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.

Very interesting.

Speaking to someone who was down at Sywell earlier it seems all the PA38s that were parked outside their clubhouse have left. Does anyone know where they've gone?

You could try asking 'boyztoyz' on the other forum, his knowledge of the inner machinations of HPFT seem to be positively encyclopaedic.

Who knows, he may even have a presence on here. If we are lucky, he may even be following this thread and will pop up to enlighten the attentive flock.

Actually, don't bother - it seems they went to Bagby.

Was at Cranfield yesterday, there was a sign on their office door stating that the landlord had re-possessed the building and changed the locks.

Their office looked pretty well cleaned our apart from a couple of monitors and some fizzy pop.

Probably the airport never got a dime out them after the rent free period. :ugh:

Anyone know how the pilot and student hurt in the accident are doing?

Once we were 12, now we are 7, 6, 5?
 

The fleet operated by the now defunct Hinton Pilot Flight Training Ltd seems to be dwindling apace. PA28 G-DENE is showing as being sold on the Flying Fox Aviation web site, although Tomahawk BGGM is still for sale.

However like G-DENE, two other HPFT Tomahawks (BODS and BGRX) are also showing as "Potential change of registered ownership" on G-INFO, which would suggest a sale.

That leaves seven aircraft - six if you exclude Tomahawk BGBN which was destroyed in the serious accident at Cranfield in early June. Of those six, five lack a valid CofA (3 suspended by CAA, 1 expired, 1 UK CofA never issued), the sixth aircraft being BGGM referred to earlier.


It appears that the ex-HPFT CFI and one of the instructors are starting up a new club with bases at Enstone and Hinton. It is believed that they will operate under the RTF of Enstone-based Enstone Airlines and initially will be using a PA38 and a C152.

See page 6 of current issue of "Flight Training". Revealing for those who did not know (already).

Would someone be able to post a copy of this page, for those who don't have access to it?

+1

Not sure which 'flight training' is.. Google showed an AOPA US result, but AOPA app won't install on my iOS7 updated pad :-(

Reference is to FTN (Flight Training News). Not available on the web at present.

Anyone know what it says, or where to get a copy?

Shirley, somebody must have a copy somewhere!

I have a paper copy. There is no electronic version. And I am not going to spend all morning typing it in here !
Edited - yes, it is UK "Flight Training News"

Any chance you could photograph or scan the article? :)

If they did and posted it. It would be removed pretty sharpish for breach of copy right.

Well FTN could always be asked for permission to reproduce the article, most editors of specialist titles would welcome the extra exposure - I know I did when I was in that game.

Have now managed to see a copy. Deals very little with the crash. Mainly goes into the concoluted legal history of the flying club owner and a 'colleague'.

Flight Training News article
 

Thanks to a local flying school, I have also now seen the full page Flight Training News article. For anybody who has been following this and related threads, there is little new to be gleaned, although the piece is (IMHO) well written and factual.

The article refers to the individual's previous non-aviation conviction and his subsequent name change, before moving on to aviation related matters. Mention is made of the earlier temporary suspension of the school's RTO and suggests that the recent revocation may be a 'first'. Reference is also made to the June 5th 2013 serious accident at Cranfield which is currently being investigated by AAIB, but doesn't indulge in speculation as to the cause of either the reported engine problems or the subsequent crash.

In closing, the article cites a claim by the school owner that he was intending to appeal the RTO revocation, and reminds readers that there is a CAA whistleblower phone number (01293 573190) should anybody have further information which may be of interest to the CAA.

In relation to the RTO revocation appeal, recent developments in terms of the closure of all three operating bases (Hinton, Cranfield and Sywell) and the on-going disposal of the aircraft, would suggest, in my view, that it is unlikely Hinton Pilot Flight Training will re-emerge. It may also be worth mentioning that, in addition to the CAA phone number mentioned above, there is an e-mail route - see Whistleblowing Report Form | Publications | About the CAA for further details.

Flight Training News article - part deux
 

Following a discussion with the Editor of Flight Training News, here is a copy of the article in question, published with permission.

________________________________________________________

Hinton Pilot Flight Training closed down due to “safety concerns”

UK flying school Hinton Pilot Flight Training Ltd, headquartered at Hinton-in-the-Hedges airfield near Brackley with satellite bases at Cranfield and Sywell aerodromes, has been de-registered by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) over “safety concerns”. This is believed to be the first time the UK CAA has taken such action against a UK Registered Training Facility (RTF). The de-registration of the school by the CAA means that the company is currently prohibited from conducting flight training, although FTN understands that the school is appealing the action, claiming that it is misconceived. In the meantime, students registered with the school have been advised to contact the Authority’s licensing department for information and advice.

A complex series of rumours, allegations, counter-allegations and court proceedings appear to have dogged the career of the flying school owner, 43-year-old Christopher Alexander.

