Loh Wilson 0 Report post Posted July 29, 2011 KUALA LUMPUR: Nearly 100 cadet pilots have seen their hopes come crashing and are claiming they have lost RM250,000 each after their flight school closed for restructuring. The school in Sarawak halted its courses about 10 months ago, leaving 94 students in the lurch, said Umno Youth community complaints bureau head Datuk Muhammad Khairun Aseh. He said the school had been approved by the Higher Education Ministry with a 20-month course schedule including time-off for holidays. “However, some students have been there for over three years without obtaining their Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL). “To obtain their CPL, students need at least 200 hours of flight experience. “However, many are stuck with anywhere between 150 to as little as three hours of experience,” Muhammad Khairun said here yesterday. He claimed the school required students to pay for their courses upfront, adding that collectively, the students had paid nearly RM24mil, not including accommodation costs. “Many have taken study loans, while some parents mortgaged their houses to give their children this opportunity,” he said. Muhammad Khairun added that the bureau had talked to the school but failed to get any conclusive course of action. One of the school's cadet pilots claimed the students received a letter last October about the postponement, citing “restructuring exercis-es and the escalating cost of jet fuel”. “Until now, we haven't received any further information from the school about how the restructuring is going,” he said. A former instructor from the school claimed several instructors had quit after they were not paid for several months. Retired captain Sukaimi Yahya suggested several solutions to help the students obtain their CPL. “If they can't complete their courses here, they should be sent to other approved flight training organisations (AFTOs) or be adopt-ed by commercial airlines to train. “However, this requires a lot of money. Students should either be given a second round of loans or compensated by the school to continue their studies,” he said. He added that most AFTOs were already fully booked and it was unlikely they had enough instructors and aircraft to take on additional students. Efforts to contact the college were unsuccessful. Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/7/29/nation/9199974&sec=nation Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PaulMcgregor 0 Report post Posted July 29, 2011 As expected, u cant run a flying school with new cessna 180 equipped with garmin g1000. thats crazy. its like starting a driving school with BMW instead of kancil. blame the founding members of d school.. with their level of experience they should see this coming. Something must be wrong sumwhere, during d initial start up of d company. i suspect the introducer just simply told d funder to buy this and that, get the commision and what ever happens next he just dont care. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tamizi Hj Tamby 1 Report post Posted July 29, 2011 The school in Sarawak...does it mean GGIFA? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Syed Zharif 0 Report post Posted July 29, 2011 Hmm...could be.. Is there any other flying academy in Sarawak? Austral Academy is in Sandakan right? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gavin Andrew David 6 Report post Posted July 29, 2011 If it is GGIFA , I will be very surprised Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yangjie 0 Report post Posted July 29, 2011 It's GGIFA. I have friends stuck in this situation and the school demands the cadets to pay more money if they want to continue flying. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tamizi Hj Tamby 1 Report post Posted July 30, 2011 It's GGIFA. I have friends stuck in this situation and the school demands the cadets to pay more money if they want to continue flying. Looks likely it's confirmed; There's no other flying school in Sarawak,besides than GGIFA. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
