UPDATED:
District
Attorney's office to determine if there was any wrongdoing. ...
July 02, 2008
Vice president of American School of Aviation, Inc.,
Mrs. Reny Kozman (wife of Manpreet “Prince”
Singh) told local media:
- In April 2007, Our company looked to be in some form of financial
trouble as a result when company employees in India pocketed student
deposits and $140,000 in tuitions.
- Kingfisher Airlines canceled a deal with the flight school
that guaranteed job interviews for some graduates.
- The school had to spend $72,000 on marketing in other countries
to bring more students in class
- American School of Aviation, Inc. has signed students, based
its tuition on $3.50 a gallon but fuel prices have increased,
nearing $6 per gallon
It is also estimated that the school needs more than 1/2 million
dollars to continue the classes.
Merced County District Attorney had stared invistigation weather
school’s management had committed any fraud of usung funds.
Why
do people believe that Manpreet “Prince” Singh, of
American School of Aviation, California duped Over 100 Indian
trainee pilots?
Merced, California, June 30, 2008
Darshan Singh/Gary Singh, LA
For the past 3-4 days, it is a hot news: NRI, Manpreet “Prince”
Singh, president and chief flight instructor of American
School of Aviation, Inc. (ASA), Merced, California has duped more
than 100 student pilots form India at Castle Commerce Center, Merced,
California. Merced County (pronounced "Mer-SED"), is a
county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California,
north of Fresno and southeast of San Jose.
Some news media wrote head line news like this:
-
More than 100 Indian
Students Stranded in USA due to Aviation School shutdown
-
California ‘Prince’ dupes aspiring pilots. Students
evicted from their accommodation.
-
Indian pilot trainees
duped by US aviation school
On Friday, more than 100 students were evicted from their dormitories
because ASA didn't pay its overdue water bill. Gemini Flight Support
have sued American School of Aviation, Inc. (ASA) over $50,000 for
unpaid gasoline bills. The students are also demanding $20,000-
$30,000 in tuition returned.
Most of the students were transferred to the apartments, rented
by ASA and some students are staying with friends. It is also said
that some have already gone to India
Last Thursday evening, Manpreet “Prince” Singh owner
of the school told the students that he is in the process of opening
school in Sacramento, where they would get training. It is also
very clear that if he relocate, the students must have to go through
Homeland Security for renew visa.
The students from India, paid about $40,000 each for 18 months
pilot training to find jobs as pilots in India’s booming civil
aviation industry. Most of them said they came to here to fulfill
their dreams to become a pilot.
Kirpal Grewal, a teacher in Merced, who lives
very near this school and met him few times, told our senior representative
that Manpreet “Prince” Singh is a gentle man, well qualified
pilot, entrepreneur and had good reputation. Unfortunately, he was
behind the bills for the past six months. There may be many reasons,
over head cost expenses or gas prices going up. I know that he was
doing a great job as a pilot training. I also came to know that
he was trying to find an investor who can help him to continue this
great project to train Indian young students.
Another gentle man from Merced, Sunil Kumar told us that it can
happen to any person. Just think- due to rapidly increasing fuel
prices, assume that six months ago he had spent $100,000 for Air
flying fuel cost, now he has to pay $140,000. If he had misused
the funds, he had to pay the price. Doing business is not a crime,
if he did his business honestly and could not get investors...then
this is the solution, please read:
Bankruptcy is a legal vehicle that provides relief to individuals
and businesses in serious financial trouble and protects their
creditors to the extent possible. Generally, the bankruptcy process
assesses the debtor's assets and liabilities and provides a structure
within which the debtor is allowed to keep some property and ordered
to satisfy as many eligible debts as possible, according to an
order of priority established by law. Remaining debts are discharged,
except those of certain types, like domestic support orders, debt
obtained by fraud and most tax debt.
One student said, Reny Kozman, vice-president of the American School
of Aviation and her husband, Manpreet Singh, have said that they
are trying to sell the business to save it from going bankrupt.
It is also learnt that “Prince” Singh, took 30 students
to get training in another flying school in Sacramento, California
but remaining 70-plus Indian students turned down the offer because
of bad experience in the past months.
Another student said his school advertise and displays logos of
all the major Indian airlines and some foreign airlines, giving
the false impression of an association with these airlines. After
investigation, we found that under LogoS he wrote:
Logos displayed are registered trademarks and service marks
of the respected airlines and are used for information purposes
only and to illustrate the airlines graduates of American School
of Aviation, Inc. are employed by American School of Aviation,
by displaying these registered trademarks and service marks, does
not imply any affiliation with these airlines nor implies that
graduation from American School of Aviation guarantees employment
by these airlines. Past results are not indicative of future performance.
