AIR SAFETY FLIGHT ACADEMY, GLENDALE, ARIZONA NOT VERY GOOD SCHOOL, NOT HONEST, CHEAT STUDENTS GLENDALE Arizona

First of all we all know this did not come from one of our Chinese students.

#1. Our Chinese students are well versed on both sentence structure and spelling. Your attempts to act like a Chinese student are both degrading and repulsive. Did you even watch the Olympics? Did you notice that China showed that they were THE best hosts ever of the olympics? Not to mention that they both speak and write the English language very well.

#2. Did you also know that the Chinese students at Air Safety have broken every record every tracked in the United States? The first class is tracked to graduate on time and on budget. Average flight time for the PPL was 52 hours, compared to the national average of American students at well over 70 to 75 hours.

Make fun of these students all you want. These fine young gentleman are only a few months off from upgrade training for the B-737 and Airbus A320. How about yourself?

You should learn that being disrespectful of other nationalities is a sign of your insecurity and the lack of proper upbringing within your own family unit.

While Air Safetys students are above average in speaking Enlgish, their sentence structure and grammar is hardly spectacular. Having seen the students write letter first hand, I can safely speculate that it was indeed a student making the first post.

While Air Safety certainly had its positive moments in the past, it has deteriorated to the point reminiscent of rats bailing from a sinking ship. The Corporate office is utterly unethical and incompetent. They have broken the Arizona labor laws several times by not fulfilling contracts, and illegally cutting employee pay without proper notification.

The maintenance department was run by an unqualified individual(A majority of the airplanes were sytematically downed by the FAA for unairworthiness), and they missed payroll 2 weeks ago and only wrote and delivered checks until 6:20PM on a Friday. After banks were closed. There has been unconfirmed speculation that unless a loan is taken out, they will be unable to make payroll this week.

The treatment of Indian students is utterly disgusting, and when the students went to pull money out of the company, they stalled for over two weeks while saying "We're writing the procedure for withdrawls."

They will neither finish on time or on budget, and the writer above fails to mention that while the Chinese did indeed finish thier private certificates in under 55 hours,(regardless of the fact that they need 250 for a Commercial Part 61 Certificate) they spent nearly 150 hours in the uncertified "simulators" that are basically X-Plane or Microsoft Flight Simulator on 3 65" TV's. While these were certainly intended to be a money saver, the mere fact that they are unloggable and will likely stay that way is a waste of company resources and time.

The Corporate Department is filled by individuals with no practical aviation experience, (bar the owner) and has been successful in pissing off all employees, students, and investors.

First of all, All statements metioned thus far are extrmely true!!!!

But here's something that you probably don't know, and I heard this from several sources, is that the owner who claims to be such a big shot has had 4 DUI's and had his ticket pulled by the FAA and he also got fired from his last pilot job before he even got type rated. They gave him the boot.

You're gonna love this, he brings prospective students around the maintenance hangars and starts dishing out the bull, he tells students the beech duchess is like flying a king air and that the cirrus is like flying the airbus and that the cessna 172sp is like a lear jet. Is this guy for real, and what gets me is that he really thinks that poeple are buying this crap. He totally insultes your intelligence level. They could build statues to his self-centeredness

As for the maintenance, most of what was said is correct. the owner of the company brought in his cousin to manage the maintenance shop, I guess thinking this would help cut costs since apparently the maint. shop was costing the company to much money....well I got news for them, when you buy peice of junk 30 year old airplanes that should have been scrapped years ago and even buying newer aircraft sight unseen all of which require a great deal of maint.

Just to keep them airworthy on a minimum scale...it's going to cost some dollars, apparently this aspect of having a flight school must have slipped their mind...that's if they had one to start with, which at this point seems highly improbable. Well anyway this guy couldn't manage a case of hemoroids.

This moron after being is his newly adopted position for only three weeks was telling his cousin (the owner) that he thought he knew enough to build an airplane. Can you believe this guy!..This guy wasn't even a pilot! All he did all day long on day shift was hover over everybody's shoulders and constantly push for the airplanes to go out with absolutely no regard to safety, the only thing that he was concerned with, was the way he looked to his cousin the owner. there were actually mechanics on the day shift that were completing 100 hour inspections in 4 hours, only 2 mechanics on these airplanes, how is this possible?

He pissed off and back stabbed alot of mechanics and it seemed that only those who kissed his ass were spared any bad mouthing or back stabbing, but this too came to pass, as now, it seems that all the new director of maintenance and his two little lead puppets can do is bad mouth and back stabb everyone.

It's funny because before this guy became the director of maint. all he did was talk about getting rid of certain incompatent poeple if he ever became director of maint. and instead he made that idiot a day shift lead mechanic. this guy did the least and screwed up the most, this guy was absolutely worthless as a mechanic, but he was a good ass-kisser so I guess that's what counts.

With decisions like this, no wonder why the company is where its at today. The maintenance dept. had 2 shifts, day shift and swing shift. I could tell that the guys on nights were seasoned mechanics and they weren't going to get sucked in to the owner's cousin's B.S. of the day shift garbage. The day shift is where all the B.S. was.

I guess the owners cousin thought that it was going be a huge success.
I bet he's the talk of the company.....How he got everything all turned around and everthing. Yea right.

After the company took away employee holidays, vacation, sick days, partial health benifits...oh yea and cut everyone's pay by 20 to 25 percent. What else is there, and all just before the holidays.
They must be so proud of themselves.

