While six students lost around 150,000 US dollars due to the sudden closure of the Capitale Hélicoptère flight school, the son of real estate developer Stéphan Huot was able to complete his entire training there without suffering from the company’s financial difficulties.
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“Our money literally had to be used to pay for the helicopters, the fuel, the instructors and the maintenance,” plagues Félix Gauthier, who is among the cohort of six students who each paid nearly $25,000 in advances to get pilot training was interrupted on April 21 after barely a few hours of theoretical instruction.
Stéphan Huot’s son did not have this problem, as our investigative authority learned. Last month, Karl-Anthony Huot was the only student at the Capitale Hélicoptère flight school. He was able to complete the flying lessons he needed to complete his training without worry.
communication fog
Karl-Anthony and Stephan Huot in 2021.
According to several sources, Karl-Anthony Huot also completed his last flight last Thursday. The next day he was due to take his final test with an assessor from Transport Canada. After that, the school had to close its doors permanently.
A situation that outraged the student Félix Gauthier. “On the day of Huot’s last flight, the school ceased activities. “I feel like it’s not so much a coincidence,” he jokes.
“We were lied to”
This situation is all the more surprising given that the Huot Group confirmed on May 31 that there had been no more activity at the Complexe Capitale Hélicoptère.
Although the director of the complex, Stephanie Huot – Stephan Huot’s daughter and Karl-Anthony’s sister – claimed that the company was insolvent, the Huot group promised the six students a refund.
Photo from the Facebook page
Stephanie Huot
They paid a $150,000 deposit to the flight school even though they had flown no hours. So far, however, none of them have been reimbursed or even contacted to that effect.
“If you want to pay us back, why haven’t you done it already? Because there is no more money in the accounts, there is nothing left. We were lied to from the start and we were lied to to the end. They each cost us the equivalent of 22 hours of flight and 80 hours of theory,” responded Mr Gauthier.
The latter bought a new education from Attitude-Helicopter in Neuville, like three other students in the cohort, French who had left everything to live and work in Quebec.
Stevens LeBlanc/JOURNAL DE QUEBEC
Groupe Huot spokeswoman Florence Brouillard confirms that Karl-Anthony Huot was able to complete his helicopter pilot training last week as the school still has its Transport Canada operating certificate. However, she says she doesn’t know if he was the only student at the school at the time.
“Since he finished [la semaine dernière] “After he had finished all his studies, it was not worthwhile for him to go to another school like the others in the coming months,” she explained, adding that the young man had paid for his education himself.
It should be noted that Karl-Anthony Huot has held the position of Vice President of Société immobilière Huot, the largest division of the Huot Group, since September 2021. He has worked there as a manager since 2018.