We may have made our mistakes along the way, but we are also humans with a limited capacity… and ASA was a business!

At least we do not deserve to be stoned all the way. Our main goal was the quality of training, we may have made our mistakes along the way, but we are also humans with a limited capacity… and ASA was a business, a successful business for 6 years in a row. but if the US and countries governments still can’t solve the fuel problems, why did people think we can? Consider this, Six months ago, we went to all the students saying you have to pay an additional $6,000 to $8,000 more for your training, what would have been the response? i personally went to UAE, China to get more profitable business so your families does not have to come up with the additional funds.

I am surprised, that Sasha Puri, Vikram Pawar, Suraj Chopra and Ameya Kameth did not mention to any one, that they paid their tuition in Gurgaon and that ASA in California never got a penny out of it?!! Specially that 3 of them already graduated, now was ASA out to Scam student? How about each one who paid the $2,000 deposit in Gurgaon? And the US never got a penny of it, but all of you got the credit on your account?

Now every one is going after the management, fine, put your self in Prince’s shoes and he admits he is an AW!!

On New Year’s Day, Juana opens up the school and is feeding the fish in the tank; guess what she found in there?
A: HUMAN POOP!!

On a weekend evening, a drunken student pulls the fire alarm (Accidently!!) who had to leave the house to baby sit the reset of the students?

Students playing cricket in the parking lot, using the school’s furniture as goals..
For God Sake, we had to teach students to take a shower before showing up for class!!

Add to that, dealing with the FAA, Mechanics, India, lawyers, accountants, airport management for every little thing that students do!!

Parents, how do I tell a father, that your son is drinking every night and I have an arrest warrant for him? How do I tell your parents, your son is not showing up for lessons because the schedule is too early?! How do we tell them, your son is too busy with the bank teller and does not have time to study?!! Etc…

Here is what happened,
April last year 2007, Gurgaon was shut down costing a lot of money
July, was the last KFA interview
November, KFA staff came to visit to expand the relationship, instead, students complained about the housing and God knows what else, so they did not give a damn and cancelled the tie up!!
Still in November, 17 Students panicked and left the school creating more negative publicity.

Here is a quick lesson in business, if your current customers are pushing your new customers away for whatever reason, you run out of money and eventually your business runs out!!

ASA lost the market in India, even though, over 200 students graduated form there, all of the sudden, every one forgot that fact!!
November, I go to UAE to get some business, I got one student
March I got to China to get some business, it takes time
April I go to Egypt to get some business, we got 3 .

All of that and the FAA is on our tail to shut us down, in 2007, we had 109 inspections, and my question to them, if we were so bad, why did not you shut us down?!! And if we were not so bad, why did you inspect us 109 times?
I still do not have an answer to that, the FAA alone, costed 20% of Prince’s work week just to entertain them!! Why is it, that none of the students asked them that question?

I am sorry the management had to be strict as we did not have time to baby sit adults who were suppose to be in the air lines in a matter of months, I hope your future captains will make sure to tuck you in your seat before you fly!! Our main goal was to make you a pilot because we truly believed that one day thought out your career, the only thing that will save your life is your training, and that was our priority number 1.

They took our airplanes, cars and our house is about to be taken, but no one can take this from us
Our safety record is 100%, 98% of our graduates are successfully employed and satisfied with the training.

Reny Kozman

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Open letter to the parents of victimized ASA students

Dear Parents of victimized ASA students:

I have no doubt the sentiment and plea expressed in the letters addressed to the respected Mr. Vayalar Ravi, the Minister sent by many of you represent the collective emotions of those who were caught up in the recent ASA fiasco of horrendous order of magnitude. My heart goes out to you all during this time of enduring hardship.

If I may, I’d like to ask if any one of you ever received a reply from the Minister’s office for coming forward with a relief offer of any kind let alone simply acknowledging the receipt of your letter so far?…….thought so.