I could literally go on for hours. But I'm sure that you have a relatively good idea of what's going on with this place.

No doubt, lots of myths in these previous posts. Facts need to be pointed out here very cogently and a little tongue and cheek comments to keep the readers intersted.

First of all, if maintenance was that bad this place would have been shut down by a very diligent FAA. The company only spent about $100,000 plus over the last months in upgrading and correcting up to the most minute details on its planes. Since its inception, now over 5 years, no accidents have been attributed to maintenance inadequacies, and that is with over 150-200 flights a day!

Secondly, upper management is NOT incompetent or unethical. Installing proper cost metrics and controls on their financial system is a far cry from incompetency, unless off course you are a person that skated in the past and and now have to justify your existence every hour by actually producing every hour. As for being deemed "unethical" for "cutting employee pay without proper notification" can hardly be the case in the circumstances the company faced. Let's see how many people would pull money from their credit lines to pay partial consideration to employees and promising to repay the balance upon expected revenues. In other word put yourself in added credit exposure for all to benefit immediately, even though money was absent from the coffers. Note clearly, the company's official memo promised to pay the payroll shortfall when revenue arrived shortly. Now if this isn't judging before the fact, I don't know what is.

Thirdly, most local banks remain open till 8:00 PM and accept ATM deposits. This includes most major banks located in the valley. So if you didn't know this or even considered ATM banking, maybe you should start now. After all, we are in the 21st century!

Fourthly, flight simulators are legitimate and are now being approved by the FAA. Their controls must match the planes they simulate. They are very useful tools and keep student pilots sharp at their skills. Flying these simulators is almost identical to flying the real thing. If they were not, why then would the FAA even consider certifying them?

Fifthly, with respect to the corporate department being "filled by individuals with no practical aviation experience, (bar the owner)" is not totally accurate. The current CIO and Director of Operations has over 7 years of flying experience and a registered pilot. All businesses overlap 80% of the time and 80% of pilots make lousy business managers, so the question begs, why would you want all pilots there? The past CFO and Flight Director were very operationally incompetent and never even understood the basics of cost accounting or efficient operational metrics as already proven.

Sixthly, if the owner had 4 DUIs and had his "ticket pulled by the FAA" this would be public knowledge, which is NOT the case.

Seventhly, seems to me that the person that wrote the post "can't wait till the company goes under" suffers from dysfunctional family syndrome since he/she can't believe that relatives can make good business partners and failed to realize that maintenance performance standards increased during this person's watch. Supervision, encouragement and support actually can bring efficiency standards upwards......Golly, maybe it's time to read some basic business process manuals and LEARN from this. Not only that Mr. Smarty, it probably is easier to rant & rave than it is to find solutions, which apparently you seem great at. BTW, this too is listed in basic business process manuals.

Eightly, speaking of hemorrhoids, you obviously must know lots about this. Are you a closet proctologist in the making? Besides yourself, who else do you practice on?

Ninethly, with your assertion of "completing 100 hour inspections in 4 hours, only 2 mechanics" is totally incorrect, the fastest was 6 hours and it took 4 mechanics which is within normal standards, unless of course you signed off on this, which I highly doubt!

Tenthly, the company where it was a bit ago was due to the fact it hired chicken littles like you. But now that you are gone and not sucking the big company nipple anymore, could it mean you might be slandering the company a bit because you are on the dole? Watch out and don't let the door slam you in the arse when you leave!

Eleventhly, The company is very proud of finally realizing what it must do to turn things around positively and make sure that revenues are greater than costs. Unfortunately it occurred around the holidays, but the alternative would have been worse. Since this is not the federal government, we can not live on deficit spending. I suggest you go work for the government if you want this type of environment.

Res ipsa loquitor!

I was struck by your use of the phrase "Res ipsa loquitor", or "the thing speaks for itself". It is a legal term used to describe negligence cases, so I fail to understand the context it was used to close out your rebuttal. I do have some disagreements with you on your points, so

1) You have no idea how close you were to actually being shut down by the FAA for maintenance violations. It was BECAUSE of the FAA that pointed out these issues that you spent over $100K, not because there was any proactive action taken on management's part.

2) I don't know what your idea of "ethics" and "competency" are, but when is it OK (or legal) to pay nearly all your employees minimum wage, without prior notification? Since you feel that the company did nothing "illegal", here's A.R.S. § 23-352 which lays it out for you:

23-352. Withholding of wages

No employer may withhold or divert any portion of an employee's wages unless one of the following applies:

1. The employer is required or empowered to do so by state or federal law.

2. The employer has prior written authorization from the employee.

3. There is a reasonable good faith dispute as to the amount of wages due, including the amount of any counterclaim or any claim of debt, reimbursement, recoupment or set-off asserted by the employer against the employee.

So let's see: No one from the government told you not to pay us; Myself and the other employees sure didn't give you written authorization to not pay us; and I don't think any of us employees owed you for anything. Sounds to me like a Prima Facie case, since you're so fond of latin phrases (translated it means "on it's face"; in other words, self-explanatory). While that was sure nice of you to borrow from lines of credit to make payroll, the reality is you didn't make payroll, and you didn't notify the employees of this. While this is only a “petty offense”, and Air Safety would probably only get a slap on the wrist (if it even went that far), do you remember what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet? Now your company cuts your pay in ½, and your car payment's due; your rent is due; the holidays are coming up. You think we might have wanted a little warning before you did that???