FTN understands that the school’s registration was temporarily suspended last year due to concerns over “administrative oversights”, but was reinstated within about 24 hours. A CAA investigative team spent a number of days at the flying school’s Hinton premises having been informed by a third party that there were discrepancies in the training fleet’s certification. During the course of their investigations the inspectors discovered that they had no record of a medical certificate for Alexander. A few days later, in the early hours of the morning, Alexander was arrested at his home by police for flying without a valid flight crew licence (by means of not having a current medical).

Alexander was charged later that morning and was refused bail on the grounds that he was a flight risk. Having spent the rest of the day and night in jail he went before magistrates the following morning and was remanded into custody. The flight risk concern was upheld by magistrates, on the basis that Alexander owned a number of aircraft. Alexander claims that he was held in custody for more than a week before an appeal to a court judge resulted in his release on bail.

In January 2013, Alexander appeared in Oxford Crown Court to face the charges of flying without a valid medical. Alexander’s defence argued that the burden of proof (to prove that Alexander had no medical) rested with the prosecutor and not vice versa. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) counter argued that even if Alexander had a valid medical certificate (as he had previously claimed to the police, stating that he had a valid Class 2 medical certificate which had been issued in Ireland and an NPPL medical declaration), he was nonetheless culpable as he was unable to produce it. The Judge found in Alexander’s favour on the legal issue of where the burden of proof lay and Mr Alexander was subsequently found not guilty by a jury following the trial. The doctor who countersigned Alexander’s original NPPL medical declaration attended the trial and gave evidence that Mr Alexander did indeed have a valid medical.

During the course of these events, FTN was contacted by a person using the name ‘David Henderson’ who made a number of allegations relating to Alexander and his flying school, none of which he backed up with any evidence. FTN later discovered that the man calling himself Henderson was actually one Kevin Crellin, a fraudster with a number of prior convictions (including one for defrauding aircraft modellers). Crellin appears to have been a regular visitor to Hinton Pilot Flight Training in the run-up, and subsequent to the CAA’s investigations. One instructor at the school was allegedly defrauded of £1,000 by Crellin for the delivery of a Multi-Crew Cooperation Course (MCC) which never took place.

Rumours about the school and its owner continue to circulate with operators at other flying schools having questioned not just its business practices, but also its basic business model. The school’s core business appears to have been the delivery of Trial Flying Lessons or Air Experience Flights for a number of gift voucher companies selling these experiences. Those familiar with the sums usually paid by such companies – said to be as little as £60 for a one hour flight – believe it is simply not possible to operate a flying school at those rates, especially if such flights makes up the vast majority of a school’s business, which appears to have been the case at Hinton Pilot Flight Training.

Following the initial investigations by the CAA and subsequent acquittal at trial, Alexander later returned to court to face further charges, brought by the CPS, this time for breaching the Sexual Prevention Offences Order. Under his original name of Christopher Ebbs, he had pleaded guilty in 2008 to sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy when he was a choirmaster. Alexander/Ebbs was spared jail due to having already spent time in custody in the run up to the hearing, and was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for five years and was banned from working with children in any capacity for the rest of his life. The 2013 charges refer to Alexander leaving the UK to go on holiday without obtaining express permission from the police (although he claimed that he had written to the police to inform them that he was going) and attending a choir where there were persons under the age of 16. He was fined £3,500 plus £1,000 costs.

Further trouble for the school and its owner came when one of the fleet’s Tomahawk aircraft crashed on take-off from Cranfield airfield in early June 2013. The crew, understood to be an instructor and student, suffered serious injuries. The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) have not yet reported on the circumstances of the accident and in the aftermath the school’s Cranfield offices were closed ‘temporarily’, but are not known to have re-opened before the CAA de-registration action.

FTN understands that Hinton Pilot Flight Training Ltd is contesting the de-registration action taken by the CAA and that the current revocation is subject to review under Regulation 6 of the Civil Aviation Regulations. At the time of writing, Hinton Pilot Flight Training is maintaining that the basis for the CAA’s action is misconceived.

David Henderson/Kevin Crellin has meanwhile been the subject of new allegations, including persuading members of an aviation internet forum to send monies to be forwarded to the wife of a pilot who had been seriously injured in an aircraft fire. FTN understands that none of the donated money has ever reached her.

As this complicated drama plays out, the owners of London Oxford Airport-based Pilot Flight Training have asked FTN to make clear that they have no affiliation with Alexander or his flying school and FTN is pleased to make that clear.

FTN understands that the CAA are keen to hear of any serious allegations that could potentially affect flight safety, if necessary via the Authority’s ‘Whistleblower Focal Point’ on 01293 573190.

(Published with permission, Copyright FTN, 2013)

____________________________ ENDS ______________________________

Thanks for posting. Am I imagining things, or has that "Kevin Crellin" name come up on pprune before?

At some length - that paragraph has some relevance to PPrune, as does the former username "goldeneaglepilot". I had some small involvement in it myself, which I did not enjoy.

G

The two of them look like lamentable characters, both to be avoided for differing reasons. :eek: