Bristol Flight School - Administration. 18 May

[birdman737]

Good luck to all the staff and students, in theses difficult times.
Hope fully something can be salvaged?

[Dan the weegie]

Shame, it's hard times. :( doubt it will be the last school of the year though :(

[magicmick]

Awful news to hear that another school has gone under, by Brstol Flight School do you mean Bristol Flight Centre (BFC) who tech PPL, CPL, MEP, MEIR and FIC from the same building that Centreline use or is this a different mob altogether?

Best wishes to dispossessed studesnts and employees.

[madlandrover]

It's always a shame to see somewhere with a good reputation go under - been there, felt that. Hopefully Martin Barnes has some ideas for how to use the space ;)

[Cheekyfox]

Yes it is Bristol Flying Centre, there is a meeting in the morning and us students should find out what the score is.

[Cheekyfox]

To The Students of Bristol Flight Training Centre Ltd Trading as Bristol Aviation.

I am sorry to have to inform you that BFTC Ltd ceased trading on Friday afternoon. Insolvency Practitioners have been appointed and the company will be liquidated following a meeting of The Shareholders and a subsequent meeting of The Creditors on the 1st June 2012.

[magicmick]

Truly sorry to hear especially as they had a decent rep and seemed like a good place to train, as Dan mentioned they probably won’t be the last this year, my own view is that there is still too much training capacity throughout the country for the amount of people able to afford the training which can only lead to more going under. Having said this there’s not a lot of places left to train through to MEIR in the South West, Exeter is about the only place that springs to my mind depending on whether or not you consider Gloucester or Bournemouth as being in the South West.

Cheeky Fox, I genuinely wish you and your fellow Bristol students every success with getting even a small amount of pay back from this and with your continued training and job search when training is complete.

[Phil Brockwell]

Folks,

Sorry it has taken me a while to respond, we needed to get some work done with our students to make sure that the training records and deposits were being dealt with as best possible before we "went public".

Bristol Flight Training Centre, T/A Bristol Aviation ceased trading on Friday 18th May 2012 due to increasing debt and difficult trading conditions.

Established in 1986 as Bristol Flying Centre, the company has trained literally thousands of Professional Pilots in it’s long history.

In 2008 The business was sold to a third party and traded as Bristol Aviation, subsequently it has been sold again and then was saved from Administration in 2011 by Bristol flying Centre Limited and traded as a separate entity with a view to trading through it’s debt and finding a suitable owner with the time and vision to grow it back into profitability.

Having invested a substantial amount of money in Bristol Aviation, and having exhausted it’s search for a new owner, The Board of Bristol flying Centre Ltd has decided to call time on The Institution.

Everyone at Bristol Flying Centre would like to thank all the staff and students that have passed through our ranks over the past 26 years and wish you all the best of luck for your futures.

Philip Brockwell
CEO
Bristol Flying Centre Ltd

[toff]

I spent 7 happy weeks with Bristol Aviation (July to September 2010) and I couldn't fault the experience. It's a real shame to see them go. :(

[Cheekyfox]

Thanks for the kind words, need now to find a place to finish my MEIR. Looking at Aeros tomorrow see what they say. May have to change from the Seneca, any ideas if that is a good thing?

[Dan the weegie]

It depends how you were getting on but I shouldn't think it will be a massive problem for you.

[hingey]

Sad news indeed, I had a thoroughly pleasant experience at Bristol. Good luck to the staff and students

[USE THE RUDDERS]

Sad news, did my licenses there in 2004. Best of luck to all concerned.

[calamityjune]

Ckeekyfox, if you want to stick with the Seneca you could always try JD Aviation or Alpha Flight Training.

[Cheekyfox]

Thanks for the kind words. Spoke to Aeros last week and they are booked up till end of July. Visited AFT at coventry and looks ok up there, need to change to the DA42. Will visit Chester on Saturday to speak to the two places up there. Looking like now I will have to go back to work after finishing the MEIR and save up a bit before the CPL. Oh well it will all work out in the end.

I too enjoyed my time at Bristol.

[Burger81]

Can anybody with Links to Bristol Aviation please advise what will happen to training records of past students? Can the student request to have these in case they are needed for future applications? I have come across several companies who request access/copies of training records when taking on low houred pilots.

[Phil Brockwell]

Burger

If your records were with Bristol Aviation, just have your next training provider contact BFC and they will be sent on. We have been told specifically not to give copies to past students by the CAA.

[Burger81]

Phil,

Thanks for the reply. As long as they are available thats the main thing.

Thanks

[LPVL]

Is there any link between Bristol Aviation and Bristol GS?

[Dick Whittingham]

No...........

[CharlieRomeo]

Hi Phil,

sorry to hear about the flying school.

Did my training there a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed the place and recommended Bristol to guys passing thru the flying club after i finished.

Regards to Nasib, the guy is a legend to a lot of students out there. Also regards to the rest of the staff and wish them the best of luck in the future

[Poose]

Just wondering how many more flying schools will go to the wall as a direct result of the monopoly that certain Integrated schools have on pilot recruitment in the UK?

I'm not implying that Bristol's demise was specifically attributed to the big integrated schools; I'm just curious about whether or not it had a significant part to play.

I think a lot of people are going Integrated; not necessarily for any specific training reason - but for the spurious links with airline recruitment departments and marketing hype.

I believe that a lot of people may have taken a Modular path, if they thought that they had an equal chance of gaining employment, when compared to OAA/CTC for example.

I wonder what the Office of Fair Trading/Competitions Commission would make of the OAA/CTC strangle hold?

[mrmum]

It probably costs the average integrated student's parents ;) a couple of grand extra, on top of the already high price, purely to fund the (very slick) marketing department that suckered them in in the first place. That drift towards integrated is bound to have a financial effect on the modular providers, probably resulting in some closing.
There are of course other issues. The exportation of training and hour-building, has to have serious consequences for UKGA, it reduces utilisation of aircraft, organisations and airfields. The cost of Avgas. The pointlessly bureaucratic and expensive EASA maintenance regime.