3) I'm not too concerned about the bank branches or ATM ability to accept deposits. I am concerned (as any would be who receives a paycheck from Air Safety), that it CLEARS. I have heard from some people (including FAA Examiners) who's checks had to be run through twice before they cleared the bank. Ouch!

4) About those simulators….when are they going to be certified again? I've heard “next week” for several months now. The only sim certified is the SFT, which of course, is nothing close to the type of aircraft the students train in for private and instrument. If the sims are supposed to accurately represent the aircraft they simulate, which airplanes in the fleet have an H.S.I. (except the duchess and seminole) in it? How many private or instrument students know how to fly a complex airplane configuration (adjusting prop and manifold pressure settings), when the airplanes they train in during private and instrument are not? On top of that, the CEO was so adamant about people flying in it 24/7, that I would bet most people felt threatened they would lose their jobs if they either didn't fly in it, or cancelled a session in it. Now that's leadership!

5) Where exactly did you “prove” that the previous CFO and Flight Director were operationally “incompetent”? How do you know that 80% of pilots make bad business managers? Do you have any empirical evidence to support that? I could say that 80% of the time nepotism and/or cronyism leads to bad decision-making and failure within organizations. Does that make it any more right than your argument about pilots?

6) I don't care if the owner has 4 DUI's and got his certificate pulled. It is irrelevant, and I'll give you that.

7) As for hiring family members (aka nepotism), the usual reaction to it is distrust by subordinates, especially if that person has little or no experience in the field he/she is managing. While he might have helped efficiency, having someone more qualified in that position could have pointed out the deficiencies in maintenance and record-keeping that the FAA eventually pointed out. Now the FAA is on Air Safety like white on rice…but I'm sure that's the old CFO and Training Director's fault.

8) I won't dignify a response to “eightly”

9) I won't speak to “ninethly”, either, but I do have one question: How long is it going to take now for a 100-hour inspection with only 3 mechanics on staff and a fleet of 50 aircraft?

10) Chicken Littles, huh? I guess it's unreasonable for someone that just got his pay cut in ½ (or more); or to see the students stuck at their apartments with no transportation to feel a little pessimistic about the future of this company. Also, Were you breast fed enough as a child? What's with the “big company nipple” remark???

11) I think I speak for most of us, that we WANT to see this company survive. We are just tired of this “us vs them” mentality that seems to exist in this company. You talked earlier about not having solutions. Well here's one: COMMMUNICATE. Talk to your employees. Watch them in the environment they work in. When things started going south, all you had to give your employees a heads-up. Make them feel like they are empowered to make a difference for the company…even if it means making a large sacrifice. People will respect that more than springing a light paycheck on them at 5pm on a Friday, and no real empathy for anyone except to say “meeting's over”. That way, you wouldn't have the kind of animosity you do, nor would you have people going to the news media. I'm pretty sure communication is an essential part to a company's success, and if it isn't, should be the #1 listed item in these business process manuals you speak of.

Attention "Anonymous": 'Res ipsa loquitor' is used in CERTAIN, not ALL (key point here, and definitely not MOST) negligence cases. Obviously your attention to detail is lacking and you seem to be reaching, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Res_ipsa_loquitur

This Latin phrase was used so by me so that any unbiased person that understands cogency and logic could figure it out in where the truth & myths lie. Obviously you spin and spin is slant and slant is NOT the truth. Just the facts sweetie!

1) We were never in any danger of the FAA closing us down. My dear "wet behind the ears" person: if this were the case, we would have had a formal corrective notice sent to us and this would be part of public records also. So, if I follow your logic correctly, are you saying that the FAA "almost closes" everyone down when they inspect anyone and find minor violations and request corrective actions? We know they have the power to do so, but in practicality (pay attention here since this is the operative word), they never do, since maintenance shops work hand-in-hand with the FAA in keeping standards up to FAA requirements. Seems to me we have here more like a respectful work in process between two entities and not a "Mexican standoff" (which you claim) where the FAA must use it police powers to enforce their standards. Also, did you you know that the company's maintenance record is not attributable to any accidents? Isn't this what the objective of policing maintenance shops is all about?

2) Did you know that in the past ASFA often had NO FUNDS in the bank and was saved by large receivables walking in the door just in time and then met its payroll? Of course you did not. We were expecting large receivables this time too and they did not materialize. Sure, it is not my way of doing business but this is the hand I was dealt. If I was in charge before, there would have been a strong re-organization, lots of unproductive people would have been released or never hired and there would be plenty of cushions to absorb these situations. Problem is I am a forward thinker and the past can not be rectified and utilized here but definitely learned from. Have you never made any mistakes, or is your name Jesus Christ? Here is another recent aviation casualty, reported by a liberal media source, see if you can see any reports of incompetence or negligence here:

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/0be283520252dfd69f8f6477239f2938.htm

It's all about cash flow and timing sweetie, so pay attention and you will learn lots.

3) Fair enough, but obviously someone was concerned so this person needed to be enlightened. Now isn't this a valid point?

