A little over a week ago, a group of people from New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), walked into a friendly, family run flight training business( www.uflyextreme.co.nz ) in small town Motueka, at the end of a long day of flying. They pretended to be interested in going for a flight, and, despite having been getting ready to leave for the day, the husband and wife pair happily obliged them.
Moments later, after having received a full instructional pre flight briefing, and before the ‘customer’ even got into the plane (where the real instruction begins), the group revealed their true identities and declared the long running and very successful business to be operating illegally.
U Fly Extreme has operated under a unique business model for nearly 20 years. That is – they can and will teach you to fly a Pitts Special aircraft, and if you are really keen, will also instruct you through performing some exciting aerobatic manoeuvres. This is only possible because the pilot, Vincent D’Ath is an extremely capable, fully trained flight instructor. If you need convincing – liken it to having a driving lesson, but instead of taking out the old Starlet, you get to drive a race car.
After you fly, you receive a certificate, which states how much flight time you logged, and who with and your log number. So that if you are training elsewhere, or you intend to start, you can include this flight in your total flight hours.
Just over a year ago, British actor James Nesbitt came to our shores and learned to fly as part of a tourism documentary, which screened in multiple countries. (http://www.stuff.co.nz/…/Nesbitt-doco-pushes-tourists-our-w…),
The reviews that flood in from around this world are without exception, glowing, like this one from Canadian’s Jordan and Jenna (http://www.stokedforsaturday.com/…/11/time-flew-stunt-plane/), or this one from England’s Arianwen Morris(http://beyondblighty.com/pilot-a-stunt-plane-in-abel-tasman/), and even this one which lists the flight in it’s top 10 things to do in New Zealand(http://www.gapyear.com/…/10-activities-in-new-zealand-for-a…).
And that’s before you even look at sites such as tripadvisor.co.nz which list a 100% 5 star rating with reviews such as this one from Aucklander Mitchell Taylor “What a thrill !! I've just logged my FOURTH instructional flight with Vince and Alison's Pitts special. I cannot recommend enough this opportunity to everyone, especially since it is right here in our own back yard !! You will not be disappointed, this will be the one you want to tick off the bucket list more than once. See you soon for another lesson :D” (sic);
Or activities ranking site Rankers.co.nz which has 95% of customers giving it a 10/10 rating. You only have to scroll through the first page to be flooded with reviews which all seem to say the same thing:
“My flight in the Pitts special was so incredible. It's like race car driving in a 3 Dimensional world! Despite the extreme nature of the flight I always felt safe and secure in the aircraft. The attention to detail concerning both my safety and comfort was fantastic. I learned a lot about flying and have since offered rides to everyone in our family and will be back again soon! "
So why has the CAA suspended this license? They claim that U Fly Extreme does not offer Instructional Flights, and therefore cannot fly under its current Flight Training license.
Just like that, the red tape has gone up. The bureaucrats have struck once more and another gem in the crown of New Zealand entrepreneurialism will be destroyed. A hardworking couple will have their lives pulled out from under them in their mid fifties, and will have to start again.
And the truly sad part is, that whether the owners are in the right or the wrong is no longer relevant, because in order to fight this, two exceptional kiwis who dared to offer people a different kind of flight training, and for many, the experience of a lifetime, must face bankruptcy in order to fight it.
Even worse, this is not the first small aviation business this has happened to.
Surely, there is someone out there who can help?
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