wings flying school in Indonesia
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: in a small tin can
Age: 60
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Lombok Institute of Flight Technology - LIFT
LIFT management continually doubted the decisions of the instructors and that is why we were given the ultimatum in a meeting on 7th December, that we either “flew the aircraft or we were out of Indonesia”.
There is no biased opinion of the situation here. Simply, the school has suffered from numerous power losses of varying degree over several months. The four instructors were ultimately fired because the situation grew worse and we could no longer fly the aircraft and maintain a level of safety. Instead of appreciating the seriousness of this issue, LIFT management forced the instructors into a situation where they either flew the aircraft or they lost their jobs. We all understand that flight instructing is a business that requires turnover (in this case flight hours), however safety is the key to any aviation business and this can never be compromised. LIFT management do not share this view and below is an email from Edmond Fung (owner of LIFT) to a prospective Spanish instructor in December which demonstrates this...
> Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2012 00:12:19 +0700
> Subject: Re: Documents Pedro Diaz
>
> Pedro.
>
> Yes, we have problem due to fuel issue and we have been proactive to
> solve the problem.
> Our FI lost their confidence in Mechanics.
> I do not want to say bad things on others especially they are young guys
> and still need a future.
>
> BIFA last year has three planes down, we are lucky still keeping a clean
> record.
>
> If this is your decision. We will respect it.
>
> Regards,
> Edmond.
You can clearly see that Mr Fung acknowledges that the problem is created by the fuel and that LIFT is ‘lucky’ not to have had an accident up until that point. But what is more concerning is that he is quoting another schools accident record..... is he suggesting that there is some sort of ‘acceptable number of accidents’ that can be tolerated even when there is a known problem with the operation ?
I would also like to clarify a point regarding Fuel Vaporization. In November 2012, one of Mr Fung’s expat engineers asked the four instructors to turn on the ‘boost pump’ during any power loss incidents to see whether the engines would recover from the problem. I personally tried this and on two occasions, it made no difference to the power loss. One of the incidents was on upwind and the aircraft would not climb higher than 300 feet AGL. The issue is not Fuel Vaporization
There is no biased opinion of the situation here. Simply, the school has suffered from numerous power losses of varying degree over several months. The four instructors were ultimately fired because the situation grew worse and we could no longer fly the aircraft and maintain a level of safety. Instead of appreciating the seriousness of this issue, LIFT management forced the instructors into a situation where they either flew the aircraft or they lost their jobs. We all understand that flight instructing is a business that requires turnover (in this case flight hours), however safety is the key to any aviation business and this can never be compromised. LIFT management do not share this view and below is an email from Edmond Fung (owner of LIFT) to a prospective Spanish instructor in December which demonstrates this...
> Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2012 00:12:19 +0700
> Subject: Re: Documents Pedro Diaz
>
> Pedro.
>
> Yes, we have problem due to fuel issue and we have been proactive to
> solve the problem.
> Our FI lost their confidence in Mechanics.
> I do not want to say bad things on others especially they are young guys
> and still need a future.
>
> BIFA last year has three planes down, we are lucky still keeping a clean
> record.
>
> If this is your decision. We will respect it.
>
> Regards,
> Edmond.
You can clearly see that Mr Fung acknowledges that the problem is created by the fuel and that LIFT is ‘lucky’ not to have had an accident up until that point. But what is more concerning is that he is quoting another schools accident record..... is he suggesting that there is some sort of ‘acceptable number of accidents’ that can be tolerated even when there is a known problem with the operation ?
I would also like to clarify a point regarding Fuel Vaporization. In November 2012, one of Mr Fung’s expat engineers asked the four instructors to turn on the ‘boost pump’ during any power loss incidents to see whether the engines would recover from the problem. I personally tried this and on two occasions, it made no difference to the power loss. One of the incidents was on upwind and the aircraft would not climb higher than 300 feet AGL. The issue is not Fuel Vaporization
Join Date: Jan 2013
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Lombok Institute of Flight Technology - LIFT
Below is a link to a website showing the flights that LIFT have flown over the last 2 months since we were fired. This information completely contradicts what PK-JACK has stated in this forum.
https://app.spidertracks.com/Home.mvc/ViewUserTracks?sid=wioyHnGt9tP0hNtoNYtTStWiPkNQ0GJoBG1yNy-s3svzmm5X2JcWZdWBfEl9qtob
Quote....