4) The simulators will be certified shortly. I don't get it, you talk like you are informed but you miss the most obvious points. Probably why you never have risen in in this organization. Let me enlighten you AGAIN my friend. These simulators that are being certified are being done so for the FIRST time, call it "work in process". Do you understand what this means? Anyway, each step of the way that we work with the FAA, they tell us the deficiencies. After that we re-tool and get closer and re-inspect. They have NEVER told us the entire list of deficiencies at once, it has been a work in process on both sides. The last step required, being a diagnostic software patch is the only thing now missing. This software should on start-up analyze that all the controls are properly hooked up & working, and if disconnected in flight mode, will alert the operator of this fact. The only vendor that produces this closed software (operative word here being "closed"), has been putting us off in getting us this patch due to more pressing matters on their side. What can I say? O yes, it is obviously our fault from you eyes because you say it is. Brilliant Watson. Keep thinking like this and they will make you Chief of Police!

5) The proof of incompetence is in unacceptable financials and in the fact that there was never a plan to line up the receivables (with lag time) from the contracts to the budget (also non-existent). Aside from all this, the salaries that were paid, were no in line with to industry norms, spending was out of control, and there were too many chiefs and not enough indians, hence limited productivity. Heck, I'd say that is pretty GROSS incompetence and these are the people that obviously cost you your furlough, reduced pay and shortfall. You all know who I am talking about.

6) You don't care, but slander is slander and the truth needs to be CLEARLY pointed out. Chicken littles are people that just don't get it and will never let the truth get in the way of a good story. These people should move to Hollywood, or maybe even Bollywood. We deal in reality and truths, anything else is unacceptable.

7) You call it "nepotism"; I call it minding the store. There are countless of family businesses that are run very successfully by these standards and last time I checked, the side is tipping to a good move and not an incompetent one. The FAA is not on Air Safety "like white on rice", which is another MYTH! Please refer to above point number "5)" again to further rebuttal your latter point of where the fault lies. Of course, it lies there; these were the architects of what has transpired. The owner's fault was to trust these two implicitly, and the proof is still not out whether this truly was a conspiracy or just plain incompetence. Stay tuned my little chicken.

8) Better humor needs to counter inferior humor. Are you paranormal and have no humor at all? It is a pity since unfortunately this can not be taught. The rest, if you pay attention can surely be cogently rebuttaled and all myths squashed!

9) Chicken little, I am surprised that you are clueless. First of all 100 hour inspections take about 22 person hours (key operative word is "person") to complete. I thought you knew something, afraid not. Secondly, if three mechanics remain, the fleet must be reduced. Bet this never entered your paranormal mind.

10) The term "chicken little" is used with respect to the gloom & doom people that don't understand that life is not all clockwork. Patience and not burning your bridges is most prudent thing to do since we all can not be in control of our destiny all the time. What you should be doing is judging a person's character on how this person has acted in the past and how he is fighting to pull himself out and make everyone whole. By kicking someone that is down or adding salt to there wounds, make you just that, a very BIG chicken little. Now do you understand these points here? The real mettle of a person's character is judged in bad times, not in good times. You all myth makers have clearly proved this. Don't you guys even read the Bible with respect to judgment? With respect to me being breast fed, I was NOT, I was allergic to human & cow milk, but I never resented it. With respect to “What's with the “big company nipple" remark???”, that one is really easy, people that suck “company nipples” are parasites that do very little in return for their pay. I really am quite surprised in your lack of knowledge Ms. Wet.

11) We have communicated effectively. After the November 21st Memo we had meetings with all the employees (that attended) and students yesterday. Last time I checked that was only 4 days ago. How much more do you want with communications? We have also requested everyone that wants to be kept informed to send their personal emails to management. Now, what would you do in this situation, communicate hourly? Sorry, that we took so long to keep you abreast and setting up an effective method of communications. With respect to giving employees a "heads up", we have had a history in the past to prove that receivables did hit us in time. They just did not materialize this time. But if we would have played chicken little each time this occurred, I think we would have made the company very paranoid and unproductive. Also, speaking of heads up, where were you when the reorganization and pay cuts rolled out? Did you have your head in the sand or something? I think your secondary points are all tied very well into my explanation and need no further refinement.

In all seriousness, management welcomes constructive criticism. Just make sure you all have well grounded facts when bringing them up. If you want to communicate to us privately, and need to know the facts, please do so with full confidence. Just remember to keep an open mind and let cogency fill the argument on both sides and not silly unfounded third-hand, hearsay remarks.

First off I need to state that I was a customer, but the "file a complaint" button was not working. I was never employed with this company.

I did a lot of searching and research before choosing a flight school to finish up my instrument and commercial ratings, and through my research I found Air Safety to be a pretty good deal at the time. When I began their rental rates were very reasonable, $125 an hour for the sr-20. Instructor rates were competitive and Mr. Pinkston did a great job at selling me on his school.

I was given a quote that included estimated cost and an estimated time line. Costs were going to be in the neighborhood of $30,000 to get everything through an MEI, and the time line was optimistically 6 months to get my CFI, at which time I would have a guaranteed job with the school.

I'll begin with their complete failure to stay on budget and on time. In 6 months time I did not complete my instrument rating. I had blown through $15,000 and had nothing to show for it. The reason for the problems lies in their hands.