While I sincerely hope a meaningful relief is forthcoming from either government, it seems that to happen in this instance is far less likely much to everyone’s disappointment.

While I am firmly convinced what the duo Prince and Reny have done to the students amounts to a criminal fraud and they must be brought to justice, I am also firmly convinced that the recovery of the lost student’s funds should be vigorously pursued by all means by instituting the most formidable consume fraud case in the history of Indian jurisprudence against ASA as well KFA as a plausible accomplice by knowingly or unknowingly in aiding and abetting the Ponzi scheme then run by ASA.

It won’t happen overnight and no one can do it alone. It takes a collective determination and intention (will) to follow through until the objective is achieved. Never mind the government assistance, it’s not coming except in a form of meaningless lip services and dancing and skirting around the issue.

Why not organizing the ASA student family group in India by contacting and enlisting alliances with other families, consumer advocacy groups, legal outreach groups and likes all the while promoting public media attention?

It will succeed eventually as long as the effort continues. Just expecting someone else to do it won’t work because nothing will ever get done in that way. Everyone must get involved and take an active role however small that may be in a collective effort for a common cause. Isn’t that what the great people of India brought down the Great Britain to its knees to forfeit then the colonial territory in the end?

It can be done and to think otherwise you’re vastly underestimating what the collective effort by a group of determined people can achieve. Don’t be daunted by a sheer size of KFA and the Indian lending institutions as the corporate size means little, if anything, in the justice of law. Rise up and press on!

All the best and good luck to you all.

Sincerely,

Echo Yankee, ATP/A&P

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Its flying time as ususal for group of students hand picked by Prince & Reny

-My view from the sideline-

Most recent ASA flight activities appearing on the Flight Aware Tracking System

8/12/2008
Cessna 172/A N1482M
Dep. Hayward 20:51 PDT
Arr. Chico Unknown
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N1482M

Cessna 152/A N 757XY
Dep. Modesto 12:56 PDT
Arr. Redding Unknown
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N757XY

8/13/2008
BE76 Duchess N7774T
Dep. Hayward 18:11 PDT
Arr. Modesto 18:35 PDT
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N7774T

As suspected by one of the Ex-ASA students who posted earlier, all indications are now clearly pointing to the high probability that the remnants of ASA made up of few former ASA CFIs and a group of students hand picked by Prince and Reny have been flying out of Hayward and Modesto and elsewhere.

The two of the above aircraft (N757XY and N7774T) are among the 19 aircraft that changed hands recently.

Apparently sale/lease back or sale/payment by use type arrangement is allowing them to keep possession of some of the aircraft sold and continue to use them for those clandestine training flights.

echo yankee, over & out!

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Question to all former ASA students who were the victims of criminal fraud

My view from the sideline:

Question,
Has anyone ever filed a crime report so far against Prince and Reny for a criminal fraud and received a crime reference number (CRN ) assigned by the sheriff’s department?………………….didn’t think so.

Over 100 students were wronged, yet no victims officially exist as far as the sheriff’s department is concerned because no crime report was filed.

Ignorance and assumptions are all too often dangerous.

No wonder this isn’t getting any traction. Much to my surprise, there seems to be no crime report against Prince and Reny has ever been filed with Merced County Sheriff’s Department by any former ASA student. Only one filed so far appears to be the fuel supplier who was reported to be owed $56,000 unpaid fuel.

Now onto your case, no matter how bad you want the duo to be put behind bars, just hoping and thinking doesn’t make it so. This is probably what’s transpiring: No criminal report filed→no criminal victim→no criminal charge brought forward That pretty much explains it. You all need to do what it takes by methodically following the established judicial procedures step by step. Here is what you need to do:

1. Go to Merced County Sheriff’s Department and get a Criminal Report Form http://www.mercedsheriff.com/
(If they don’t have the forms available get an instruction on how to prepare or better yet get a sample copy)

2. Contact SABA and ask one of their lawyers to help preparing a crime report
3. When it’s ready, take it to the Sheriff’s Department and file it.
4. Get a crime reference number (CRN ) assigned to your case (this is used for follow up and status check)
5. Tell everyone to do the same, more the better to place the case in a higher priority.
6. Follow up on the status using your CRN
7. Report on this blog from time to time to keep everyone posted until the justice is done.

