Unfortunately, the only Flight Training school in Canberra is closing down. I can only imagine the huge costs that Terry Snow imposes on people using the airport is a major factor to this. With the Government refusing to put pilot training under HECS, more and more flight schools will close down, eventually leading to a massive shortage and having to bring in pilots from overseas. And we have seen what happens then. Below is an email that all the students received, at least they were pleasant about it.
To Brindabella Flight Training customers,
It is with great regret that we are informing you of our decision to close Brindabella Flight Training. We understand this will come as a surprise and disappointment to many of you and we want to assure you that this decision has not been taken lightly. Brindabella has a real commitment to the aviation industry and encouraging and training pilots, however the operational and commercial realities at Canberra Airport are making the flying school less and less commercially viable.
This has been a very difficult decision for us and we appreciate it may affect your flight training progress. We also appreciate that you may have built relationships with instructors at the school as well as other flying students.
In recognition that some people already have bookings in the system and may want to complete aspects of their training, and recognising that staff will need some time to make other arrangements, we plan for the school to remain fully operational until Friday 30 April. So please speak to your instructor and make any bookings you wish to make up to that date. After April, the school will effectively be closed (except for the current full time CPL students and one other particular customer).
We know our staff have worked hard over the past 10 years to make the school a success and we have offered to assist instructors to find new jobs.
We propose to sell off the flying school aircraft over time and we will continue to offer them for private hire while they are here. We are very sorry if this decision inconveniences you, and we hope you understand that sometimes difficult commercial decisions need to be made.
Our CFI, Malcolm Poulton, will continue to work with us and is available to speak to you. Log books can be collected from the office during business hours.
Finally, we hope that you will respect that this email is for the information of our customers and not for general circulation.
Yours sincerely
Managing Director
Brindabella Airlines Pty Ltd