Scheduling is a mess. International students are given priority over domestic students on a day-to-day basis. Domestic students (who pay more per hour by the way) are often times without an airplane to fly, even though they had one scheduled. This is ultimately a result of their maintenance program; or lack there of. While the airplanes were usually airworthy (there were two airplanes that I knew of that did not have proper registration), they were rarely in proper condition. I did not fly a single airplane that had all of its equipment working. Not one. While I had no major failures, nor did I hear of anyone else having any major problems, the airplanes were in terrible condition. If, for example, a Chinese students scheduled airplane is down for maintenance, they are given an airplane scheduled to a domestic student. As a side note, I'd like to point out a policy that any squawk requires the airplane to go in for maintenance, and can't be scheduled until the issue is "resolved." As any pilot renting airplanes knows, a Squawk is usually a minor issue that needs to be addressed, but more often than not its a small issue (burnt out lights not affecting airworthiness, etc.) This unnecessarily put many airplanes down, and left many issues unreported. Bad policy.

The sim's were not FAA certified last I knew, and I don't see that as an issue. They were excellent sims and helped keep the costs down. When I began every sim was free for anyone, just get on the schedule, pay the instructor time, and its yours. Then they went to a one time $250 fee, which I paid to continue to use the sims for free. Then they began charging domestic students $89 per hour, plus instructor fees. That is as much as a 152 (more on their astronomical fees later) for a non certified sim. Not only did I get hooked for $250, but when they began charging $89 per hour, they didn't think to tell any of the students. That is unethical in my book.

The same thing happened with their aircraft rental rates. They began very reasonable, and on a monthly basis they began to rise. By the time I left an old 172N was going for $125 an hour. That is an old N model, most are barely, if at all IFR legal. And that is assuming all the equipment is functioning. A 172P was $130 and a 172SP was $145. Even a 152, an airplane that can be rented for less than $70 elsewhere in the Phoenix area went for $89 an hour, and the extra money wasn't to fly well equipped, well maintained aircraft.

I did not keep an instructor for more than three weeks. Some left on their own, others were removed from the domestic program. While they did have a standardized syllabus, and instructor standardization programs, there was no standardization. Each instructor had their own expectations and ways of doing thins. I'm not saying that is bad, not at all. I embrace the differences of each instructor, but when you're changing instructors every few weeks it does no one any good.

That was the bad, now for the ugly. I had loans through Sallie mae, who requires their funds to go into the schools account. I did the best I could at keeping track of my charges and my account balance. At one point I believed I had about $4,000 in my account when I received a call from the school telling me my account was in the negative. At this point I knew about the ever changing rental rates, and surprise sim charges, but that couldn't account for $4,000. After getting a copy of all charges against my account I learned EVERY third transaction was double charged. I could see one double charge by accident here or there, but EACH and EVERY 3rd flight was double charged. This, to me, shows they had intent to steal from my account. After two weeks of letters, phone calls, and visits with the upper management I did get the overages credited back. But it took two weeks and threats of hiring a lawyer to represent me. I later learned from several of my past instructors that they left after having their pay cut, or not receiving pay at all.

This is not a company I would suggest anyone do business with. Not only is Mr. Pinkston the largest crook I've came across, but the school does not deliver the promises it makes.

First off I need to state that I was a customer, but the "file a complaint" button was not working. I was never employed with this company.

I did a lot of searching and research before choosing a flight school to finish up my instrument and commercial ratings, and through my research I found Air Safety to be a pretty good deal at the time. When I began their rental rates were very reasonable, $125 an hour for the sr-20. Instructor rates were competitive and Mr. Pinkston did a great job at selling me on his school.

I was given a quote that included estimated cost and an estimated time line. Costs were going to be in the neighborhood of $30,000 to get everything through an MEI, and the time line was optimistically 6 months to get my CFI, at which time I would have a guaranteed job with the school.

I'll begin with their complete failure to stay on budget and on time. In 6 months time I did not complete my instrument rating. I had blown through $15,000 and had nothing to show for it. The reason for the problems lies in their hands.

Scheduling is a mess. International students are given priority over domestic students on a day-to-day basis. Domestic students (who pay more per hour by the way) are often times without an airplane to fly, even though they had one scheduled. This is ultimately a result of their maintenance program; or lack there of. While the airplanes were usually airworthy (there were two airplanes that I knew of that did not have proper registration), they were rarely in proper condition. I did not fly a single airplane that had all of its equipment working. Not one. While I had no major failures, nor did I hear of anyone else having any major problems, the airplanes were in terrible condition. If, for example, a Chinese students scheduled airplane is down for maintenance, they are given an airplane scheduled to a domestic student. As a side note, I'd like to point out a policy that any squawk requires the airplane to go in for maintenance, and can't be scheduled until the issue is "resolved." As any pilot renting airplanes knows, a Squawk is usually a minor issue that needs to be addressed, but more often than not its a small issue (burnt out lights not affecting airworthiness, etc.) This unnecessarily put many airplanes down, and left many issues unreported. Bad policy.

The sim's were not FAA certified last I knew, and I don't see that as an issue. They were excellent sims and helped keep the costs down. When I began every sim was free for anyone, just get on the schedule, pay the instructor time, and its yours. Then they went to a one time $250 fee, which I paid to continue to use the sims for free. Then they began charging domestic students $89 per hour, plus instructor fees. That is as much as a 152 (more on their astronomical fees later) for a non certified sim. Not only did I get hooked for $250, but when they began charging $89 per hour, they didn't think to tell any of the students. That is unethical in my book.

The same thing happened with their aircraft rental rates. They began very reasonable, and on a monthly basis they began to rise. By the time I left an old 172N was going for $125 an hour. That is an old N model, most are barely, if at all IFR legal. And that is assuming all the equipment is functioning. A 172P was $130 and a 172SP was $145. Even a 152, an airplane that can be rented for less than $70 elsewhere in the Phoenix area went for $89 an hour, and the extra money wasn't to fly well equipped, well maintained aircraft.

