Taxpayers stuck with the tab as helicopter flight schools exploit GI Bill loophole

For some flight schools that train helicopter pilots, the GI Bill that took effect in 2009 was a windfall the government never intended.

Helicopter schools had been struggling financially, and the bill excluded them from direct funding. But after finding a loophole in the law that allows them to charge unlimited fees for training military veterans, the schools rapidly expanded. They now collect tens of millions a year in taxpayer dollars.

For two years of training to become a pilot, the government often pays more than $250,000, more than twice the amount non-veterans pay at many schools, the Los Angeles Times has found from interviews, government documents, price lists and flight school contracts.

At one flight company — Utah-based Upper Limit Aviation — records show 12 veterans whose training had cost the government more than $500,000 each.

Upper Limit's fees make it the costliest education of any type funded by the GI Bill. The company will collect roughly $36 million this year from the government, based on its current enrollment and estimates it submitted to the state of Utah.

Sean Reid, who owns the company with his mother, Lois Reid, confirmed that figure.

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