Omni cleared

First to be certified as compliant school

July 13, 2010

Clark based Omni Aviation Corporation becomes the first flying school in the country to be certified as ICAO complaint after the Civil aviation Authority initiated a crackdown on aviation schools across the country with questionable student records.

Omni was the first one to be investigated unannounced by a seven-man team, led by a foreign Icao consultant. Omni boast a fleet of 22 airplanes consisting of 16 Cessna 152s, five Cessna 172s and one twin engine Piper Seneca based in its Subic branch.

Capt. Ben Hur Gomez of Omni Aviation Corp. said he fully supports this move by CAAP, as this would eliminate unscrupulous flying schools in the country, which destroy the reputation of the Philippines as producer of best pilots in the world. Captain Gomez has been with Philippine Airlines for 38 years and capped his career as vice president for safety and security.

“We are now 100-percent compliant of all the requirements.” Gomez said.

“We have a policy of no cheating. Flight-time padding is strictly prohibited, and solo flight time means the student is alone in the aircraft,” he adds.

The investigation is being conducted with the support of the National Bureau of investigation (NBI) which discovered last month that some flying schools certify a pilot’s license course for a consideration of $30,000 to $50,000. Some flying schools were found to have padded students flying hours by logging flights that were not flown.