According to the India media, only one Kingfisher Airlines issued
a letter of intent to the school to consider
employing their graduates but after getting the complaints from
students, Kingfisher terminated the letter of intent to the school
in the first week of June. To confirm this report, our representative
contacted Atul Kumria, the regional director of North America, Kingfisher
Airlines and he said he is not aware about this issue and call back
after corfirming from India his head office
Read More:
More than 100 Indian
Students Stranded in USA due to Aviation School shutdown
June 26, 2008 · 2 Comments
Blog at WordPress.com.
Breaking news is coming from California this hour where more
than 100 Indian students training to be pilots have been left
stranded after their Aviation Academy (American School of Aviation)
abruptly shut-down. One of the student emailed me last night with
all the details. The students have been served with an eviction
notice and asked to vacate the Academy premises by Friday (June
27).
The students were part of a Commercial Pilot Training Programme,
jointly run by Kingfisher Airlines and American School of Aviation
or ASA. Students claimed they paid 46,000 dollars for the programme.
Following which the students were handed a letter of intent by
Kingfisher Airlines in India offering them jobs as co-pilots on
completing training with ASA and getting their CPL (Commercial
Pilot License) License and subsequent conversion from the DGCA
India (Directorate General of Civil Aviation).
However, the school suddenly suspended its flight training last
month, claiming their school was being restructured. Students
were later told the school had been shut down for defaulting in
payments over fuel and insurance bills.
Email further said, “We are students of the American school
of Aviation. Our school has been closed for the past six weeks.
The management has tried to keep us satisfied by telling us there
is a deal going through in order to get the school brought over.
But now it turns out none of it is true. They have been just keeping
us on hold and today issued a notice telling us to evacuate the
academy in the next two days due to the non payment of water and
electricity bills.”
A disheartened Dmello (Indian Student) added, “There have
been a lot of false promises and we are helpless and have no where
to go. We are looking forward to external support from the Indian
Embassy and the Indian government. We spoke to Kingfisher and
they said that they are looking into the case and are trying their
level best to resolve issues.”
http://2ndcity.wordpress.com/2008/06/26/more-than-100-indian-students-stranded-in-usa-due-to-aviation-school-shutdown/
American aviation school lands in Bangalore
Over 45 pilots trained by ASA already flying in
Indian skies
It has tied up with Kingfisher Airlines to recruit young pilots
It plans to train over 1,000 Indian candidates by December
BANGALORE, Mar 09, 2007
The Hindu
U.S.-based American School of Aviation (ASA) on Thursday launched
its Bangalore operations by appointing AvOMATS, an aviation consultancy
in Bangalore as its business associate.
Realising the huge demand for pilots in India with the opening
up of the skies to private airlines, ASA has opened up a facility
in Gurgaon near Delhi to offer preliminary training to aspiring
pilots. They will then be offered academic and flying training
for eight to 10 months at the ASA facility at Atwater, California.
Speaking to press persons here on Thursday, Reny Kozman, vice-president,
ASA, said, "Bangalore is, and will continue to be the national
center for aviation activities, with major brands of the private
sector in the process of making Bangalore their main hub of activities."
Over 45 pilots trained by ASA were already flying in the Indian
skies, and the ASA was planning to train over 1,000 Indian candidates
by December, she said. Lalitha Krishnamurthy and Arvinder Singh,
Directors of ASA India, said, "India has just 900-1,000 pilots
to fly more than 250 aircraft, with six aircraft added every month.
While almost a quarter of the pilots are foreigners, the scheduled
airline sector alone needs at least 400 pilots a year, but gets
barely 100 new pilots. The country needs about 5,000 pilots in
the next 5-7 years according to industry estimates."
ASA offers the Indian Special Flight Training Program (ISFTP)
and Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) Programme, which are of eight and
10 months duration respectively. These programmes are open to
youth aged 17 and above who have completed the 10 Plus Two level
with mathematics and physics. They should be proficient in speaking
and understanding English, both generic and specific to the profession.
Mr. Singh said that ASA and Kingfisher Airlines had entered into
an arrangement to recruit young pilots. For details, contact AvOMATS,
19, First Floor, 1st Cross, 10th `A' Main, Indiranagar II Stage,
Bangalore 560 038, Ph: 080-4126 7243/44, 93420 90944 and 98862
12161.
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