Silver State Helicopters - R.I.P.
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Another Black Mark for Helicopters
I'm sorry to hear about this situation. If SSH pulled it off they would have been the Home Depot of helicopter flight training.
Lesson learned, never pay in advance, expcept say 10 hoursof block hours. Flight schools have always been mom and pop operation except for the last few years. HAA and Bristow have change the industry somewhat.
I would expect a glut of R22's to come on the maket now.
Again, I feel sorrow for the students. I hope you don't turn away from helicopter aviation.
Lesson learned, never pay in advance, expcept say 10 hoursof block hours. Flight schools have always been mom and pop operation except for the last few years. HAA and Bristow have change the industry somewhat.
I would expect a glut of R22's to come on the maket now.
Again, I feel sorrow for the students. I hope you don't turn away from helicopter aviation.
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From Avweb today - my bolding.
Silver State Helo Criminal Charges Possible
Several state attorneys general are looking into the activities surrounding the bankruptcy of Silver State Helicopters and its founder, Jerry Airola. Silver State, the largest civilian helicopter school in the U.S., closed its doors on February 3 and filed Chapter 7 (liquidation) bankruptcy the following day. The school employed 750 people and had 2,500 students and 250 helicopters at 33 locations in 14 states. In its bankruptcy filing, Silver State listed assets of less than $50,000 and debts of between $10 million and $50 million The company had been mired in litigation for a number of years. Students had filed class-action suits alleging Silver State took their money and failed to provide promised training. On February 1, Silver State electronically debited numerous student accounts to zero. Most Silver State students financed their training with student loans from $50,000 to $70,000. Silver State took full payment within six months, even though the training program, which took a student from zero time to certified flight instructor, lasted 18 months. Dan Reed, one of the lead attorneys representing Silver State students, said the drawn-down money was not part of the bankruptcy filing and that the activity is suspicious.
Silver State Helo Criminal Charges Possible
Several state attorneys general are looking into the activities surrounding the bankruptcy of Silver State Helicopters and its founder, Jerry Airola. Silver State, the largest civilian helicopter school in the U.S., closed its doors on February 3 and filed Chapter 7 (liquidation) bankruptcy the following day. The school employed 750 people and had 2,500 students and 250 helicopters at 33 locations in 14 states. In its bankruptcy filing, Silver State listed assets of less than $50,000 and debts of between $10 million and $50 million The company had been mired in litigation for a number of years. Students had filed class-action suits alleging Silver State took their money and failed to provide promised training. On February 1, Silver State electronically debited numerous student accounts to zero. Most Silver State students financed their training with student loans from $50,000 to $70,000. Silver State took full payment within six months, even though the training program, which took a student from zero time to certified flight instructor, lasted 18 months. Dan Reed, one of the lead attorneys representing Silver State students, said the drawn-down money was not part of the bankruptcy filing and that the activity is suspicious.
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Class-Action Lawsuits Mount In Silver State Helicopters Aftermath
Helicopter enthusiast message boards continue to buzz this week with posts from disgruntled former students of Silver State Helicopters, who are organizing themselves in what appears to be several class-action lawsuits as massive as the training school itself. Daniel R. Reed, an attorney working with the firm Harward & Associates to file a class action lawsuit against Silver State Helicopters and its founder Jerry Airola, told AVweb on Monday that their primary goal is to get some financial relief for the hundreds of former Silver State students who have contacted the firm in recent weeks.
“Our first point of attack is to negotiate with the lenders, but at the very least we need to freeze the payments and interest for these guys while we sort it out,” Reed said. “We need to move it out of the bankruptcy court.”
Nicole Moon, spokesperson for Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, said that her office has received numerous complaints about Silver State’s business practices. Moon said that the Nevada Bureau of Consumer Protection is investigating potential criminal charges. “It’s something that’s on our radar screen and we’re taking it very seriously,” she said.
Other states may be considering similar action. Prior to closing its doors and filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 4, Las Vegas-based Silver State Helicopters operated 34 training centers in 16 states.
A spokeswoman for Airola said in an e-mail response to AVweb on Tuesday that "Jerry will not be making any public appearances or public statements at this time."
Helicopter enthusiast message boards continue to buzz this week with posts from disgruntled former students of Silver State Helicopters, who are organizing themselves in what appears to be several class-action lawsuits as massive as the training school itself. Daniel R. Reed, an attorney working with the firm Harward & Associates to file a class action lawsuit against Silver State Helicopters and its founder Jerry Airola, told AVweb on Monday that their primary goal is to get some financial relief for the hundreds of former Silver State students who have contacted the firm in recent weeks.
