CAPT Grounded - Karma Prevails!

[Amish RakeFight]

I agree that it's not ethical to skip out on debt, but look at his position. He's up rivers creek with this size of a loan and nothingto show for it. He isn't intending on a career. What he is now is an indentured servant, having to pay back all that money. He's going to tread water for years payingthis back when he could do better by saving what he earns. If it's the difference between starving/roof over head and paying back some impersonal bank a truck load of money plus interest, I'd go with defaulting. I mean how is this poor guy going to get on with life if he's contributing it all to some dumb loan.

I don't know what the ramifications are for defaulting or whether it can be discharged via a bankruptcy, but my impression is that this guy is drowning in this debt which according to him, the prgoram didnt live up to his expectations.

It's no fun being an indentured servant. I've had a similar situation before, so I speak from experience.

 

[Lynxman]

He messed up now he has to pay the consequences. The economy is like this because people are not responsible and leave beyond their means.

 

[Cardenal]

[FONT=&quot]http://aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=54b6fc63-1e7a-4ff8-a45f-a38f6f68428d&

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Flagler/flaHEAD02FLAG012609.htm

Man, I can't wait for this program to take a dirt nap for good. I just feel really bad for all their students...wish I had a way to warn them that the snake oil they bought was the same brand of BS that burned me and some others! They took my money, and my dream to fly for a career! They lied about all those "guaranteed interviews" from the beginning! My 10-12 months turned out to be over 18 months! And the student they interviewed is estimating his/her "1-year program" to be a possible 2-year program!! I hope he packed enough cash in his luggage to take him/her through that extra year!


As I said in the past, stay the hell away from this CRAPT program! Karma man...I'm going out for a beer to celebrate their demise! Spread the word! CAPT is definitely NOT the place you want to send anyone for flight training!
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[FONT=&quot]Is it possible, juuuust possible, that is was your attitude (to life, work, CAPT and everything) that resulted in poor success for YOU??? hmmmmmmmm. All your posts sure make me wonder

CAPT had great success with many people. But everything in life--and everything in aviation, for sure--is attitude dependent.


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[JustaNumber]

Ninja, Amish says you are up a creek financially, but have nothing to show for it. Nothing could be further from the truth.

First, in a very literal sense, your own lawyer admitted that you received everything that was legally promised to you. That CAPT was extremely unethical in their dealings with you unfortunately doesn't change your legal obligation to them, or especially your legal obligation to your bank, who had nothing to do with CAPT's sliminess. That you are committed to fulfiling your obligation is a character trait which should be commended, regardless of what others are saying.

I do find your story disturbing, though, and not for the obvious reasons. Yes, you made one of life's stupid decisions. Yes your financial life sucks right now. The important thing, though, is what you take away from it all, and it doesn't sound like you have taken the right message from it. You are bitter and angry, dwelling on the past instead of trying to improve yourself.

One of my favorite sayings is "life consists of 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it." What have you learned from this that will help you later in life? To simply say you learned that CAPT is a dishonest venture and you are dedicating your life to spreading this newfound knowledge is a cop-out, and will do nothing to make you a better person. So I will ask again, what have you REALLY LEARNED from your mistake? You have to be brutally honest with yourself if you want any respect, and if you want to move on and have any chance of a happy life. This is what you really bought for your hundred grand.

Most of us can probably point out one or two huge screwups in our lives. I know I can. But those screwups helped me figure out what was most important in my life (in my case, my integrity, my wife, and flying, in that order), and I can truly say I've never been happier. I honestly wish the same for you.

 

[Flying Ninja]

[FONT=&quot]Is it possible, juuuust possible, that is was your attitude (to life, work, CAPT and everything) that resulted in poor success for YOU??? hmmmmmmmm. All your posts sure make me wonder

CAPT had great success with many people. But everything in life--and everything in aviation, for sure--is attitude dependent.
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Actually, I had a great attitude at the program. I never stirred the pot. I never talked back to the program management despite the fact that I knew after their Air Tran lie became transparent (2 months into the program for me). I remained hopeful that they would do the right thing. My attitude changed when they F-ed me.

I understand the whole attitude thing. Believe me, I was not like this until I realized they were not going to make good on their guaranteed interviews (and I qualify this with, I wasn't expecting a job, just interviews). The day came closer and closer to the end of my loan grace period and I needed a job. And CAPT was just dragging its feet along with me...and I had to act. Get a job and pay the loan, or ruin my credit.

