PILOT TRAINING COLLEGE(PTC) GOING OUT OF BUSINESS

Carvair

Great to see so much sympathy here for the guys who lost their money

vicwatson

Carvair wrote: »

Great to see so much sympathy here for the guys who lost their money

I'd say there are hundreds of thousands of Irish people lost money on private ventures that don't get coverage - these guys should be no different IMO.

Lustrum

Carvair wrote: »

Great to see so much sympathy here for the guys who lost their money

There's plenty of sympathy for the guys who lost their money on this thread, after all many of us have been through flight training and know of the sacrifices involved. I don't think anyone here (and that includes Leftbase!) is happy that this has happened to those students.

Suggesting they should have the rest of their training paid for because their FTO has gone broke is another matter entirely

Delancey

At least Leo Varadker is ' holding the line ' and basically saying the Government cannot afford to set such a precedent that a bail out would be.

Its at times like this we realise what gobshytes our politicians are - for example that knob of a Fianna Fail transport spokesman.

Edit to add - So annoyed at the rubbish spouted by Dooley that for the first time in my life I have e-mailed FF to ask their rationale for demanding a bail out. I compared this idea with the suggestion years ago from Michael Noonan that Eircom shareholders receive government compensation when they got burnt. Will post the reply if I get one.

eatmyshorts

I really sympathise with the students who are going to lose money here, but as others are saying, I don't think the calls for the government to compensate them are realistic. They can't set a precedent like that.

What does surprise me is the vitriol spouted by some here against both PTC students and integrated students in general. God knows what they say about those of us who were sponsored cadets and paid nothing for our training.

vicwatson

RTE still covering this today. Article just on RTE radio one now with interview with some 18 18 year old from Derry called Conor Deeney whining that he'll have to come home now:rolleyes:

To RTE - this "news" is not of national interest. Why insist on carrying on reporting it?

saspeir

vicwatson wrote: »

RTE still covering this today. Article just on RTE radio one now with interview with some 18 18 year old from Derry called Conor Deeney whining that he'll have to come home now:rolleyes:

To RTE - this "news" is not of national interest. Why insist on carrying on reporting it?

The same lad that has been to Africa and Orlando and was training to be a pilot at just 18?!

I turned down trips to Thailand, The States to visit friends on J1s and railroading across Europe to pay for my training.

This lad 'd want to grow up fast. If he wants the delights of spending big he'd want to take the responsibility that goes with it too...

Fully sympathise but I draw the line at funding their training any further... Sorry.

saspeir

Here's the RTé links for you:

Comment from F.I.T.

To the right you'll find another link for Conor Deeney's comments...

coylemj

That lad from Derry had some cheek this morning on RTE radio. He said that because Enterprise Ireland had invested in PTC, it was now a 'Government Body' (his words) and therefore the Government had a 'duty of care' towards the students.

The clear implication of what he was saying was that the taxpayer this side of the border should bail him out after his wealthy parents in Derry forked out a load of cash in advance to a flight school to get their precious little 18 year old son a glamorous job as a pilot.

Don't think so.

Delancey

The students seem to all be teenagers - I doubt very much they saved and sweated for the cash - the Bank of Mum and Dad was the source of the funds I'll wager.

vicwatson

Would someone please tell me why RTE keep referring to these students as "stranded" in Florida.

Why can't they get the next flight home? Hardly stranded

saspeir

vicwatson wrote: »

Would someone please tell me why RTE keep referring to these students as "stranded" in Florida.

Why can't they get the next flight home? Hardly stranded

They're lucky to be getting flights home. I know of someone local that got badly injured in Asia and their family are fund raising to pay for flight home. Now that's what I call stranded and vulnerable... No help from Dept. of Foreign Affairs for them...

I hope to fook they go on Liveline so the average Joe So can give some perspective on this...

coylemj

saspeir wrote: »

They're lucky to be getting flights home. I know of someone local that got badly injured in Asia and their family are fund raising to pay for flight home. Now that's what I call stranded and vulnerable... No help from Dept. of Foreign Affairs for them...

I hope to fook they go on Liveline so the average Joe So can give some perspective on this...

Well here's this average Joe's perspective on it: get travel insurance before you leave the country.

If everyone who got injured on holidays could fall back on the Irish taxpayer to bring him/her home, nobody would bother with travel insurance and the Dept. of Foreign Affairs budget would need to be trebled.

Anyone who can afford to fly to Asia can afford travel insurance.

troposphere

Irish Government is going to pay to fly them home

Xpro

Just read the news again, irish pilots association now expecting assistance from Aerlingus for returning students.
Is this some sort of a wind up??

Who are this guys? Presidents sons?

Guramoogah

What role did ex-WIT director Professor Kieran Byrne have at PTC?

vicwatson

troposphere wrote: »

Irish Government is going to pay to fly them home

Link?