“Our first point of attack is to negotiate with the lenders, but at the very least we need to freeze the payments and interest for these guys while we sort it out,” Reed said. “We need to move it out of the bankruptcy court.”
Nicole Moon, spokesperson for Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, said that her office has received numerous complaints about Silver State’s business practices. Moon said that the Nevada Bureau of Consumer Protection is investigating potential criminal charges. “It’s something that’s on our radar screen and we’re taking it very seriously,” she said.
Other states may be considering similar action. Prior to closing its doors and filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 4, Las Vegas-based Silver State Helicopters operated 34 training centers in 16 states.
A spokeswoman for Airola said in an e-mail response to AVweb on Tuesday that "Jerry will not be making any public appearances or public statements at this time."
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How observant you are OFBSLF. You will notice in my post #42 the opening sentence is From Avweb today. It is an opening I always put (unless drunk). I'm sorry, but I assumed that the readers of Pprune would be educated enough, when reading my post #43, to have detected that the article came from Avweb. The article does say after all
and
I'll give myself a good talking to and a slap on the wrist with a wet lettuce leaf. I promise never to do it again. OK.
Pprune for Dummies will be in a book shop near you soon - must remind myself to get a copy
Jerry Airola, told AVweb
A spokeswoman for Airola said in an e-mail response to AVweb
Pprune for Dummies will be in a book shop near you soon - must remind myself to get a copy
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From Aviation International News today.
Former exec recounts woes at Silver State
By Matt Thurber and Mark Huber
HAI Convention News >> February 2008
When Silver State Helicopters salesman “John Smith” (not his real name) was laid off in mid-November from his job recruiting student helicopter pilots, he figured that the now-bankrupt company was cutting expenses in an attempt to make the financials look better for an initial public stock offering. Silver State owner Jerry Airola had often discussed an IPO, according to Smith, and it seemed that it might be a possibility. But then all the regional sales managers were fired. After Smith left the company, he learned that the general managers at the helicopter training bases were let go, too. It soon became clear that Silver State’s financial situation was not improving.
The first indications that there was something wrong at Silver State came a couple of months earlier, Smith said, when loans to pay for helicopter training became harder to obtain. “We saw that the credit markets were not supporting our efforts,” he told HAI Convention News.
Silver State depended on readily available student financing as it advertised heavily on radio and TV stations to bring prospective students to informative seminars. Smith started with the company in April 2007, and his primary activity was running the seminars to bring in as many prospective students as possible. After the TV and radio ads attracted prospects, Silver State would invite them to attend an afternoon or evening seminar, and those who were interested in helicopter pilot careers would fill out enrollment and financial applications.
The heavy advertising would attract 500 to 600 people to the seminar, and about 100 might fill out the application, but then only about 10 to 12 would qualify for financing. The loans, with interest rates ranging from 10 to 15 percent, included deferral terms so students wouldn’t have to begin making payments until six months after they graduated from the 18-month Silver State training program. Graduates would earn 200 hours of flight time and their flight instructor certificate. Payments for the roughly $70,000 cost of the training would average $1,200 to $1,400 per month, Smith said. Many of the graduates were offered jobs teaching at Silver State.
Former student Aliree Ragan said she attended a Silver State seminar at age 16 and filled out the application right away. Ragan began flight training in Ogden, Utah, at age 18, paying for her lessons with a loan arranged by Silver State and co-signed by her father. As she neared time to take her private pilot checkride, Silver State cut Ragan’s flying from 10 hours per week to half that. Just before Ragan was due to take her checkride, scheduled for the second week of February, Silver State shut down, but not before it withdrew $17,700 remaining in her account, she said.
Ragan has not been able to recover her training records from Silver State’s locked and guarded Ogden facility and she now owes $76,000 on her training loan. She recently took a job as a secretary for an electrical contractor and said she has no idea how she is going to repay the loan.
After the credit crunch, Smith said, “It was becoming increasingly difficult to bring students in.” Many could not qualify for the financing unless a creditworthy cosigner was available, and Smith cited instances where prospective cosigning family members balked at the terms, wondering how a graduate could afford to make the heavy payments on a flight instructor’s salary. “Some of those [Silver State] flight instructors still have loan payments due,” he said. But still, “people did find a way to finance the training because they really wanted to do it. It was something exciting. We had people from all walks of life.”
