Say They're Owed $130,000
It appears not just
Silver State Helicopters students are having troubles with the lack
of training for the money invested in their education.
International Airline Training Academy (IATA), located at Ryan
Airfield in Tucson, AZ, has also come under fire from a group of
its students for failure to make good on flight promises. A group
of 10 Indian students claim $130,000 in incomplete training from
IATA, citing lack of flight hours, insufficient planes and
instructors as factors.
The students tell The Arizona Daily Star they signed on to train
for up to 10 months and leave IATA with an ATP rating. Everything
from ground lessons, mechanics, and pre-flight preparation -- to
flying time six days a week in single engine, multi-engine, and jet
engine aircraft -- was supposed to be covered in that 10-month time
frame.
The group claims IATA cut their airtime to just two days a week.
"After three to four months, it was just getting slow," said one
student, Biju Chandran. The students cite a lack of instructors,
and aircraft that were compliant with all maintenance needs, as
reason for the discrepancy.
The students approached the school on January 25, asking refund
payments. According to the paper, IATA called local police,
complaining the students were "irate."
Attorney Mark L. Collins, who represents IATA, told the paper
the school is one of several coping with a shortage of qualified
flight instructors. The school plans to refund less than $110,000
of the students' money, he added.
Meanwhile, the students have since relocated to a Phoenix-area
school to their finish training, and are contemplating a lawsuit
against IATA. According to Pima County (AZ) Superior Court records,
the school has been sued twice in the last two years over finances
-- including a suit filed by Bank of America, which claimed last
year the school owed about $101,000 on a promissory note and
$910,000 in loans taken out by owners Jean-Marc and Teresa Eloy in
July and September 2005.
Indian students make up
about 10 percent of the IATA's student roster, with Chinese
students comprising about 88 percent. Foreign students often choose
US flight schools for easier access to open skies for training
purposes, which may be more difficult to find in other countries,
and often cheaper costs related to fuel and ATC services.
Conversely, shelling out large sums of money to place themselves
at the mercy of a training facility 9,000 miles or more away leaves
the students in a vulnerable position... especially as they are
often on time-limited student visas. With the ultra-fast shutdown
of Silver State, as ANN has reported, hundreds
of US students face a similar problem.
"When problems occur at flight schools, particularly big flight
schools, it really does tarnish the image of all flight schools in
the United States," said Rand Goldstein, President of Wright Flyers
Aviation Inc. in San Antonio. "Unfortunately, we suffer with the
reputations of the few that ruin it."