Echo Yankee, over & out!

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Prince & Reny succeeded in selling 18 of the 30 aircrafts in last two days!

My observation from the sideline:

18 ASA Aircraft just changed hands in last two days.

A file photo of American School of Aviation in happier times

FAA records indicate 13 ASA aircraft changed hands on August 04 2008 and 5 additional ASA aircraft changed hands on August 05, 2008.

While the students and other creditor’s lawyers are trying to secure the assets of ASA, Prince and Reny are moving fast and step ahead to evade from their reach. As shown in the following FAA records, the duo has succeeded in selling 18 of the 30 ASA aircraft thus far.

Considering the time required for the paper work process at the FAA office, all transactions were likely to be taken place and consummated at or around the end of June 2008. Based on this calculation, the transaction took place in the recent weeks won’t show up in the FAA record until sometime in September or October. It is quite possible that by now all the remaining aircraft changed hands as well.

Following 13 aircraft are now registered to:

Commercial Lending Resource, Inc.
2082 Michelson Dr., Suite 100
Irvine, CA 92612-1212

Cessna 152 N 25840
Cessna 152 N 4644Q
Cessna 152 N 48425
Cessna 172N N 1948F
Cessna 172N N 3318E
Cessna 172N N 4864D
Cessna 172N N 5488D
Cessna 172N N 6349D
Cessna 172N N 733AD
Cessna 172N N 733UG
Cessna 172N N 734MN
Cessna 172N N 734SV
Cessna 172N N 739BL

Following 5 aircraft are now registered to:

Spring Aviation
PO B ox 4120
Portland, OR 97208-4120

Cessna 152 N 4940
Cessna 152 N 68141
Cessna 152 N 757XY
Beech 76 N 111BV
Beech 76 N 6697L

12 remaining aircraft still registered to ASA

Cessna 152 N 48637
Cessna 152 N 94185
Cessna 152 N 64994
Cessna 172S N 1482M (A/C registration issued to Foreign Corporation)
Cessna 172N N 7352J
Diamond DA20C1 N 991CT
Diamond DA20C1 N 992CT
Piper PA28R200 N 15546
Piper PA28R180 N 7526J
Piper PA28140 N 15080
Piper PA28161 N 47389
Beech 76 N 7774T

I really hope the plaintiff’s lawyers all pull together to move the court for an issuance of immediate injunction against the debtor defendants from disposition of any business assets, and additionally seek a pre-judgement lien against all ASA aircraft and file the same with the FAA Aircraft Registry to prevent the debtor from selling the remaining airplanes.

Furthermore, move the court to nullify all the recent aircraft title transfers on the ground that such transfers were made with an actual intent to hinder, defraud, or delay creditors, and additionally on the ground of prior invalid registration.

Moreover, loge the criminal fraud charges against the owners of ASA with the Merced County Sheriff’s department immediately and move the Superior Court of California, County of Merced to issue an arrest warrant for the school owners to be taken into custody immediately.
Swift and aggressive actions are more than needed at this juncture.

Echo Yankee, over & out!

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N1482M Cessna-172/A was flying this evening again.

My view from the sideline:

N1482M Cessna-172/A was flying this evening again. Is that you Prince? ……Didn’t think so.

(incidentally this is the only ASA aircraft that seems to be properly registered as Foreign Corporation on its registration certificate. For more details about the ASA aircraft registration, read my recent thread under the heading Splitting hairs on the ASA aircraft registration)

Dep. Hayward 18:26 PDT
ETA Lake Tahoe 18:51 PDT

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N1482M

This is just the tip of the iceberg as the FlightAware can only track IFR traffic. All the rest of the ASA VFR flights are not shown up in the tracking system.

