Airline Training Academy/Discovery Air

[OviedoBob]

Yesterdays Orlando Sentinel newspaper has an article that Discover Air (the subsidary airline of the defunct Airline Training Academy) has been shut down by the Feds for the second time in 6 months for FAR infractions relating to parts and maintenance rules.

They flew J31s out of Sanford airport. For years they had been trying to start a Part 121 operation (scheduled).

 

[OviedoBob]

Orlando Sentinel Article

Discover Air, a charter airline connected to the defunct Airline Training
Academy Inc. of Orlando, has been grounded indefinitely after regulators
caught it using questionable parts and keeping inadequate maintenance
records.

The charter line, which operates four turboprop passenger planes from
Orlando Sanford International Airport in Seminole County, "shut themselves
down voluntarily" last week, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman
Kathleen Bergen said Thursday.

Discover stopped flying after FAA inspectors found the company could not
document the status of some "life-limited" parts it was using on its
planes, Bergen said. Such parts, with limited life spans, are supposed to
be stringently controlled, she added.

Also on Thursday, ATA was forced into bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court
in Orlando after a lawyer for the company dropped objections to an action
brought by former students.

ATA abruptly shut its doors at Orlando Executive Airport in late February.
More than 100 former students claim they are owed more than $7 million in
prepaid but unused tuition and other credits. According to their lawyer,
Roy Kobert, the former students sought the bankruptcy filing and are
asking the court to liquidate the company's assets and distribute any
money.

The precise legal connection between ATA and Discover Air is unclear, but
the charter airline's Web page, which was still on the Internet as
recently as last week, described ATA as "the parent company of Discover
Air." James R. "Captain Jim" Williams and several members of his family
have appeared on state of Florida corporate records as officers of each of
the companies.

On Thursday, after putting the company into bankruptcy liquidation, U.S.
Bankruptcy Judge Arthur B. Briskman ordered that a $102,000 insurance
refund to ATA be held for the benefit of creditors. He also permitted
SunTrust Banks Inc. to sell three small ATA planes on which the bank
claims liens -- but he required that the estimated $21,000 in proceeds
from the sales be held until the competing rights of creditors can be
determined.

The grounding of Discover Air's aircraft last week was the second
voluntary shutdown in less than six months after routine inspections
turned up maintenance and parts violations, the FAA's Bergen said.

In late October, a routine FAA inspection determined that Discover "could
not document the status of some parts," Bergen said. The airline did not
fly until it resolved those problems in mid-November, she said, but a
follow-up inspection late last month determined that the problems had
recurred.

The maintenance violations have not caused any accidents, Bergen said.

Discover flies two Jetstream 3200s, each with room for 10 passengers, and
two 30-passenger, Brazilian-built Embraer 120s, she said.

Barry Flynn can be reached at [email protected] or 407-420-5240.

 

[Long Time Gone]

Here's the link

http://orlandosentinal.com/business...11,0,156499.story?coll=orl-business-headlines