FAA's officially investigating Salt Lake Flight School

[zippiesdrainage]

Stumbled onto this during my daily google search for helicopter related factoids.

 

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=15041976

 

This school, Upper Limit Aviation in Salt Lake City, has had 7 reported accidents in 6 years. They're accused of tampering with evidence of a crash, not reporting all of their accidents, and making instructors work 80 hour work weeks.

 

Scary.

[Goldy]

Stumbled onto this during my daily google search for helicopter related factoids.

 

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=15041976

 

This school, Upper Limit Aviation in Salt Lake City, has had 7 reported accidents in 6 years. They're accused of tampering with evidence of a crash, not reporting all of their accidents, and making instructors work 80 hour work weeks.

 

Scary.

 

Maybe I missed it but I didnt see anywhere in the article where it said the school was "under investigation". It said reps of the school met with the local FSDO....not quite the same thing.

[nikon858]

Make the instructors work 80 hour work weeks?? They were all probably ready and willing...Gotta pay the bills!

[Phamcis]

Overall though, how good of a reputation does Upper Limits have within the industry? What about other schools nearby?

[zippiesdrainage]

Actually in the video report, the reporter states at the very end that the school is under FAA investigation.

 

As for other schools in the area:

There's SunCrest and Utah Helicopter that I know of

[gary-mike]

Further North there is Whirly Birds and Cloud 9 in Ogden. Even further north up in Logan is Mountain Ridge. One thing Upper Limit does have going for them is that they are the only ones around that you can use Ch33 benefits with. (at this time)

Edited May 2, 2011 by gary-mike

[Phamcis]

You are right gary-mike: the thing Upper Limits has going for it is the Ch33 benefits which is what I would be using. Currently looking at the schools on the Ch33 post.

[gary-mike]

You are right gary-mike: the thing Upper Limits has going for it is the Ch33 benefits which is what I would be using. Currently looking at the schools on the Ch33 post.

 

I'm sure you have found there is a closer one to you In Oregon, I believe it was Leading edge. I would have to go back and check though (I have looked into so many schools I can't remember them all). But if you aren't limited to a certain area you have a few options and you should continue to research all of them and weigh the the benefits and downfalls of all of them. My problem is I am curently limited being active duty still. Even with the close proximity (45 min-hr to the flight school, and 1 hr to the SLCC) It is still out of reach for me due to the fact they require "in-class" instruction at SLCC. I work a strictly dayshif schedule right now (I know pretty rough huh) and most of the classes are in the middle of the day during the week. I know that Mountain Ridge, Cloud 9, and Wirley birds are working on getting set up to accept Ch33 though. When are you looking at starting? Northern Utah is a great area if you do decide to come here, mountains are close, varied weather/DA terrain and airspace classifications all within a short distance.

 

DANG!! Sorry, this don't really pertain to this thred. I got a little carried away and highjacked it.