Editorial By Tony Settember

Here We Go Again! Your airport will need your help.

California issues regulations affecting
flight schools & CFIs

According to the National Air Transportation Association NATA

Late last year, California passed Assembly Bill 48 (AB48), which reauthorized the Bureau for Private Post Secondary Education (BPPSE). AB48 removed an exemption for flight training facilities that had been included in previous versions of the BPPSE’s authorizing legislation. The BPPSE recently issued its proposed regulation for public comment.

The purpose of the BPPSE is to ensure that students receiving post-secondary education in the state receive quality instruction and are protected from loss of pre-paid tuition in the event of an institution's closure. The BPPSE has classified flight training facilities as post-secondary educational intuitions and, therefore, subject to its regulation.

Currently the BPPSE is interpreting AB48 in a way that will require the bureau to regulate all flight training providers, regardless of size.

Under this interpretation, an independent certified flight instructor will be required to comply with all provisions of the proposed rules just as a large Part 141 school would.

Call your state Senator and Assemblyman! AB48 in its current form will put
Foothill Flying Club and most local independent flight instructors
OUT OF BUSINESS.

Each independent flight instructor will be treated like a huge Part 141 Flight School College including:

• Submit an 8 page application for “approval to operate” as a Flight Instructor;

• Become subject to audits by state committees that will inspect each CFI’s equipment and facilities, audit their business plan and interview their students to determine the progress of instruction; Ensure each instructor meets the minimum state criteria for educational programs; Make sure each instructor has a minimum of 3 years of education or experience in flight instruction, and ensure that each instructor can meet the financial responsibilities established for all state educational institutions.

Each flight instructor will have to pay $2.50 per $1,000 of their income into a state fund which is supposed to protect students from losing their money in the event the CFI disappears with their money.

More Fees Each CFI will pay:

• Application Fee $5,000

• Renewal Fee every 5 years $3500

• Second Location Fee $1000

• Operational fee of 3/4 of a percent of the CFI’s income (not to exceed $25000 annually) .

These proposed regulations were crafted without an understanding of the flight training industry. A quick read of both AB48 and the proposed regulation demonstrates that these rules were designed for traditional private colleges and technical schools, not the hundreds of small businesses and individuals that provide flight training in California.

Local CFI’s will be forced to be employed by large state approved institutions, or move out of state if they wish to keep instructing. Cable Airport may not be able to survive without flight training in the center of its business model . Flight Training is the feeder for future hangar rents, café breakfasts, fuel purchases, and aircraft maintenance.

The proposed regulations will be open for public comment until June 7, 2010. A public hearing will be held for the BPPSE to receive comment on the proposed regulations in Sacramento, CA on June 7, 2010

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