I did not keep an instructor for more than three weeks. Some left on their own, others were removed from the domestic program. While they did have a standardized syllabus, and instructor standardization programs, there was no standardization. Each instructor had their own expectations and ways of doing thins. I'm not saying that is bad, not at all. I embrace the differences of each instructor, but when you're changing instructors every few weeks it does no one any good.

That was the bad, now for the ugly. I had loans through Sallie mae, who requires their funds to go into the schools account. I did the best I could at keeping track of my charges and my account balance. At one point I believed I had about $4,000 in my account when I received a call from the school telling me my account was in the negative. At this point I knew about the ever changing rental rates, and surprise sim charges, but that couldn't account for $4,000. After getting a copy of all charges against my account I learned EVERY third transaction was double charged. I could see one double charge by accident here or there, but EACH and EVERY 3rd flight was double charged. This, to me, shows they had intent to steal from my account. After two weeks of letters, phone calls, and visits with the upper management I did get the overages credited back. But it took two weeks and threats of hiring a lawyer to represent me. I later learned from several of my past instructors that they left after having their pay cut, or not receiving pay at all.

This is not a company I would suggest anyone do business with. Not only is Mr. Pinkston the largest crook I've came across, but the school does not deliver the promises it makes.

[1] NOT ALL STUDENTS ARE CREATED EQUALLY. Prices quoted by all flight academies are estimates. The normal student will get by at these estimates. The inferior students will obviously take longer. Not everyone can be a pilot, just like most every profession that requires skill. Need anything more be stated? We are sorry that the standards that the institution and the FAA keep exceed your expectations!

[2] CFI JOB GUARANTEES. No guarantees in life but death & taxes. If you have a guarantee, take it to an attorney and not slander the company aimlessly like you are doing so.

[3] SCHEDULING. There is no preferential treatment in scheduling. Planes go down and must be kept to strict standards and affect everyone. If you only try to schedule periodically and not consistently, then it may take some attempts to get you on the schedule. But also, if you do not have your account current, you will be bumped till your account has sufficient funds to fly your anticipated plan. If this were the case of consistent bumping, there would be more complaints and the school would be out of business.

[4] SIMULATORS. Incorrect, all simulators at Air Safety are NOW FAA certified. This is the first school that ever got FAA approval for their in-house built simulators. There are new pricing policies in effect, so your point on pricing is also very moot.

[5] AIRCRAFT RENTAL RATES. Rates go up when cost go up. Air Safety is in line with its competitors. Your facts are wrong. There are no CURRENT rates at $70/hour in Phoenix. The cheapest I found was $84/hour which is in line with ASFA & most schools.

[6] INSTRUCTORS. Instructors are always constantly tested. If they do not pass our standards or start slacking off, they are terminated. Simple. This happens in all businesses. Lose your edge, lose you job!

[7] BILLING SNAFU. Bottom line, it was taken care of and I assure you it is not systematic. Only human input error. If not, get an attorney and start a class action suit, but I guarantee, the only paranoid person here is you. Also, maybe the way you treated the person in your demand might have something to do with the turnaround of this matter. Next time, do it professional and in writing so it can be acted on and not by threatening and acting childish.

[8] WHO IS THE REAL CROOK? When you call a person a "crook" and hide behind your web browser without any facts, you are liable for slander! Where are your proofs? If they are based on the above points, then you are the real crook here without a clue.

Once again, all you points were addressed and defused. The only real positive event here is that we hope that you saved some money in spewing out your myths here instead of incurring a counseling cost. As one human to another, I am happy to try to readjust your exceptions and give you a dose of reality so that you come better prepared with the facts. I hope you have learned lots from this exchange!

“It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept.”

This quote fairly accurately sums up the mentality of the CEO, "COO", and the financial guy (presumably CFO but they tend to hand titles out like candy).

It occurs to me that it's one thing to lie to other people (the owner and "COO" have done this constantly) but it's an entirely different thing to lie to yourself.

Before I begin addressing your 8 points, I would like to firstly state that your previous rebuttals are absolutely degrading and downright childish. The tone and language used is a direct reflection of the leadership at ASFA. Anyone involved with the company past or present knows that there are only 4 people in the company with that sort of mentality: the CEO, "COO", CFO, and, oh yeah, the owners cousin. I doubt it was the owner since no full fledged temper tantrums have been thrown, and I doubt it's the owners cousin because he has not shown in the past any of the blatant disrespect you seem to have for civilized debate. That kind of narrows it down.

1. NOT ALL STUDENTS ARE CREATED EQUALLY- While this is certainly true, The track record at Air Safety for completing students on time and on budget is virtually non-existent. The corporate department is excellent at reminding everyone that the reason they are over budget is due to "base estimates", however in my time at Air Safety I didn't see ANY one completed on time or on budget. Not the Chinese, not the Indians, and certainly not the few Domestics that were present. I also find it amusing that you include the FAA standards in your argument as if they have anything to do with the fact that you simply can't seem to get the job done.

2. CFI JOB GUARANTEES- While I am not very well versed as to the details of this particular issue, I do infact know that the owner (at the testimony of more than 10 different people) promised free CFI ratings, guaranteed jobs and once again, failed to deliver on his promises. In one particular instance he downright reneged on his word. Also, every time I turn around one of you is screaming slander. Perhaps you should review the definition and legalities of the word and adjust your accusations accordingly. Your claims of slander are merely a poorly disguised scare tactic intended to silence the people speaking the truth.