“Various maintenance flights (both local,and to the nearby island of Sumbawa
Besar) have been completed with exceptional results”
What results ? Only one out of the threeaircraft has been flown since the instructors grounded the aircraft. The ‘Spidertracker’website clearly shows that only PK-LLA has flown since 7th December.PK-LLB and PK-LLC are not even at the airport. They were ‘trucked’ to the company’s hangar at the closed ‘Selaparang Airport’ in December and they have remained there ever since. Also a round trip to Sumbawa at an average of 90 kts indicated airspeed takes approximately 2 hours. The longest flight listed on the ‘Spidertracker’ is only 1 hour 10 minutes.
Quote...
“For everyone else reading this, I would personally like to confirm no problems longer exist with the aircraft. A numerous amount of test flights have been undertaken on the aircraft, with highly experienced engineers, one of which actually on the team of initial engineers who helped to design the aircraft, and consultations with TCM (theXL2 engine manufacturer), have confirmed that the aircraft are performing at exceptional levels”
How can you state that the aircraft are performing at exceptional levels when only one of the XL2’s has been flown ?There has not been numerous test flights as you state as the majority of these nine flights have been performed with a local instructor and students.
Quote...
“All of them issues have now been fixed,and 12 flights over 1 1/2 weeks have taken place flawlessly”
There has been only 9 flights since 7th December 2012 and they have all been in PK-LLA. The other two aircraft (PK-LLC and PK-LLB) were ‘trucked’ to the company’s hangar and have not been flown once since 7th December.
In one of your posts, you quote...
Regardless of the issue, keeping to the truth is always the best idea in any issue/debate. That way, the public will not be misinformed with any false information.
....You should really take your own advice and keep to the truth yourself so that potential students and instructors are not given false information about the operation at LIFT
https://app.spidertracks.com/Home.mvc/ViewUserTracks?sid=wioyHnGt9tP0hNtoNYtTStWiPkNQ0GJoBG1yNy-s3svzmm5X2JcWZdWBfEl9qtob
Quote....
“Various maintenance flights (both local,and to the nearby island of Sumbawa
Besar) have been completed with exceptional results”
What results ? Only one out of the threeaircraft has been flown since the instructors grounded the aircraft. The ‘Spidertracker’website clearly shows that only PK-LLA has flown since 7th December.PK-LLB and PK-LLC are not even at the airport. They were ‘trucked’ to the company’s hangar at the closed ‘Selaparang Airport’ in December and they have remained there ever since. Also a round trip to Sumbawa at an average of 90 kts indicated airspeed takes approximately 2 hours. The longest flight listed on the ‘Spidertracker’ is only 1 hour 10 minutes.
Quote...
“For everyone else reading this, I would personally like to confirm no problems longer exist with the aircraft. A numerous amount of test flights have been undertaken on the aircraft, with highly experienced engineers, one of which actually on the team of initial engineers who helped to design the aircraft, and consultations with TCM (theXL2 engine manufacturer), have confirmed that the aircraft are performing at exceptional levels”
How can you state that the aircraft are performing at exceptional levels when only one of the XL2’s has been flown ?There has not been numerous test flights as you state as the majority of these nine flights have been performed with a local instructor and students.
Quote...
“All of them issues have now been fixed,and 12 flights over 1 1/2 weeks have taken place flawlessly”
There has been only 9 flights since 7th December 2012 and they have all been in PK-LLA. The other two aircraft (PK-LLC and PK-LLB) were ‘trucked’ to the company’s hangar and have not been flown once since 7th December.
In one of your posts, you quote...
Regardless of the issue, keeping to the truth is always the best idea in any issue/debate. That way, the public will not be misinformed with any false information.
....You should really take your own advice and keep to the truth yourself so that potential students and instructors are not given false information about the operation at LIFT