At Smith’s base, which he declined to identify, Silver State operated seven Robinson R22s and two R44s. He didn’t see any evidence that maintenance was deferred or ignored as the financial problems mounted, but he did experience increasing pressure from management to bring in new students, including daily reporting on calls made and tours given. “It got to be overbearing,” he said in an interview yesterday. “Many of us were wondering how long it could last.”
In a recently released accident report, the National Transportation Safety Board found that the probable cause of a fatal accident involving a Silver State R44 near Jacksonville, Fla., on March 27 was due to “the [Silver State] mechanic’s improper installation of the attachment hardware for the servo-to-swashplate push-pull tube joint, which resulted in a disconnection, subsequent loss of control and impact with terrain. Contributing factors were the company management’s inadequate surveillance and enforcement of maintenance procedures, the excessive maintenance workload due to inadequate staffing of maintenance personnel and the insufficient management of maintenance tasks.”
On February 3, Silver State shut down abruptly and halted operation of its 250 helicopters, then filed Chapter 7 (liquidation) bankruptcy a day later. Utah attorney Dan Reed, who has been contacted by a number of former Silver State students and employees, said he has been told that Silver State removed all the money
remaining in student accounts on February 1. Reed said he is exploring the possibility of a class-action lawsuit against Silver State and its leaders and backers.
Airola, who is suspected of having moved to Texas, may be able to take advantage of Texas homesteading laws that protect bankrupt residents from having to liquidate real estate, insurance policies, qualified retirement plans and personal automobiles from seizure during bankruptcy proceedings.
Earlier lawsuits filed against Silver State starting in 2002 complained that the company didn’t deliver training that it promised within 18 months due to lack of helicopters.
Salesman Smith said he still believes that a properly managed and solidly financed nationwide helicopter flight school could be successful.
Former exec recounts woes at Silver State
By Matt Thurber and Mark Huber
HAI Convention News >> February 2008
When Silver State Helicopters salesman “John Smith” (not his real name) was laid off in mid-November from his job recruiting student helicopter pilots, he figured that the now-bankrupt company was cutting expenses in an attempt to make the financials look better for an initial public stock offering. Silver State owner Jerry Airola had often discussed an IPO, according to Smith, and it seemed that it might be a possibility. But then all the regional sales managers were fired. After Smith left the company, he learned that the general managers at the helicopter training bases were let go, too. It soon became clear that Silver State’s financial situation was not improving.
The first indications that there was something wrong at Silver State came a couple of months earlier, Smith said, when loans to pay for helicopter training became harder to obtain. “We saw that the credit markets were not supporting our efforts,” he told HAI Convention News.
Silver State depended on readily available student financing as it advertised heavily on radio and TV stations to bring prospective students to informative seminars. Smith started with the company in April 2007, and his primary activity was running the seminars to bring in as many prospective students as possible. After the TV and radio ads attracted prospects, Silver State would invite them to attend an afternoon or evening seminar, and those who were interested in helicopter pilot careers would fill out enrollment and financial applications.
The heavy advertising would attract 500 to 600 people to the seminar, and about 100 might fill out the application, but then only about 10 to 12 would qualify for financing. The loans, with interest rates ranging from 10 to 15 percent, included deferral terms so students wouldn’t have to begin making payments until six months after they graduated from the 18-month Silver State training program. Graduates would earn 200 hours of flight time and their flight instructor certificate. Payments for the roughly $70,000 cost of the training would average $1,200 to $1,400 per month, Smith said. Many of the graduates were offered jobs teaching at Silver State.
Former student Aliree Ragan said she attended a Silver State seminar at age 16 and filled out the application right away. Ragan began flight training in Ogden, Utah, at age 18, paying for her lessons with a loan arranged by Silver State and co-signed by her father. As she neared time to take her private pilot checkride, Silver State cut Ragan’s flying from 10 hours per week to half that. Just before Ragan was due to take her checkride, scheduled for the second week of February, Silver State shut down, but not before it withdrew $17,700 remaining in her account, she said.
Ragan has not been able to recover her training records from Silver State’s locked and guarded Ogden facility and she now owes $76,000 on her training loan. She recently took a job as a secretary for an electrical contractor and said she has no idea how she is going to repay the loan.
