Refund on Training

[BrowardAirman]

I have noticed a lot of people viewing the TAB Express Forum. Made me wonder if all these interested people are being lured by the offer of free training. I have talked with many pilots in the industry and they all had horrified expressions on their faces when I told them that "A student must pay over $90,000 in FULL and sign the 3 year contract..". What horrified them is this.

1. A lot of money to put foward just to SIT in a King Air. Look at the cirriculum they send you. Not one hour is PIC.

2. What if they go under in that 3 years..before your training is complete. (Remember ATA?)

Also, looking into a contract that they sent me (not really sure if it was an updated one or not) TAB Express was listed in the contract as a marketing company. Plus, the FAA does not show that they even own any King Air's..just 3 older model 1900's. My advice to all....and we have all heard this before....look very very carefully before leaping. Too many schools out there that can offer what any particular person needs..and at a lot less money.

If there any students out there currently in the TAB Express Refund program..please post your replies..I am very interested on what you may have to say.

 

[Hollywood]

i know that tab express does have king airs. the owner of tab owns something like 30 king airs and 2 westwinds. the westwinds were supposed to be used for charter and the students were supposed to get time in them but that never happened from my understanding. then, tab was trying to set up a deal with colgan where tab would be 142 certified. that way the students could do their initial airline training at tab (not colgan) and go right online with colgan. from what i heard, colgan so no way. most of the king airs are leased out but he keeps 6 or so of them for the flight school. that is the way it used to be anyway. not sure what is going on with the king airs now that they have the 1900's an they call the school an "airline". total joke IMHO. the refund is even more laughable. even if the airline is around for three years (unlikely), they'll just let you go before you are able to fufill the three years. there's no way that place is going to hand over $90k and say "thanks for you hard work". they might do that for one person just so they'll have a face and a name to advertise on their website. i wouldn't hedge my bets on being that person. i doubt that contract is even legally binding. it's in there best interest not to have you around for the full three years. why keep you around and pay you the refund when there is a whole line of people waiting to sign the "contract" and sign over their money? on the plus side, i hear the sim and ground training is excellent at tab and i know for a fact that all the king air instructors are former/furloughed airline pilots. i believe there are some who are still flying the the line who do the tab thing on their days off. conclusion: i would stay away. if someone is going to pay for all of it for you, maybe give it a try. but i wouldn't take out a loan for that amount