed your time there. Please check your PMs for a little more seaplane love. If any other Akuna pilots would like to share their experiences there we'd love to hear from you all, after all its more fun sharing isn't it guys?

We had a nice look around and although up for sale everything seemed very pleasent.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the coast looked pretty sunshiny. Who knows, maybe their rainy days are behind them? :)