After the credit crunch, Smith said, “It was becoming increasingly difficult to bring students in.” Many could not qualify for the financing unless a creditworthy cosigner was available, and Smith cited instances where prospective cosigning family members balked at the terms, wondering how a graduate could afford to make the heavy payments on a flight instructor’s salary. “Some of those [Silver State] flight instructors still have loan payments due,” he said. But still, “people did find a way to finance the training because they really wanted to do it. It was something exciting. We had people from all walks of life.”
At Smith’s base, which he declined to identify, Silver State operated seven Robinson R22s and two R44s. He didn’t see any evidence that maintenance was deferred or ignored as the financial problems mounted, but he did experience increasing pressure from management to bring in new students, including daily reporting on calls made and tours given. “It got to be overbearing,” he said in an interview yesterday. “Many of us were wondering how long it could last.”
In a recently released accident report, the National Transportation Safety Board found that the probable cause of a fatal accident involving a Silver State R44 near Jacksonville, Fla., on March 27 was due to “the [Silver State] mechanic’s improper installation of the attachment hardware for the servo-to-swashplate push-pull tube joint, which resulted in a disconnection, subsequent loss of control and impact with terrain. Contributing factors were the company management’s inadequate surveillance and enforcement of maintenance procedures, the excessive maintenance workload due to inadequate staffing of maintenance personnel and the insufficient management of maintenance tasks.”
On February 3, Silver State shut down abruptly and halted operation of its 250 helicopters, then filed Chapter 7 (liquidation) bankruptcy a day later. Utah attorney Dan Reed, who has been contacted by a number of former Silver State students and employees, said he has been told that Silver State removed all the money
remaining in student accounts on February 1. Reed said he is exploring the possibility of a class-action lawsuit against Silver State and its leaders and backers.
Airola, who is suspected of having moved to Texas, may be able to take advantage of Texas homesteading laws that protect bankrupt residents from having to liquidate real estate, insurance policies, qualified retirement plans and personal automobiles from seizure during bankruptcy proceedings.
Earlier lawsuits filed against Silver State starting in 2002 complained that the company didn’t deliver training that it promised within 18 months due to lack of helicopters.
Salesman Smith said he still believes that a properly managed and solidly financed nationwide helicopter flight school could be successful.
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Further update from AVweb today
No Sign Of Airola At Silver State Helicopters Bankruptcy Hearing
A Las Vegas television station reported that Silver State Helicopters owner Jerry Airola failed to appear in federal bankruptcy court on Tuesday, disappointing nearly 200 former students who showed up hoping to confront him. Airola has kept a low profile since the once-burgeoning flight school abruptly ceased operations at its 34 nationwide locations in early February, leaving more than 2,500 trainees in the lurch and facing millions in debt. Neither Airola’s spokeswoman or his attorney responded to e-mails and phone calls from AVweb on Wednesday, but an attorney representing former students attended the hearing and told AVweb that while Airola was not legally required to appear, two former Silver State board members were there representing the debtor and provided some insight into where the case stands. “They said that they had no contact with Mr. Airola since the filing of the bankruptcy,” said attorney Peter Lown of Jonesboro, Georgia. “But the things that people really wanted to know about, like where’d the money go, they could not address.”
Several class-action lawsuits are in the works against Airola, Silver State, and the banks that made loans to students. Lown said he is negotiating with other law firms to join his case with theirs, because fighting this battle alone is going to be tough. “The bankruptcy filing complicates the case,” he said, because any class action must wait for the bankruptcy trustee to settle the thousands of claims that have already been filed. The deadline for submitting a claim is June 12.
No Sign Of Airola At Silver State Helicopters Bankruptcy Hearing
A Las Vegas television station reported that Silver State Helicopters owner Jerry Airola failed to appear in federal bankruptcy court on Tuesday, disappointing nearly 200 former students who showed up hoping to confront him. Airola has kept a low profile since the once-burgeoning flight school abruptly ceased operations at its 34 nationwide locations in early February, leaving more than 2,500 trainees in the lurch and facing millions in debt. Neither Airola’s spokeswoman or his attorney responded to e-mails and phone calls from AVweb on Wednesday, but an attorney representing former students attended the hearing and told AVweb that while Airola was not legally required to appear, two former Silver State board members were there representing the debtor and provided some insight into where the case stands. “They said that they had no contact with Mr. Airola since the filing of the bankruptcy,” said attorney Peter Lown of Jonesboro, Georgia. “But the things that people really wanted to know about, like where’d the money go, they could not address.”