Pilotdude5

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/irish-aviation-authority-to-pay-for-stranded-trainee-pilots-to-fly-home-558602.html

IAA paying for flights home. Might ask them for a weekend trip to New york at Christmas for myself.:cool:

troposphere

The Journal

AS A GESTURE of goodwill, the Government and the Irish Aviation Authority have agreed to pay for a number of trainee pilots to return home from Florida after their training programme was cancelled suddenly by a Waterford-based school.

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar said today that although his department have no responsibility for the contractual agreements between the Pilot Training College and its students, he regretted their difficulties and so agreed to fund the flight costs of up to 110 trainees.

Continued

Cessna_Pilot

This is absolutely disgraceful, that me as a taxpayer now have to fund their return to Ireland? They can well afford a flight home you can bet.
I am truly disgusted at the thought of it.
I did some training in Canada 5 years back, and still have the flight booking details and receipts. I will send them on to the DOT too.
And if these goons get their training paid for by anyone else, I too will be sending them receipts for my flight training aswell, be it the IAA or whoever!

flynnlives

clearly someones son has connections in RTE or in gov. to not alone keep this story alive but push the compo/further training agenda.

bluecode

Guys, this has gone from flaming PTC for this fiasco to blaming the students and having a go at RTE and the government.

Seriously, put the blame where it belongs back at PTC. Sure the lads were incredibly naive but the same could be said for the airlines that used PTC.

Whatever way you look at it, they've learned a hard lesson and some may had their career ambitions killed stone dead. So I won't begrudge them a plane fare home.

APM

I feel it is disgraceful that the €600 + euro I've given the IAA for license fees over the last few years is now being thrown away to get these guys home from Florida.

Its a tough situation for them, but not the IAA's problem!

nuggetclv

http://www.iaa.ie/index.jsp?p=93&n=96&a=1193


They're even going to refund people who've already flown home for the price of a one way economy class ticket.

Cessna_Pilot

nuggetclv wrote: »

http://www.iaa.ie/index.jsp?p=93&n=96&a=1193


They're even going to refund people who've already flown home for the price of a one way economy class ticket.

Shameful.

I would suggest anyone who has an issue with this to send and email to the one on that linked page!

saspeir

Not being funny here but were these lads not expected to fly home at some stage anyhow?! So, they would have the money for it. Surely, they weren't going to stay in the States?

It boils my blood when I think of the people that are scraping by and just about paying bills or even getting cut off from the electric.

saspeir

Guramoogah wrote: »

What role did ex-WIT director Professor Kieran Byrne have at PTC?

This is exactly what I was wondering. Why did PTC get to use WIT logos and website? They got air miles from that! Was Kieran Byrne getting a kickback from it? Obviously was.

IngazZagni

I'm quite surprised at the attitudes of many members of this forum. But this industry has high supply and low demand at the moment and that breeds a dog eat dog enviornment. So in that sense it's not really surprising when you think about it. That also means opinions are in plentiful supply.

flynnlives wrote: »

clearly someones son has connections in RTE or in gov. to not alone keep this story alive but push the compo/further training agenda.

I think the story is being pushed because it is different. Sure there are far more important issues in the world but news readers are bored of it all. Banking scandals, trouble in the middle east.... Boring. A story like this will generate extra hits for simply being different. It featured on top or close to the top of the "most popular" news articles for some time, that's why they continued to report on it. Also INN have also being reporting it and I just read the Irish Times with a fairly prominent article on it as well, it's not just RTE.

saspeir wrote: »

Not being funny here but were these lads not expected to fly home at some stage anyhow?! So, they would have the money for it. Surely, they weren't going to stay in the States?

It boils my blood when I think of the people that are scraping by and just about paying bills or even getting cut off from the electric.

The cost of flights to and from the States was included in the amount paid to PTC. It stated that in the contract as well.

saspeir wrote: »

This is exactly what I was wondering. Why did PTC get to use WIT logos and website? They got air miles from that! Was Kieran Byrne getting a kickback from it? Obviously was.

PTC have been running a course in WIT. A BA in something like Aviation Science,I can't remember the actual course name but it does exist.. Or did.

Cessna_Pilot wrote: »

This is absolutely disgraceful, that me as a taxpayer now have to fund their return to Ireland? They can well afford a flight home you can bet.
I am truly disgusted at the thought of it.
I did some training in Canada 5 years back, and still have the flight booking details and receipts. I will send them on to the DOT too.
And if these goons get their training paid for by anyone else, I too will be sending them receipts for my flight training aswell, be it the IAA or whoever!

The IAA is a commercial organisation, they do not receive state funding so you as a taxpayer will contribute nothing. However those of us that pay fees to the IAA will be paying for this. I don't know what to think really. I'm a bit indifferent to it really.

Cessna_Pilot

IngazZagni wrote: »

The IAA is a commercial organisation, they do not receive state funding so you as a taxpayer will contribute nothing. However those of us that pay fees to the IAA will be paying for this. I don't know what to think really. I'm a bit indifferent to it really.

Yeah fair enough, but I've paid a lot money in fees to them and still don't agree with it!

Delancey

Ridiculous that the IAA is giving them a penny - stinks. Why not e-mail IAA and ask their rationale for this action , is this a slippery slope to a full bail-out ?