Cranfield Pilot Flight Training
 

Anyone any idea if they're still going or have they closed now?

All but two aircraft are gone (and those aren't flying).
Office locked up last week and at the weekend.
Now some of their signage has been removed.

Have they moved all operations back to Hinton or closed completely?

They are a bit short on Instructors at the moment......

If that PA38 is G-BKAS, G-INFO shows a change of ownership is imminent so it quite possibly no longer belongs to Cranfield PFT.

Sign on the door says they are all out for the week at Aldernay Fly-in ..

Certainly out, but not seen on Alderney so far this week.

They were all at Alderney yesterday ..... :D

Must be a long fly-in :rolleyes:

The same 'gone to alderney - back next week' sign is still up.. Been up for ages now.

They've certainly not come back to Cranfield. Looks abandoned now.

The locals tell me that there has been nothing operating out of Cranfield PFT for weeks now.

At the time of writing, Companies House shows the status of Hinton Pilot Flight Training (with bases at Hinton, Cranfield and Sywell) as being "Active - Proposal to strike off".

The same status is shown for the air conditioning company in Banbury which is owned by the same person.

G-BKAS now belongs to Cranfield Flying School. (Next door to pft)

I believe it was a PFT Tomahawk that crashed at Cranfield a few weeks ago. I saw the very same aircraft at this years AeroExpo, just days before the incident.

There was a PA28 parked up last week which I believe they own but it has since disappeared. The Tomahawk that was mentioned (G-BKAS) is now owned by CFS

Did Cranfield Pilot Flight Training ever re-open?

Cranfield PFT appeared to wind down when a PA38 operated by the company crashed in early June and an instructor and student were seriously injured. I'm a regular visitor and I haven't seen any of their aircraft, or indeed any signs of life at the offices, for many weeks. Other airfield residents tell me that they have noticed the same thing.

Looking at G-INFO this afternoon, it was interesting to note that three aircraft operated by the company have had their ARC's suspended - a Cessna 172 and two PA38s.

That is in addition to two motor gliders; the Grob 109 had it's ARC suspended some time ago and the Scheibe SF25D, which appears never to have held one since it's transfer from the German register.

HPFT Ltd does not own the aircraft it operates, they are 'chartered by demise' from Saxby Aero Leasing Ltd. The same person owns both companies.

This was put on the PFT Hinton office door a few days ago.

"On 16th August the CAA de-registered Hinton Pilot Flight Training, due to serious operational concerns. This action prohibits the company from conducting any flight training activity. Students registered with Pilot Flight Training should contact the CAA's licensing dept for more information & advice"

The office is apparently empty, although around 5 people a day still turn up with vouchers for flights.

Do you think that'd apply to all of their bases? I was at Sywell last weekend and there appeared to be people in their office there but not much in terms of aircraft movements, with most of the planes covered up. Also a couple of PA38s were parked up in different livery to all the others.

I spoke with the Tower at Sywell this morning and they informed me that they are in the dark as too PFT, many people turning up with vouchers but the office is closed. "haven't seen anyone from PFT for a week".

One would assume that when the CAA de-register a company it effects all of their operations. In this case Hinton, Cranfield & Sywell.

Noticed that Cranfield VOR is going going gone too.