Several class-action lawsuits are in the works against Airola, Silver State, and the banks that made loans to students. Lown said he is negotiating with other law firms to join his case with theirs, because fighting this battle alone is going to be tough. “The bankruptcy filing complicates the case,” he said, because any class action must wait for the bankruptcy trustee to settle the thousands of claims that have already been filed. The deadline for submitting a claim is June 12.
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LAS Helicopter School
Anybody have any updates on the statis of that low life that had the big school in Vegas? I can't remember the name. I hope you guys recovered your money.
Clint
Clint
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"Citybank"
Cancelled loans to SSH students.???
Found this snippet, must be a relief for a lot of people, if true.
November 5, 2008, Citibank began offering 100% loan forgiveness of Citibank SSH student loans, in exchange for an assignment of the student's claims against SSH and against Citibank.
Cancelled loans to SSH students.???Found this snippet, must be a relief for a lot of people, if true.
November 5, 2008, Citibank began offering 100% loan forgiveness of Citibank SSH student loans, in exchange for an assignment of the student's claims against SSH and against Citibank.
Last edited by 500e; 24th Nov 2008 at 21:32.
Any waterboards in Texas?
Wouldn't it be nice to hear the truth spoken by this dear fellow.
Wouldn't it be nice to hear the truth spoken by this dear fellow.
Hovering AND talking
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Hey Sassy Dahling! Did that guy ever get elected to office? After all our valuable input on his website!!
Cheers
Whirls
Cheers
Whirls
Whirls mon sweet!
I sent him an e-mail saying you were part of the audit team....and poof...he did a bunk!
I have to assume he was unsuccessful in his bid for office and with any luck that was partially caused by all our good wishes here.
What a sleazy fellow he is.
I sent him an e-mail saying you were part of the audit team....and poof...he did a bunk!
I have to assume he was unsuccessful in his bid for office and with any luck that was partially caused by all our good wishes here.
What a sleazy fellow he is.
training
A link to a cautionary tale in the US regarding paying up front, I am not saying it will happen here BUT beware of like minded people.
A "Key" Reason Not to Bail Out Private Student Loan Providers
A "Key" Reason Not to Bail Out Private Student Loan Providers
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Update
Here's an update on the Silver State student loan situation from today.
LAS VEGAS – Attorneys general say a student loan company has agreed to forgive almost $113 million in debts for students of a Nevada-based helicopter flight school that went bankrupt in 2008.
Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto declared the agreement Tuesday between 12 states and Student Loan Xpress for "some relief" for Silver State Helicopters students who she said were hurt financially when the flight school failed.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown also announced the settlement. Other states include Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
Masto says that when Silver State Helicopters filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in February 2008, most of its 2,700 students at 34 flight schools around the country were left owing debts for training and certification they never received.
LAS VEGAS – Attorneys general say a student loan company has agreed to forgive almost $113 million in debts for students of a Nevada-based helicopter flight school that went bankrupt in 2008.
Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto declared the agreement Tuesday between 12 states and Student Loan Xpress for "some relief" for Silver State Helicopters students who she said were hurt financially when the flight school failed.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown also announced the settlement. Other states include Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
Masto says that when Silver State Helicopters filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in February 2008, most of its 2,700 students at 34 flight schools around the country were left owing debts for training and certification they never received.
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With Love and Respect?
Jerry
You know you ruined so many Lives, Marriages and Families
and you have the nerve to end your **** ass letter with "With Love and Respect"
We are going to find out every scam you're trying to push on other innocent victims and we will expose you for what you are. Not a day is going to go by that someone is going to report in as to your whereabouts and your dirty deeds.Make no mistake as to our resolve.
You have brought your victims dreams and their families nothing but heartache destroying what so many people put their hope on.
Get ready you SOB because Its all coming again your way coming again.
Were going to make sure you don't get a good nights sleep again you selfish creep.
You wannbe cop.
You know you ruined so many Lives, Marriages and Families
and you have the nerve to end your **** ass letter with "With Love and Respect"
We are going to find out every scam you're trying to push on other innocent victims and we will expose you for what you are. Not a day is going to go by that someone is going to report in as to your whereabouts and your dirty deeds.Make no mistake as to our resolve.
You have brought your victims dreams and their families nothing but heartache destroying what so many people put their hope on.
Get ready you SOB because Its all coming again your way coming again.
Were going to make sure you don't get a good nights sleep again you selfish creep.
You wannbe cop.