3. SCHEDULING- First of all, there were a substantial amount of complaints that were conveniently ignored. Also, the reason you haven't lost all of your Indian students is because they unfortunately put thousands of dollars into their accounts in advance and were not allowed to withdraw that money when they requested to do so. The Chinese, at no fault of their own, were repeatedly given priority over every other student. These priorities came straight down from, you guessed it, the CEO. I also saw an email specifically ordering Chinese priority over all other students. While you claim that no priority was given, the scheduler conveniently scheduled all of the Chinese bids first, and then gave whatever was left to whoever was left. Now; I'm not naive, I understand that the Chinese were the majority of the school. However the point is that you have blatantly refused what you know to be fact. (While this is certainly irritating, one cannot help but feel a bit of pity for a soul in that refuses to accept reality.)

4. SIMULATORS- I nearly fell out of my chair laughing when I saw your response. While they are certainly certified NOW, it's 11 months too late. We were told we would have certification in March, June, August, September, and when none of these dates happened, we were told "They'll be certified in two weeks" every two weeks. FURTHERMORE, the fact that you were charging people to operate your uncertified Sims is a fairly good indication of the many schemes to generate revenue.

5. AIRCRAFT RENTAL RATES- While your base hourly rates are comparable to Pan Am's, what you fail to mention is that most flight schools have a base price with the instructor fee included. Therefore, your students are paying a great price at $84/hr., but then they're charged around $65/hr. for the instructor, which brings the total for one hour of flight to around $149/hr. Oh my, that's a totally different number all together isn't it? I won't even delve into the fact that your flight instructors don't even see a third of that instructor fee in their pay. (Assuming in fact that they are indeed paid.)

6. INSTRUCTORS- I'm sorry, when are your instructors tested? What are the criteria of your tests? How often are these tests performed? How many of your instructors have you tested? Do you test instructors directly referred from the CEO for criminal backgrounds or any history of theft? Need I say more?

7. BILLING SNAFU- I won't comment on the details of the incident as there is no substantial evidence to prove or disprove the billing complaint. However, I will comment that your staff has been rude, evasive, and unprofessional when dealing with customers and financial complaints.

8. WHO IS THE REAL CROOK?- Again, you degradingly call people Chicken Little in your above rebuttals, but what should we call you? Chicken Slander? Slander Little? You seem to cry slander at the first sign of a person with a backbone. Furthermore, where are your proofs sir? Surely you can't expect to degrade and disprove arguments by saying the person complaining has no proof when you have none of your own.

As one human to another: It's never too late to wake up, smell the coffee, and admit the truth.

1> I would like to address the the arguement between the student who filed a report saying that he was frequently bumped from flights for chinese and the air safety employee who said that did not ever happen.... I was a chinese flight instructor and can tell you that hierarchy of plane availability went to the furthest behind chinese students, then the rest of the chinese students, then everyone else (Indians and Domestic). While I can say it was great for me since I typically would fly anytime I wanted, I felt very bad for the students and instructors who got left in the cold. It happened everyday I worked there.

2> As for standardization for instructors, all I can say is that was non-existent. Nothing was EVER standardized. As long as they were passing checkrides no one gave a sh*t. The truth of the matter is that everyone came from different flight schools with different ways of teaching. Their poor attempt at standardization entailed roughly 3 failed syllabi for private, and a couple for instrument. The standardization class for instructor was a 4 hour crash course of their SOP.

3> ASFA treatment of employee's and students is that of slaves. If you didn't spend 12 hours a day 7 days a week trying to get your billable hours you stood a chance of loosing your job. As for the SFT-3000 (the pride and joy of ASFA), you were FORCED by scheduling, who was forced at the time by Jim, who was forced by the beloved Mrs. P, to fly the simulator which performed extremely poor, nothing like a real airplane; sometimes 8 hours at one time till 6 oclock in themorning, followed by 4 flights the following day starting at 7 oclock! Not only are the instructors dead tired, but the students are not able to perform well at all after being up all night, going to the joke of a ground class, then flying again for 2 hours.

I could write a book about everything ASFA has done to screw its students, employees, and themselves, but all it would be is a waste of my time. But by far the worst thing ASFA did was mistreat their cash cow, the chinese. I know for a fact that China 2 was not receiving their money for close to two months for food, clothes, and whatever else they needed to survive.

And for the record, I read that air safety's maitenance complied with the FAA and there was not ever any problems... LIE. I had an examiner down 3 airplanes within an hour for being UNAIRWORTHY. He finally cancelled the checkride, told the FAA, and the FAA had a "surprise" insepection the next day. Result, 3/4 of our fleet went down! Also, not only did I have 2 complete electrical systems failures in the time I was there, I know of 4 engine failures.. One ended up landing at Phoenix International Raceway!

PEOPLE DO NOT BELIEVE ASFA. THEY ARE UNSANFE, AND LYING IS A WAY OF LIFE FOR THEM. TAKE YOUR MONEY AND YOUR TIME ELSEWHERE.

didnt get paid for weeks of work. had engine failures multiple times. havent received a w-2 form. got paid minimum wage without a notice. one night a week i wouldnt even get to go home and sleep because of schedules. lied to regularly from the owner when he has the marbles to show up other times he would have his slaves (peter and vlad). other than that i enjoyed watching unairworthy aircraft fly at 46 degrees celcius with 75fpm climb and engine temps off the instruments (being told to go). working for this company is like the arizona sun it makes everyone hot and no matter what you do your going to get burned.