All indication points to a strong possibility that Prince and Reny and some of the ASA remnants are operating out of Hayward Airport and elsewhere other than Castle by themselves directly or leasing planes to other flight schools under the table to make few more quick dollars for themselves on their way out to disappearance.

I am sure some of the ASA students still remaining in the US are quite aware of those flight activities taking place at numerous GA airport locations but so far they all seem taciturn about this and heasitant to come forward to share the information for common good.
Am I the only one begins to wonder why? ……Humm.

Echo Yankee, over & out!

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America’s very own Bunty & Babli planning an escape to Egypt?

Today I came to know that Prince and Reny have ran to Egypt,I don’t know whether this is true or not . And their house in Atwater is now in fore closure.

America's very own Bunty & Babli escaped to Egypt?

Well guys don’t worry, Singh and Reny will surely pay for what they have done. Though they have 4.4. Million Dollars but they will never have Peace and Happiness in their life, which we all have or will surely have. As before I have written , though we lost our money but our truth is with us, our God is with us.
Cheating and looting people is in Singh’s blood, but we all know that the wealth earned by cheating someone never last for long, and plus God is always watching everything.
Singh and Reny will surely end up behind bars , but that is not enough,because he will also be punished by GOD and that will be worse for him.

Well keep fighting for justice and never give up because God is with us , though it will take time but at last truth triumphs.

Navdeep, So you say……. “Any updates on this? Is he fixed now?”

His school is SHUT DOWN , His American School Of Aviation has become the biggest SCAM in Aviation Industry , He has become NOTORIOUS ,his family has become NOTORIOUS too, his bad deeds in India and also here have been revealed to the world , there are Records in the Police Station and in DA’s office , His house is in Fore Closure , The victim’s are cursing him , whatever he was doing from 1995 or maybe before that has now come to an end and so on.
If you really love your parents and believe in GOD then you must be knowing the meaning of BLESSINGS and CURSING. Do you know what do we achieve after someone gives us Blessing or someone CURSES us for we doing something wrong ? If yes , then you must know what will Singh and Reny get in return for what they have done.

Do you think this is not at least the START of really “FIXING” him. Hundreds of families have been saved , so what else do you want?
Instead of sitting on ass and letting him loot us and also loot others, we struggled hard to STOP him from doing that.

Do you know Lord Ram , Lord Krishna , Jesus Christ? Have you heard about them.
Well let me tell you , in today’s world people call them as GOD , and you know the history , they had to suffer too. Yes you read it right, they suffered too, they fought for TRUTH and JUSTICE , and now we call them as GOD. If anyone is born or died , its all done by god. God is really watching everything.

So what if we lost our $17,000/ , but at least we didn’t bend our knees and kept quite, but instead we fought , so that Singh should be punished for what he has done.
Well, if God has struggled then who are we???
One day you will get the Update that ” Prince and Reny are finished” …..how and when I will let you know for sure.

I totally agree with Pilot747 , you are Prince or Reny using other names because you have no identity now.

Prince and Reny , one day will come in your life that you will cry for one drop of water and that time people , forget about people even animals will feel ashamed to pee in your mouth.
You will end up very soon……very very soon.

Bhavana.

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Only chance of recovery of the student’s fees from ASA is……………….

Hello ASA students,

First off, I’d like to express my sincere sympathy for those students stranded by the recent ASA fiasco and wish you all the early arrival of meaningful assistance to alleviate the current enduring hardship. I have no personal stake in this ordeal and neither lost nor gained anything from this occurrence. Nevertheless I can’t stop being indignant about both Prince and Reny of their incompetence and deceit whichever the characterization is appropriate that brought to cause a current plight onto those young aspiring Indian students.

