Grounded Dreams: Help Franklin Complete His Flight Training

Hello! My name is Franklin Espinal and ever since I was a kid, I’ve always dreamed of being a pilot. Recently, I decided to try and give it my all. I took out a loan for 89K and moved to Vero Beach, FL. I was successful and got my Private, Instrument, and Commercial ratings and had a scholarship to do my flight instructor rating.

However, due to inconsistent scheduling from my school, during the private stage, I went many days and weeks without flying. When I was put on the schedule to fly, my performance wasn’t up to standard and I had to retake a lot of flight lessons. My school informed me that I could use my scholarship to pay what I owe and keep flying. I agreed.

I was placed in Instrument training and had a great instructor but she was an examiner for the checkride- which is like a final exam in flying to see if you get your license; and that meant she flew a lot with everyone, but me. Not her fault. The school prioritizes check rides over regular lessons. I switched instructors and finished my training after so many retakes due to delays in scheduling.

Got to commercial, and had an instructor that constantly wanted to give tips and help out, however due to this that meant I would fail the lesson because it was supposed to be no assist or help. Had a lot of retakes and eventually switched instructors, and was Checkride ready very quickly.

Now I’m doing Multi Engine and my school has informed me I have no money in my loan and I owe 13,000 dollars. I informed them that I do not have that and their solution was, take out a second loan. My training has since stopped and I am now grounded and placed on the DO NOT FLY list until I can get the money to payback what I owe.

As you can imagine this struck a chord with me because I was told coming to this school that I would be flying every day. I’m in an accelerated program and I should’ve been done over a year ago. I was told I couldn’t have a job because I needed to be available 24/7; so the scheduling department would have an easier time to schedule me. I went a lot of days and weeks without flying. Due to scheduling, weather, strong gusts, and no available aircrafts. So I have 50 cents to my name. My credit score is in the bottom of the barrel, I barely have money for rent and groceries and gas, my credit cards are maxed out and now I can’t finish my training due to money.

I am requesting 20K because that will be enough to pay back my school for the extra lessons and have enough reserves to finish my flight instructor training; but even if I can somehow reach 9K, I can finish my multi and try to hopefully land a job at a small propeller airline so I can get some hours and make it to the airlines. I know this is a very long story and by no means is anyone obligated to pay or send money. But any assistance would be greatly appreciated so I can finally reach my dream of having an office in the sky. Thank you for reading.