Let the truth be known,

Thank you for demonstrating the attitude found at ASFA. I presented my experience in an honest, yet professional manner. Your childish response is representative of what I would expect to find from any member of management I came across in my time at your school.

I do have to address each of your statements showing. They are false truths devised to save your own behind.

1:"All students are not created equally" This is true. However, when a student is only abel to fly several days a week (and they request to fly 5 or more days a week) due to scheduling conflicts, down aircraft, or other issues beyond the control of the student can you really expect any student to excel? As a side note, in my last days at ASFA I was told I would have about another 10 flights before being able to take my checkride. I left and within 3 flights at another school I was given the green light to take a checkride, where I passed on the first try with not the slightest hiccup. That tells me either I was being used for my money, or the instructor staff has very little confidence both in themselves and their students.

2: "CFI job guarantees." I have a written statement, Signed by the president, along with a verbal contract that there would be a guaranteed job as a CFI, provided I completed my training with ASFA. No slander here, and I'm not going to an attorney as I did not complete my training at ASFA, for reasons listed above.

3:"Scheduling." What you said I find to be a flat out lie and not in the least bit consistent with the truth. I requested to fly daily. I had sufficient funds in my account until my last day when I discovered the "billing snafu." To accuse me of not doing my part is a blatant coverup of your "Chinese first" policy. Not only was this policy obvious to us american students, we knew first hand of it. We were told by people in the dispatch office, as well as the instructors that we were 2nd priority. The reason there were not more complaints is because there were not many american students. Even if we all left because of this issue, ASFA would not go out of business, we were too small of a minority. I didn't falsely accuse you of anything, don't falsely accuse me of not doing my part.

4: "Simulators." I began flying at ASFA in March of 2008, I was told the FAA had been out to inspect the simulators and they would be approved By April. By July they had not yet been certified, yet I was being billed for using them without my knowledge. I would have been fine with paying a modest fee for their use had I known I was being billed. I asked multiple times if there was a fee for their use, to which I could never get a straight answer. This issue may now be rectified, however I got the short end of the stick.

5: "Aircraft rental rates." how can you say your rates are in line with your competitors when two offices down there is a 172N for $90 an hour that is every bit as nice (which isn't saying much) as your planes that you charge $135 an hour(prices accurate as of july 2008)? While its likely true $84 an hour is the best rate for any aircraft in phoenix, look at the other aircraft available at that flight school. I could rent an Arrow there for the same price I could rent a 172 from ASFA. Add in the outrageous instructor fees and you are not in line with your competitors.

6:"Instructors." I had a new instructor to ASFA. He went through the standardization program yet didn't receive an IFR orientation. For two weeks the assistant chief pilot continually put off doing his IFR orientation. For those two weeks I sat twiddling my thumbs. In the off chance it was my instructors fault, I took it upon myself to make sure the assistant chief pilot knew of the situation and was aware of how it affected me. Yet I saw waiting to fly. Why wasn't my instructor tested, or even prepared? This is not consistent with what you're saying.

7:"Billing snafu." It was taken care of, and I'd like to thank Wendy for taking care of it when I brought the matter to her. That, however, is not the issue. The issue is EACH and EVERY 3rd flight was double charged. I could see one or two billing issues, even several random issues. But EACH and EVERY 3rd flight? Come on, you have to admit that sounds a bit fishy now doesn't it? Again, i don't appreciate your assumption that I was rude or childish. I was professional, yet firm. I don't pretend to be happy about the situation, it was over $3,000 wrongfully taken from my account, I challenge you to be happy-go-lucky in that sort of situation. I also don't appreciate you not reading what I had written, I stated before that I did write letters concerning the issue.

8:"who is the real crook." Had I made any untrue statements I would be liable for slander. My proof is in my experience. My physical proof can be found in the ASFA billing records, and in a file I have kept detailing everything from billing errors, to promises made by the president of the company in black and white. My logbook will show the frequency of my training, which will show I was not able to fly as frequently as I had asked, or was promised. My proof is in the squawk sheets of each aircraft I flew, highlighting issues that deem the aircraft un-airworthy (yet they continued to fly).

Thank you for taking the time to "defuse" my points. While you may not have done it in reality, you have succeeded in your own mind. I have in fact "learned lots" from this experience, I have learned through the largest financial mistake of my life and I hope to share my mistake so others don't fall into the same trap.

This place had a good thing going when it was a small operation and it was the same group of guys. Then the big dreams of going international and the sims and 100 airplanes and blah blah blah came and it all went down hill fast.

These responses are typical of the owner, nothing was ever his fault and he always had an excuse.

Reading through these comments was very interesting. I am so glad I decided not to attend this school. What I would like to point out is this:

I did tour the school and they made the school sound perfect. I was told that after I was done, I would be promised job and a salary of 40k per year as a flight instructor. I also was told that in all of the years in business that only one flight instructor was fired. That contradicts what was said in one of the rebuttals. This company deserves no credibility.

This news speeks for itself. http://www.kxii.com/home/headlines/81282757.html

I almost went to this school and I am so happy I did my research. Saved me alot of time and money I cant afford to pay back.