In as much as I’d like to believe that Prince and Reny stashed away a sizable amount of cash somewhere as some still like to speculate or believe and therefore there’s some chance of recovery of their prepaid fees, it pains me to tell you all such chances to exist is literally infinitesimal if not nonexistent.

I know it’s easier said than done but give it a rest on a hope of recovery by a means of law suit. In the Breach of Contract case such as this, you will most likely prevail in the court and obtain a judgment. But think about it, what good is it that the judgment that can collect nothing from the defaulting party. A writ of execution issued from the court is just a useless paper of no value. Remember no one wins in a law suit except lawyers. (been there, done that, fought an airport use permit issue against a county ordinance in the US Federal Court and won the battle but lost the war in the end after consuming 3 years and $150K in legal fees, .a Pyrrhic victory indeed.

Judging from the reported size of operation,(110 students, 43 instructors, 40 aircraft) the monthly operating cost could be anywhere from $225k to $250k/mo. or more to keep that size of operation going. Remember ASA did not have $4.4 mil in a lump sum cash to start with. It’s an accumulative total revenue over the time they were in business. Unless they had an sufficient operating capital set aside which I doubt, their monthly operating expenses were entirely relied on one source; student fees. There’re good months with some surplus fund left and there’re some bad months with an insufficient amount of income even to cover the monthly overhead. It’s highly probable that ASA needed at minimum 4 to 5 new students to keep its doors open. All fees collected from the students were all spent long since and I bet they’re just scraping by from month to month with a hope of someday getting ahead with an arrival of new enrollment group consisting of substantial number of students. Unfortunately, that day never came and the KFA fallout was the last straw. And while they were still at it, the problems started to pile up one after another. It probably started with a minor student’s complain and then rapidly growing to many issues that eventually raised red flags and invited all kinds of government scrutinies from all directions FAA, County’s office, IRS, FTA (Calif. State Franchise Tax Board) and all. Despite less than honorable character references made about both Prince and Reny in many posts, I doubt they had planned this outcome from the beginning. It’s a case of pure incompetence and mismanagement. They had somehow managed to slip their foot in the door and pried open the business opportunity just in time to ride the surging tide of pilot shortages beginning to be faced by the Indian airlines.

Some of you already know about another flight school closure earlier this year which draws some parallels to the events at ASA in the order of far greater magnitude.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_State_Helicopters

Silver State Helicopter (SSH) school headquartered in Las Vegas closed abruptly by filing Chapter 7 leaving 2,500 students out to the street. They operated over 250 helicopters at over 40 schools nationwide in the US. All students prepaid $70,000 each for their training fees. A Class action suit is pending in the Nevada Court and the lawyers are having field days. Good lawyers can compose an opposing lawyer’s argument before composing his own and they are very good and capable indeed and naturally they command high fees most can’t afford.

The only chance of recovery of the student’s fees from ASA is by naming KFA along with banks and lending institutions as co-defendant on the premise that they too are culpable for the damages sustained by those entrusting students. Their failure to perform proper audit and due diligence on the flight school led to the demise of the program today otherwise succeeded. This premise has a much greater chance of succeeding and the judgement amount of $5 mil range plus legal expenses has far more chances of collection from KFA and the Indian lending institutions involved than nonexistent collection probability from the duo Prince and Reny.

Now sit tight and think hard about the good advices offered in the Capt. Kishore’s post and begin to make a check list of your own action plan and proceed to follow thru on it one by one. BTW, make sure to insist on a kind of insurance policy like the one mentioned in the navdeev’s post if you’re fortunate enough to take out another loan again.

Before too long, you’ll be out of the soup and turbulence and you’ll be back cruising in the smooth blue skies again. How do I know this? Well I went through the similar ordeals few times myself since my first arrival in the US in 1968 from Asia and got my ATP, A&P, MEI, AD and few more ratings and pursued my aviation career until my semi-retirement from flight duties few years ago. Well, that’s my two cents. Hang tight and never ever give up your goal.
All the best.

Echo Yankee, Real identity not revealed……

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