Whilst no business is perfect, at TGC we always strive to be better than we were yesterday. Like many, we find jumping on the proverbial “where there’s blame, there’s a claim’ bandwagon, positively nauseating. But, and it’s a big BUT, taking legal action against flight training providers (ftp’s) and individuals that have mis-sold services, breached contracts, bullied, exhibited behavioural traits such as misogyny and racism, is absolutely the right thing to do.

We have been approached by 2 top tier law firms to consult on a new project that ultimately aims to pursue ftp’s who have mis-sold, mismanaged courses and in extreme cases, mistreated their clients. And yes, the chief objective being to firstly get a written apology, as well as obtain a suitable financial settlement in accordance with the facts of one’s particular grievance. To put it mildly, it’s eye-watering some of the things we’ve both witnessed first-hand, as well as seen from an evidentiary point of view from some of our mutual clients. It’s little wonder the legal eagles have waited as long as they have to address this. Still, better late than never.

It’s early days yet, and there’s much work to be done in this consultation, but we are looking to hear from individuals who believe they fit the criteria. So, what kinds of things are we talking about then that might warrant getting in touch? Due to the recent boom in flight training, mainly to facilitate the commercial demand, some flight training schools have clearly had eyes, much bigger than their bellies. That is to say, taking on vast numbers of clients, and, knowingly, been unable to meet the demand. As a consequence, some of you have been left literally waiting months between flying lessons and months between cancelled skills tests. This of course leads to what’s known in the business as skills-fade, ultimately resulting in you having to pay thousands, and in some cases, tens of thousands more, to complete a course that has massively overrun. And through no fault of your own!

Then we have the really unpleasant bits! Misogyny and racism. We have documented cases that clearly demonstrate that this IS going on. Yes, hard to believe in the 21^st century in modern Britain, but, sadly, it’s rife. We are witness to many young women, and men who have attended courses and been treated appallingly. Being denied going solo, even after 40+ hours of training. If it’s not happened by then, it probably never will, and your ftp has a moral duty to tell you, before, taking tens of thousands from you. But all young women, one after the other, or ethnic minorities, all NOT conforming to the standard statistical model for training and competency? Then they’ll use the ground school as a barrier to your continuing your practical training, the old chestnut that is ‘you haven’t done your ground school so you can’t progress’. But they don’t offer ground school, so you come to somewhere like TGC to complete it. And then what happens? Some of these outfits, then make libellous and slanderous comments that such courses aren’t of sufficient quality, despite exams passes almost averaging 100%. But these courses were excellent when they had aircraft on the ground and instructors sat twiddling their thumbs! Come on, who on earth do they think they’re kidding? And yes, there is a representative statistical model that applies to flight training too, as there is for nearly everything else in life. Sadly, some of you who’ve suffered at the proverbial hands of greedy ftp’s, have come to accept this as an industry norm. Well, we can assure you it’s not. And help, should you want it, might very well be on the way soon, and possibly on a no win no fee basis, or where your lawyer’s costs, will be recouped directly from your ftp. Either way, it won’t be costing you anything. Some of you have already paid well over the odds for a course, some we’ve seen, up to 400% more! Some of you may have borrowed from family, or a bank or credit card with high interest rates. Others have come close to financial ruin and not even completed their course. Have you missed out on potential sponsorship or job offers due to delays in your training or gross professional misconduct? Has this affected your menta health? These are all problems that some ftp’s are directly responsible for resolving.

We suspect that there will be one or two unscrupulous ftp’s reading this article too, no doubt through gritted teeth. And before you start spouting clap trap like ‘cancellations happen due to poor weather, defective aircraft, instructor illnesses blah blah’, we put it to you that taking on too many students without the assets to facilitate demand, is grossly negligent in the first instance, and verging on criminal. And the weather is very rarely unflyable for months and months in a row!  Combine all of this with other details such as lack of SOPs and pre/post flight debriefings, the list literally does go on and on, it was always going to be the case that one day the lawyers would come knocking. That much, to us anyway, was painfully obvious.

Please get in touch for a confidential chat or meeting in person. Any evidence you can provide to corroborate your claim, will obviously be very beneficial. Recording conversations of gross misconduct, saving email/text communications as well as keeping METAR/TAF data, particularly for continuous supposed weather-related lesson cancellations, are all very useful. And do remember, even if your aerodrome doesn’t have any published METAR/TAF data, then aerodromes in the immediate vicinity, will suffice. If in doubt, call us, we’re here to help!