 

[Flying Ninja]

Ninja, I dont know how old you are, but this is going to drag your life down. Save your hard earned money. This is economy is in dire straits. You paying interst and principle towards a loan like that is insane. Let me ask you, how long has it been since you began payingthe loan back and how much of that 100K + has been paid off thus far?

I for one, think you should skip on that, especially if youre a young guy under 30.

I'm 37 now. All my money is going to paying that loan, life expenses, and what extra I have left over is going to the principle of the loan, and my CFI endeavor (which explains why it's taken me almost 3 years to get signed off).

I've paid back about $18,000 of it so I still got about $83,000 left over the next 12.5 years (15 year loan). Believe me, I know my life isn't going to anything stellar. I've accepted that my life is about working to pay back that loan. And in that, I realized that there's no more aviation career future for me anymore. But whatever, that's my life now until I win the lottery or pay back the debt, which ever comes first...and I don't play lotto.

 

[COOPERVANE]

You have never answered the question. Why didn't you apply to ASA, or Pinnacle, or Chautauqua or republic?

 

[Flying Ninja]

First, in a very literal sense, your own lawyer admitted that you received everything that was legally promised to you.

I do find your story disturbing, though, and not for the obvious reasons. Yes, you made one of life's stupid decisions. Yes your financial life sucks right now. The important thing, though, is what you take away from it all, and it doesn't sound like you have taken the right message from it. You are bitter and angry, dwelling on the past instead of trying to improve yourself.
...

Yes, the literature did say I'd get 550 total flight training hours. Nothing in there said anything about you can only log 225 hours of flight time that the airlines actually care about. So yes, I LITERALLY got screwed by legalese...amongst other things.

To answer your question, what I have taken away from all this is a very valuable lesson. And the lesson is this: There are fundamentally evil, greedy, immoral, dishonorable, and unethical people in aviation.

When I first entered this aviation world, I was so blown away by how professional and how happy people were doing what they love. I always thought people in aviation was a cut above the rest. Yes, it was idealistic and naive on my part, but that was the lesson I learned. According to you, it cost me $101,000 to learn.

In this lesson, I realized that if I was taken, then someone else could be taken. And that became my mission. To try to reach out to those people so that they don't ever have to go through the mental and emotional anguish that I did, not to mention their hard earned money. I've reached some folks and their decision not to go to CAPT was firmly based on my experience. So as long as CAPT exists, I will continue to reach out to people who will listen. Ultimately, the decision is theirs. I can only hope they make the right decision.

Unfortunately, today, over 160 students will very likely face a similar reality that I did. If only the world read these pilot forums... *sigh*

 

[Amish RakeFight]

Honestly, find out what the repercussions are for defaulting. $100K plus interst is a LOT of money and I for one don't think it's fair for you to have to pay this off. These banks aren't exactly ethical either.

Integrity is honorable and all, but c'mon, this is your life. Savethe money you earn and do other things. The default can always be explained. Your credit rating will eventually recover. I really hate to see you pay back that whopper of a loan and not have it count for something.

You know, if you got some time and instructed, I'm almost certain that you'd be able to get a flying job. You can still be hired with a less than perfect credit history. Not just with airlines, but many other jobs.

Like I said, it bothers me to see someone fritter away their money. What got you i9nto this debt is still there. Stop paying back that loan. It's not as bad as you might think. Please explore this option and see what isthe worst to come of it. Times are very tough right now and to dump your hard earned money into loan instead of saving it is bad judgment. You don't know how long you'll be employed and when you do get canned, then what? Sure the bank wont get their money, but now you've got nothing to fall back on.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

Believe me, I know my life isn't going to anything stellar. I've accepted that my life is about working to pay back that loan. And in that, I realized that there's no more aviation career future for me anymore. But whatever, that's my life now until I win the lottery or pay back the debt, which ever comes first...and I don't play lotto.

This is failure and depression speaking. Get this negativity out of your head.

FK that loan. You will be miserable on your deathbed if you plan to spend the next 15 years paying back a loan. It's going to eat you up inside, if it hasn't already. Clearly, you are still very disturbed about this. It's not healthy psyhcologically to continue to dwell on this, even if your intention is to warn others. For that, there's a search function and buyer beware. You've said you peace.