Reading a post like that reminds me of a favourite post I once read:

Yesterday I couldn't spell "ingeneer", today I are one......

:ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh:

Isn't that a good thing ?

Just checked the Firecrest web site and it says they are no longer trading as firecrest they are now trading as Starsfly Elstree. I was a member (very briefly) of the starsfly flying group which was run by the CFI of Starsfly. Thought someone might be interested.

That's a shame - nice guys.

Firecrest/Starsfly
 

Hi Guys,

I have just learned that the Firecrest Club, (a well regarded low-cost outfit at Elstree that had been around for ever,) is no more but would appear somehow to have morphed into Starsfly.

I don't understand the mechanism by which this has taken place. Has Firecrest been bought by Starsfly? Or has Firecrest gone bust and their assets been acquired by Starsfly?

Is Starsfly a club or an FTO?

What have been the personnel implications for instructors etc?

Just what has happened?

Would somebody please be kind enough to give us the whold nine yards.

Regards,

BP.

Broomstick Pilot

This extract from the Fly Elstree website should answer at least one of your questions:

Firecrest Aviation No Longer Trading?
Back in the summer, due to the continued decline and subsequent financial implications at Firecrest, their most senior instructor joined us. He also added both of his aircraft to the fleet. We are therefore extremely pleased to send a very warm welcome to John Baines, he’s very experienced and simply one of the best.
Some two months later Firecrest finally closed it’s doors. As a result, since John joined, several other fine ex-Firecrest instructors have migrated, along with many ex-Firecrest flying members and student pilots. We send the same warm welcome to all our new faces, including several new students and flying members not connected with Firecrest.
Current Instructor List (Alphabetical Order)
John Baines (Most days except Saturday)
Phil Cawthorn (Weekends)
Ches Cole (8 days a week)
Simon Johnston (Most days)
Richard Laughton (Saturdays)
John Salem (When available)
John Stevens (Most days)
Rich Taussig (When available)
Julian Waterworth (Sundays)
Kieran Williams (Mainly weekdays)






What's most surprising is that it took nearly 3 months for someone to post this question and indeed none of those who paid up front have posted.

Thanks!
 

Many thanks for that link MrAverage.

Much obliged.

BP.

Looking at this thread, I thought I could shed some more light.

Firstly – Firecrest is not liquidated and has never gone into bankruptcy. The company still exists, but is not trading.

Firecrest had financial issues since February last year. For a while and mostly throughout the Summer Firecrest was negotiating with potential investors and entered into discussions about rescue package.

After some due diligence it became apparent that it would not be possible to rescue Firecrest and finally the airfield management asked Firecrest to cease trading.

Which is shame, as Firecrest was really nice and friendly club. Malcolm (the founder of Firecrest) did not take this fall so lightly.

Stars Fly was founded independent of everything else and were given trading rights at Elstree.

Stars Fly Flying School at Elstree started trading at the beginning of August, but formally moved into the current premises at the beginning of October

Meanwhile, some of the Firecrest ex-instructors saw the ship was sinking and made their moves. Some stayed on right to the end and then decided to join Stars Fly.

As for the link between Firecrest and Stars Fly, appears it went something like this,

From what I've heard, Malcolm approached Stars Fly some time in September and suggested that whatever resources could be rescued should be transferred over to Stars Fly.

Most of the students (including myself) were notified by letter some time in December, also the rescued resources were transferred to Stars Fly. In exchange Malcolm took senior position in Stars Fly as Head of Operations.

So, in a sense, Stars Fly picked up the things where Firecrest has left them.

The staff instructors that moved over to Stars Fly,

Malcolm (now Head of Operations)
Mike (now CFI)
Robin (also examiner)
Stojan
Naeem
Jackie
Dan
(new joiner - I've never seen him around though) Julian

What lessons have been learned by the Firecrest staff about running a flying club that can be passed onto Stars Fly so that they don't go through the same trading problems?

What lessons should be learnt?
As a former instructor at Firecrest I would recommend that students should avoid paying up front for flying lessons - you can never be sure of the company's financial security and so risk losing your money, as some Firecrest students will testify; and instructors and suppliers should make sure they get paid in full on a monthly basis for the same reasons.

There was a pretty bad few years back there with the volcano, Olympics and the general economic malaise - Firecrest certainly weren't the only operators to go under!

Very true for students, renters and suppliers but how could the Flying Club (Starsfly) be run more efficiently to avoid the trading problems that Firecrest encountered?

Firecrest
 

Firecrest took its assets to Starsfly without notifying or paying its many creditors. According to Companies House it has not ceased trading and one of its Directors has Court Orders served on him.

More about Firecrest
 

I raised questions about the financial problems in Firecrest some months ago.

"rgsaero" then posted a heavy message suggesting that I was being libellous so I deleted the post.

It is now clear that students and aircraft owners have lost money.

Where is rgsaero now ? Will he or she do something to help the people who have lost money as they continued to trust Firecrest because people did not alert others to the problems ?

It all seems so unfair.

FIRECREST
 

This link seems to shed some further light on the current status of Firecrest:

https://www.duedil.com/company/01906...iation-limited

What's that [stars fly]'s tripacer that crashed at elstree a few weeks back? colours looked the same