Foreign students of Helipro's Mount Maunganui flying school are concerned the company has accessed thousands of dollars in course fees supposed to be held in trust since going in to receivership this week.

The international students each pay between $50,000 and $60,000 for their courses. Since the firm went into receivership on Tuesday, the students have been unable to access their money, or obtain updated account information says a recent student.

'They (Helipro) are just hiding from everything,” says NZ Flight Training student Arun Nehru. 'They said to us ‘don't go to the media' and said it will be a big deal for us.

'It's a big problem because they don't know how much money they have left in their account.

'The students are asking for the money and how much they have left, but they (Helipro) are not giving a current statement. They are giving the statement from two three weeks ago. They are not giving the students a recent one.

'We paid $50-60,000 each you know - it cost a lot of money. The students are struggling now. They don't know how to withdraw the money and they don't know what to do.”

The current international fixed wing course includes around 15 students from India 10 from Oman, says Arun.

He says the flight school is also refusing to hand over his log book, which it is not entitled to do. Arun complained to the Civil Aviation Authority, and on its advice he has complained to Police.

'I am a passed student,” he added. 'I completed two months ago, but Bayflight, they are holding everything. I went in the morning to get my logbook because it's not legal to hold my logbook in New Zealand, according to Civil Aviation law.

'They gave me the number for the receiver. I am trying to contact the receiver but he's busy all the time.”

Repeated attempts by SunLive to contact receiver John Fisk about the allegations have so far been unsuccessful.

But before Arun contacted SunLive late on Wednesday afternoon, John said the receivers were just starting to look into the trust account arrangements for the students' fees.

He is at Helipro in Palmerston North this morning, and they are still working through the companies activities and have not made any final decision on how things will progress, says John.

On Wednesday John said Helipro staff are expected to turn up for work and they will be paid for each day they are available.

He added: 'We have also grounded the fleet on the basis that we want to understand the health and safety processes and get comfortable with those, which I'm expecting won't take too long, and we also need approval from the CAA in terms of operating again.

'How does that affect the fixed wing students? There is certainly classroom room work they can still deliver, but in terms of flying there may be some delay until we can get up and running again.”

He's hoping the students will resume flying after a matter of days. The receivers will also be talking to the Tertiary Education Commission and New Zealand Qualifications Authority about continuing to deliver flight training.

Students gather outside the NZ Flight Training school at Tauranga Airport - a subsidiary of Helipro, who went into receivership this week.

'There are a number of moving parts to this process and at the moment we haven't actually completed that process,” says John. 'We are also fielding calls from people that have an interest in different aspects of the business as well.

'My expectation is we will have completed our review and I'm hopeful that we will be able to find a buyer for the business, whether that's the training schools separately or together with other aspects of the business, I can't say at the moment.”

It could take weeks or a few months.

'It really depends on how the process unfolds over the next few days,” he added.

Helipro operates helicopter training in Palmerston North and Christchurch, while Tauranga is the company's only fixed wing aircraft flight school.

The Tauranga school's distinctively registered aircraft are missing from their usual parking space today, and are likely to be in hangars.

'In the first few days there's often risk involved with security of assets,” says John.

The Helipro business employs 70 people and has 35 helicopters across its eight New Zealand bases as well as in Australia and Fiji.

As well as running tourist flights, Helipro offers commercial services including fire-fighting, mining exploration, flight training and power line surveying and maintenance.