Young student pilots in Dundee have been left with uncertain futures after Tayside Aviation went into administration.
A group of around 35 students learning to fly claim they have received no official communication from the flying school about its closure and the abrupt end to their courses.
Administrators Interpath Advisory held a meeting on Friday – the day after the shock announcement – but students say they found out through word of mouth from instructors.
The students are now scrambling to find alternative flight schools, with some left thousands of pounds out of pocket.
Sources close to the administrators, appointed late on Thursday afternoon, say their immediate priority was to provide support to the 22 employees who lost their jobs.
Insiders also say correspondence regarding students, pre-paid courses and gift vouchers was uploaded to an insolvency portal that those affected were made aware of.
Tayside Aviation, based at Dundee Airport, provides private and commercial licence courses and has delivered the RAF air cadet pilot scheme for more than 30 years.
Businessman Tony Banks, who founded Balhousie Care Group, acquired the flight school last year.
Tayside Aviation student pilot has lost thousands
Phoebe Buckley moved to Dundee from Yorkshire in October to begin her first year of a three-year programme to become a commercial pilot.
The 18-year-old paid Tayside Aviation £20,000 in advanced fees to cover flying lessons, tests and training, but says she has only received five lessons.
She is now unsure where she will continue her training, or how she will pay for it.
Phoebe said: “Our contract says if they are unable to provide training then you get a full refund but our contracts are void now.
“The company has been running for 50 years – no one thought this would happen.
“It was always so positive and they were talking about growth, even on the day they made the announcement.”
She also claims some students only found out what had happened when they read The Courier and a link circulated on social media.
Phoebe and her colleagues with pre-paid fees are ranked as “unsecured creditors“, which means they rank low in priority for repayment.
Due to the early stages of the investigation, administrators say it is currently not known if there will be funds available to distribute to creditors.
‘No support’ to find other training
Another student, who asked to remain anonymous, criticised the support offered from Tayside Aviation to find another flight school.
He said: “Communication has been very poor, we’ve found out bits and been left to figure out the rest on our own.
“We have been told who to contact if we need to transfer over our data to another flight school but we’ve not been offered any support to find anyone else.
“It’s daunting in a field that costs a lot of money.”
The student says he was only five or six lessons away from passing his current module, which was taking place in a private aircraft owned by his instructor.
Now he has to negotiate with airports to find out who can accommodate this specific aircraft and if that is not possible he will have to re-do part of his £25,000 module.
He claims he has now been locked out of an account with the firm which holds around £12,000 of pre-paid fees.
A third student says he has lost around £5,000 but his biggest concern is how he will prove his progress to another flying school.
He managed to download a copy of his file before he was locked out but says records are supposed to be forwarded directly from a previous flight training provider.
This student was half way through his third year of commercial pilot training – having shelled out £57,000 to Tayside Aviation in total, including £19,000 last year for his final year of training.
He said: “My worry is what they will do with my training records, they’re supposed to hold them for five years.
“They also need to send them onto another flight school, I asked them to send them to me so I’ve got them but another school isn’t going to accept them from me.”
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Blair Nimmo and Geoff Jacobs, from Interpath Advisory, have been appointed joint administrators.
They declined to comment.
But a source close to the situation said: “Staff at the company are actively collating student information to be returned to them as a matter of priority.
“It’s a large exercise and will take time, but has been initiated to help the students.”
Conversation