[Peetwo]

Of all the Gin joints...

So, you wannabe a pilot huh? You have NDI about the industry or how it works; but, you need to find a flight school, seems to be the best place to start. Most of the 'kids' these days will not get on a pushbike and check out the local airport – nope – they'll grab the phone and 'Google' it.

Can they find an upstanding operation like Buckley's best practice workshop; NO they cannot. But they can find a flight school almost too good to be true apparently supported by non other than the Deputy Prime Minister, the minister for transport who is 'inspired' by what he has seen in a short visit and photo opportunity.



So where is young spotty going to take himself and his loan to learn the craft? Young Master Toro, featured in the article above, has discovered for himself just how easy it is to be gulled. Can't blame him for that; money down in good faith, hopes on the line, hours and hours of study, spare time spent in more reading, getting to work, paying the rent, all as part of a dream that one day, he'll have a shiny jet transport strapped to his rump.

He may be forgiven his error; we can allow him that courtesy. But a crown minister, responsible for 'transport' being used as a promotional tool is unforgivable. Buckley offered a brilliant concept, open, honest, compliant and more than able to produce the type of pilot Seb Toro wanted to be. The minister has sat back and allowed Buckley to be crushed and humiliated – yet is publicly 'inspired by SOAR, with happy snaps in the media. The same fellah watches while a great service Angel Flight is tormented by an inadequate regulator which he cannot control. It's BOLLOCKS, expensive, useless, purblind bollocks.

I fail, utterly, to see how this minister can appear in public let alone continue in charge of the major, important 'transport' portfolio. The list of cock-ups is long, the ignorance rampant; Angel Flight, Buckley, the current Senate inquiry evidence, the Forsyth review, multiple protests about CASA, the regulations and a visibly declining industry – all on the minister's watch – and his best result? A happy snap at SOAR and a quiet sit down with the Essendon white shoe crew.



Absolutely ducking stellar – and how much do we pay him for this great service to a dying industry? A honourable man would acknowledge the blunders and fix 'em or resign. We'd prefer the latter option.

Toot – toot....

Update - via the Oz: 

Buyers circle failed flight school Soar Aviation as administrators seek to sell
DAVID ROSS
JOURNALIST
7:13PM JANUARY 13, 2021


Lukesh Kumar (right) with fellow student pilots Axel, Felix & Mizanur outside Soar Aviations base at Moorabbin Airport. 16 students of Soar Aviation are taking legal action against the flight training school and Box Hill Institute over allegedly misleading claims made to them. Picture: Stuart McEvoy.

The collapse of high profile flight school Soar Aviation has seen buyers come out of the woodwork, with several kicking the tyres of the business.

The meeting of creditors on Tuesday saw several details of the business come to light, including as much as $700,000 in entitlements owed; an amount which may outstrip assets of the business.

Unsecured creditors are reportedly owed as much as $850,000, while aircraft leases totalling almost $5.2m are outstanding.

Administrators of the business are seeking to sell the flight school, which at its peak was one of the largest in the country.

Soar Aviation shut its doors on December 28, with administrators slashing staff down to a skeleton level of seven, with only one left at its Sydney site, in a bid to keep costs low.

Administrators have retained the slim staffing numbers to ensure Soar Aviation meets its mandated minimum requirements with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

Prior to shutting its doors Soar Aviation boasted a team of 30 instructors and 24 support staff.

Founded in 2013, Soar had operations at Melbourne’s Moorabbin airport and Sydney’s Bankstown Airport.

Bankstown and Moorabbin airport have reportedly offered support to the company as administrators seek a buyer.

However, administrators are also scoping the potential sale price if Soar Aviation fails to find a buyer, with valuers soon to look over the seven planes the flight school owned outright.

The 49 other planes in Soar Aviation’s fleet were leased from NAB, CBA, Westpac, Bank of Melbourne, and Bank of Queensland.

If sold, the future of the flight school’s relationship with Box Hill Tafe, its education partner, is in doubt and will be subject to subsequent negotiation between the buyer and the Tafe.

Box Hill Tafe temporarily suspended flight training at Soar Aviation in 2019.

Soar Aviation’s registered training organisation status was also temporarily revoked after an audit by the Australian Skills Quality Authority, the national regulatory body for vocational education.

The flight school’s accreditation was restored in March 2020, but still faced sanctions from the skills authority.

The Tafe has been in the sights of lawyers from Gordon Legal, who have led a class action of almost 200 former Soar Aviation students alleging they received substandard education at the flight school and failed to obtain their commercial pilot’s licence.

Lawyers from Gordon Legal have been in dialogue with the administrators, however potential costs arising from the class action are unknown.

Soar Aviation founder, Neel Khokhani left the business some time ago.

At the time he said his departure was unrelated to regulatory or legal scrutiny Soar Aviation had been subject to.

Mr Khokhani is not listed as a creditor.

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MG

5 DAYS AGO

I’m wondering how many VH registered ‘aircraft’ the company has, as opposed to ultra light / sport. No wonder so many students are struggling to get their hours recognised or being taken seriously in the industry. It’s a bit like “making a hundred in the backyard at mum’s house”.

MTF...P2