Bad Karma, Good Karma?

My phone rang today. It was a friend of mine that is a former student of the flight school I'm attending. She asked if I had heard what was going on. Um, nope.

The rumor mill was in full swing and I was about to be thrown in. She had heard that the school was going bankrupt and that aircraft were being repossessed by a major creditor. She also said that she heard that the instructors were told to not expect paychecks and that the local FBO was going to ask for COD on fuel purchases. This didn't sound too good. Since she's no longer an active student, I started calling people that I knew would have answers.

After speaking with several flight instructors and the chief flight instructors, here's the murky story. All non-essential personnel have been sent home through 1/1/07. The receptionist, the HR person, the testing coordinator and all of the admission/sales reps were all sent home after the Christmas party. Nice, huh?

I still don't have a clear answer about the aircraft, but was told they are still flying. It was also suggested that if I had any money on account, to fly it off ASAP. I am going to try and fly some tomorrow just in case.

Apparently, there is a group of investors looking at buying/taking over the school and will have the decision made by January 2nd or 3rd. If they don't bite, word is that you can stick a fork in XYZ Airline Academy.

That's the bad karma. Now for the good karma (at least for me).

Up until last month I had been in Part 142 Commercial training. 142 training utilizes a lot of time in Flight Training Devices (FTD) in place of actual flight time. This time last month, I had only about 175 hours total. That is 75 hours short of FAA requirements for FAR Part 61 Commercial rating. At least 50 of those hours were out of my own pocket. Had I not forced them to put me in FAR Part 61 training and not been spending the last 30 days time building, I would potentially be in a world of hurt. XYZ Airline Academy is the only school in Arizona that currently offers Part 142 Commercial training, so I would have been unable to transfer to another flight school without having to throw a huge amount of money at time building. As of today, I'm sitting at just under 250 hours and almost ready for my check ride. I really only need to hit 250 and have a CFI sign my 8710.

If the school were to fail, I'm in a pretty decent position. I could transfer to another school with little or no hassle. The people I feel for are the ones that took out substantial student loans and have large amounts on money on account with the school. If the school went bankrupt, they stand to not only lose the money, but also maintain repayment liability to Sallie Mae. Ouch. For some people, this could be the end of their career pilot aspirations.

I've been paying them a few thousand at a time with American Express who told me that if the school did close its doors, that I would have recourse. If only every one of the young students there could use AMEX.

For what it's worth, a word of advice from me to potential career pilot students: Never give a flight school more than $5,000 at a time. EVER. They will probably tell you that you have to give them more, but remember that a flight school is just a business and everything is negotiable. Also, from personal experience, I recommend avoiding Part 142 training. I just don't see how someone can be a competent commercially rated pilot with well under 200 hours. 250 hours is still low time and it sure doesn't make you Chuck Yeager, but I can see a huge improvement in my flying skills from 150 hours to 250 hours.