DENISON, TX – Nine International students came to Denison with dreams of becoming pilots. But Tuesday the Air Safety Flight Academy told them their flight school was shutting down temporarily. Now the students are owed thousands of dollars in tuition money and are worried they might be left high and dry.

"We got an email from Dee Pinkston, the CEO, and he said in the email that it's temporary but it can be forever," said ASFA student Steve Tanai.

ASFA declined to interview on camera or by phone, but did release this official statement on Tuesday:

“Air Safety Flight Academy has temporarily suspended all operations. The suspension went into effect as of January 11th, 2010. Air Safety Flight Academy does not know the length of this suspension but hopes that it is short. The suspension is a direct result of the poor economy coupled with the fact that Air Safety’s two biggest Chinese clients owe Air Safety Flight Academy more than $2 million dollars. Air Safety is unable to carry the Chinese indebtedness and continue operations. What has further aggravated the situation is the paucity of available funding in the United States for domestic students to undergo commercial pilot training. This is a very difficult time we are experiencing and we hope that we can resume training this year.”

Back in August 2009 the Denison Development Alliance, along with city leaders from Denison, Sherman and Pottsboro worked together to bring the ASFA to Grayson County. Tony Kaai of the DDA said they were aware of ASFA’s goals to recruit Chinese students.

"They were close to a contract I believe with the Chinese, now foreign countries are very difficult to close a deal with, so I think that's probably where they are they just haven't been able to get that contract closed,” said Kaai.

But the students, all international and here on student visas, say this isn't the first time their flight school has closed. The same students say they were enrolled in the Academy a year ago in Glendale, Arizona, when the company President, Dee Pinkston, told them that due to financial reasons the school had to be temporarily closed as well.

"This is not right because the reputation of the United States of America is here, these kids going back and what are they going to say, ‘Hey, we were ripped off literally in the United States?’" said Tanai.

The students said they trusted the company again and moved here to Denison to attend the ASFA for a second time. Now they’re left high and dry again and worried if they’ll ever complete their flight training.

The international students have paid thousands in tuition, Tanai said they owe him $24,650.

“Last time they took money from a foreign student - that was last week, probably on Thursday. And Sunday they shut down the operation, the student did not even fly a half a minute and $9,000 gone. Where I was born that is embezzlement," said Tanai.

The students say Air Safety executives told them they plan to pay that money back, but wouldn't give any specifics or a time frame.

"It's heart sinking, you actually collect money, many of them came from a country where literally $9,000 is a three or four year pay check for a family, so think about it like this, and now they're going back with what, with empty hands and no education and with an opinion about the United States,” said Tanai.

Tanai and the other students did contact the Grayson County Sheriff Tuesday night, and plan to file a report with the local Federal Bureau of Investigation office on Wednesday.