flying school shuts its doors

[imabell]

the "aviation academy of queensland", aaq, at maroochydore airport has shut its doors and the signs have come down, at last.

there will be a few ex students that will be happy with that news.

many thousands of dollars of aspiring young pilots hard earned money was lost to this operator. only this morning one of the ex's told me of the forty nine thousand that he paid up front only to lose the lot.

he has been told that it will cost him twenty more to pursue the case in court. what can you do?. it's hard to put it down to experience.

this company appeared in the past on "the investigators" and a "current affair" over the misuse of students funds yet he was able to keep doing it. it caught up with him so maybe there is a karma.

it must be terrible to start out in this great industry with such a bad feeling in your guts.

the ex proprietor is back in the airforce as a controller at sale i am told.

the new school that is taking over the site is the "aero dynamic flight academy" and is staffed by a great bunch of blokes. ex tata's etc. and now every one has smiles back on their faces, it's good to see.

good luck to them. :) :)

[Hugh Jarse]

Sadly, it reminds me of the demise of the RACNSW in 1991.

Quite a few people lost varying amounts of money due to the questionable practices of the then owners. That's staff, students and other creditors.

Strangely, as a result, one of the directors had a reasonably new Brock Commodore. A disgruntled creditor poured brake fluid (or some other kind of substance that attacked paint) all over his car. Another had all the locks of his car filled with Superglue.

I laughed my arse off when the Eastwood Police rang me at home and asked me if I had any idea who might be the perpetrators. My response was "I can think of around 50 suspects" :D

Although I would never condone such an activity, I found it quite creative, amusing and original to say the least!

[jetage]

didn't aaq shut down before?

i remember seeing a similar post some months ago. ex-airforce ex-proprietor sold out to some other bloke.
then saw an ad in Aust Flying for the relaunched AAQ under new management. has that got down too?

[Whiskery]

Things must have changed since I did my flying training. In those days you went out to the local flying school, did a couple of hours on the week end and paid for them. Then went back to your week job and did the same in a fortnight's time.

Why does a guy give $49,000 to a flying school before he even turns a wheel?

[imabell]

the prior owner of aaq had his aoc removed for previous problems.

the new owners, areo dynamic flight academy, had the aoc reinstated and are progressing well.

the original owner still had a finger in the pie i believe but that is over now. he has slid back under his rock.


whiskery,

yes things have changed in the flying school industry, i am like you i worked all week, caught a train to bankstown on saturday morning and paid my four pounds ten shillings an hour to navair.
that was in kilo mike papa a cherokee.

tomorrows aviators have a dream, a large proportion of them borrow the money, and believe in the integrity of the people in the industry that they want so much to be a part of.

these days some students are told that they will get a better deal if they pay in bulk, in the case i wrote about the young chap put in forty three thousand dollars but was not getting anywhere. the old promise the world and give them an atlas trick.

when he asked for his money back and it was not forthcoming he spent a further six or seven thousand trying to get it. his lawyer told him it would take a further twenty thou to pursue it, thats legal fees for you.

he is going to persevere, his dream hasn't been shattered, good luck to him ;)

[dunlopdangler]

I have heard that the new company is going to help that guy that did his $49K with AAQ.
I have also heard that the guys that took over at AAQ have been talking to the federal police about what the fellow who took off to Sale has been up to and asking where nearly half a million dollars went....
I have also been told (in no uncertain terms) that the new company, aero dynamic flight academy is in no way connected to aaq and has in fact got its own brand new AOC.. and is fronted by one of the guys that lost over $250,000 investment with AAQ.
To add insult to injury the new company's owner has painted the building bright yellow, a bit different to the "battleship" grey of the old..and that should ruffle a few feathers on an AJ head!!

[wouldulikefrieswiththat]

amen