Tayside Aviation Bust

Got there in the end.

Just one provider or will they split it up, one in the north, one in the midlands and one on the south

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And excellent lesson in saying the word ā€œpauseā€ without saying the word ā€œpauseā€.

:slight_smile:

For a flagship program you have got to love the forward planning
Current contract ended Mar 23 - tendering process ongoing and replacement supplier to be named in due course - then the obvious delays in getting course/standards etc approved

Apr 24 anyone? Shall we start a book or sweepstake?

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November 2023

Standard public sector

this is exactly my thought and what i implied in my earlier post (#26) - what are the chances of those O18s who have been awarded the scholarship actually seeing itā€¦the irony is those who missed out being U18 will be the first eligible by the time comes around!

It would be mighty awkward if we limited applicants to O18 and then delayed until the first batch aged outā€¦

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But entirely unsurprising.

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If those cadets donā€™t get to use their scholarship because we screwed up the contract I can see legal action on the horizon.

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you mean like a repeat of the DofE situation where parent kicked up a fuss and the organisation paid for the child to complete the exped via other means??

it would be an interesting precedent if set as ā€œother meansā€ would be a ā€œnon-serviceā€ aircraft that wasnā€™t an approved supplierā€¦

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Third hand information, so dunno how accurate, but is seems possible that a variety of ā€œauditā€ factors (ISO standards, etc) were carried out as part of the tendering process - the bidding trg organisations were apparently visited in advance.

If correct, hopefully that will reduce the overall timeframe to get the successful bidder up & running.

Vested interest - one of our cadets will be going to the new provider!

I hear tented accommodation may be an optionā€¦

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Fingers crossed, but my money is on a lengthy delay due to a legal challenge brought about by an unsuccessful bidder.

Another flight school gone bust today :sweat:

https://flyer.co.uk/shorehams-fta-flight-school-closes-with-students-owed-money/

Shoreham was massive!

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ā€¦and then hey would qualify for the C wings !
Good plan :+1:

Very very interesting article in the latest paper edition of Flight Training News.

FTN alleges that there were some suspicious financial moves made by Tayside Aviationā€™s owner, Tony Banks in the weeks before its closure, meaning when the dust settles, he wonā€™t be out of pocket.

In a further twist, Tony Banks has filed a legal action against James and Kathleen Watt, the previous owners until Dec 2021, and reported them to the CAA for ā€˜falsification of aircraft maintenance recordsā€™ prior to the sale. The CAA is currently investigating a number of the ex-Tayside engineers in regard to the offences.

Essentially, cadets have been flying in unsafe aircraft at Tayside for a number of years!!!

I can only begin to imagine how unsafe all the other ATOā€™s up and down the country must be if ā€˜falsification of aircraft maintenance recordsā€™ was going on within an organisation that was so closely monitored by the MOD, RAF and RAFAC. The only one in the country to be approved in fact.

The fact that Tayside was awarded the ACPS contract renewal beggars belief!

Pin well and truly pulled!

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Holy moly.

I do wonder what the 22 Gp process is to sign off a centre to deliver flying IAW our current policy. Clearly the process isnā€™t great if what is being claimed turns out to be true.

I think the only people who actually believe that the RAF are the best in the business are the RAF.

Itā€™s becoming very apparent that managing airworthiness, and contract monitoring are not the RAFs strongest pointsā€¦

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