AC560 said:
The FAA was out yesterday looking at the wreck and the plane had fuel in the lines/carb.
Apparently the flight school does not do 100 hours on their planes and that they have some sort of loophole or exception from the FAA allowing this. Anyone know anything about this or how it could possibly be legal?
The owner changed it to a club so he could bypass the 100 hour inspections, all he is required to do now is 50 hour oil changes and annuals......which seem to be just a sign off in the log book. If you flew ANY of his planes, you would see clearly he never has mx done. The squawk book is loaded with reoccuring squawks.
When he converted to a club, he then let all the CFI's go, and let them come back as private contractors, so he is not responsible for them if something like this happen.
MC, the owner, told the media there was no fuel on board, and said that his mx is above industry standand. What he really ment to say was "The plane had plenty of fuel, but my mx sucks!" He did it as a diversion.
I have seen typical flight school airplanes, but this places NWA is just down right sickening.
Knowing the owner, I would not be suprised if he tried to get money out of the CFI and student for this. It's not the first airplane he has lost, and it wont be his last. Before this incident happened there had been word that he would file bankruptcy, so he wouldnt have to pay off all his bills and people he owes....LIKE ME!!! and get a new certificate under a new name.
I wish the FBO would start renting out planes again, SB the owner of NWF had a beautiful Arrow I used to rent, but the owner of the flight school had his buddies at city hall block him from competing with MC. SB was even going to rent out his King Air, Areostar and an apache.....all REALLY nice airplanes.
MC was ok at giving out free flight time, usually doing repo flights or parts runs, but the crap he gave you on the side wasn;t worth it. He would smile sunshine up your arse all day long, then the second you turn your back he would stab you. When guys got hired on at the airlines and leave, MC would tell those students " Joe was fired because he wasn't a good CFI"
All in all, if you're looking for a flight school in the Chicago area, stay away from here. STAY FAR FAR AWAY!! Look in Aurora. DPA is too expensive, although Fox Aviation has some pretty decent planes.