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Jerry Airola, the former sheriff candidate with so much money he told a reporter he didn't really know just how many millions he had, announced that his company, Silver State Helicopters, will be terminating all employees and suspending operations at 5 p.m. today.
In an open letter sent to students and staff of the business, which provided flight training to wanna-be helicopter pilots, Airola wrote "I'm sorry to say that the SSH rumors are true." Monthly operating expenses exceeded cash flow, and while the company board of directors hasn't exactly made a final decision as to the fate of Silver State, all operations are shut down and everybody should get out sometime within the next three hours.
In other words, Airola writes, his staff should "seek other employment." Also, turn in your company vehicle, check the mail for your last paycheck, and listen for further word as to when you can come get your stuff out of the office.
He ends the email with, "I can not (sic) tell you how hard it is to push 'send.'"
Here's the letter, in full, as sent to the Sun:
I know the rumors have been flying and I’ve been told some of you have taken action in anticipation of a company shut down some time today. The Board of Directors has been working diligently with student lenders and the financial institution that carries the majority of Silver State’s debt. The entire lending industry was crippled in October and the impact hit all student lending sources particularly hard; we felt this full force. Silver State Helicopters has done everything possible to weather the storm and will continue to work on a solution that will allow this company to continue to explore options.
The Board of Directors has not made a final decision as to Silver State Helicopters. Because the monthly operating expenses, even at the recently streamlined levels, continue to exceed cash flow the Board has elected to suspend all operations effective at 5:00 PM today. All offices are closed effective immediately and all employees are terminated as of 5:00PM today as well. All employees will receive a final payroll check via your normal payment method (check or direct deposit by ADP). I know there are many questions that you will have and I will attempt to answer some of those now:
• When will I receive my final paycheck and what will it include? Your paycheck will be processed immediately and sent to you via ADP as it has in the past. You will be paid through close of business today. The company does not have time cards collected already to reflect the most recent days so, as is common practice in these cases, non-salaried employees will be paid assuming a full 40-hour work week.
• What will happen to my 401K? Your 401(k) remains secure with the outside service Company as it always has been.
• If Silver State Helicopters are able to restructure will I be offered re-employment? The Board of Directors will continue to work to find the best possible solution for Silver State Helicopters. If the company can be restructured it would certainly make most sense to allow priority hiring to former employees that apply.
• Should I seek other employment? Yes - Silver State Helicopters can make no promise of re-employment at this time and there should be no hesitation on your part to secure alternative employment.
• Will I be able to retrieve my personal belongings from the office? Yes - You will be notified as to the available times and procedures to recover any personal property from a locked office within the next few days. Please do not take anything from the locations that does not belong to you unless you have written permission to do so as that would constitute theft. Surveillance equipment has been recently installed in most locations to protect assets.
• I have a company vehicle, should I turn that in? Yes - Non-employees are not authorized to drive company vehicles. It is presumed reasonable that all vehicles will be returned to the closest Silver State Location no later than Monday, February 4th. You should co-ordinate all vehicle returns with Lisa Gunther.
• What will happen to students? The students will be notified as soon as a clear direction is confirmed.
• I have company assets at my home or in my possession, what should I do? Contact Steve Shaw or Lisa Gunther and make arrangements to return all items no later than Monday, February 4th.
• What about health insurance? Angi will be processing termination for all employees on Monday. This will trigger COBRA notices and you can contract the carrier directly to preserve your coverage. The company also encourages you to begin your process immediately so that you may collect unemployment insurance.
Please accept my most sincere apologies for the stress and sadness this may cause you. I know that many of you consider this company and the employees to be your home and your family. Holly and I have made a decision to fight for every option to help the people of this company put something together so we may again enjoy the success we have shared in the past.
Most of you have been comfortable in writing me or calling me I the past and I will continue to keep my door open. Please realize that I am inundated with calls and e-mails right now and it is difficult to return all in a timely manner when there is so much work to do. Regardless of the final outcome over the next few weeks I will be eternally grateful for the friends that I have made and the greatness that we all have shared. There are few people in the world that will ever have the opportunity to share in the experience that we all have over the past eight years. If someone had told me back in 1999 that this company would do all it has done and then face the challenge that it is facing now I would still gladly sign on as an opportunity of a lifetime and an education that can not be bought. Thank you all for the opportunity to work with a great group of people.
I can not tell you how hard it is to push “send”.
With love and respect for all of you,
Jerry Airola
I'm a previous student of SHH, I said previous because when I went to my airport today expecting business as usual(in Lakeland, FL). I was greeted with policeman who told me that the school has been closed. I am dumbfounded as the more I am researching about SHH and Jerry Airola, the more "dirt" I am finding. I feel like I and my fellow students have been seriously lied to. I have met students who have been told they were within weight limits to fly the R-22, and then after signing the contract with SHH, were told that they were too heavy and need to loose weight before they could fly. There are students who have put themselves into serious debt, trying to complete this program in the 18 month time frame, only to find the program has crumbled without any hope of employment with the company. Jerry Airola has stated that he only "hires from within the students that his company has trained" and that he would not "train any person who he would not consider hiring". Now I and my fellow classmates (2,000+) are standing here with a large debt and what appears to be a breech of contract, as SHH is not going to be able to complete our flight training as they contracted to do. I'm at a loss as what to do next.
Jerry Airola's memo sounds sad and sincere, so I don't think snide comments should be made.
Many companies in Las Vegas are finding that their operating lines of credit are not being renewed by their banks, simply because of the "credit crunch" and banks' ultra conservatism.
In the past I have seen banks who decided not to renew lines of credit, even though the borrower is current on monthly payments. Yes, the banks are nutty to do it, because they get stuck with all the security for their loans, like inventory, vehicles and equipment. But that's how the world works. Sometimes bankers are not the brightest people around.
I hope for the sake of everyone at Silver State Helicopters, the company can successfully file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.
"Sad and sincere" doesn't compensate for hubris and the blatant disregard for the lives of people involved with his school. The 'business model' that was used in this company was dubious at best and it finally came full circle.
I'm sure that the students are "sad and sincere" that they are now in debt for $70k with no way to pay it back.
I'm also sure that the SS employees are "sad and sincere" that they too are in debt (as former students) and now have a certification that is useless because they cannot gain enough hours to be employed by anyone else.
I'm certain that the families who have lost loved-ones are "sad and sincere" that Jerry Airola was spending more time on publicity stunts than making sure that his fleet was safe. http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/GenPDF.asp?id=D...
He's been feeding off the student loan system. His house of cards was doomed to fall.
I looked in to SSH and their program a couple years ago and was warned off by the comments of a couple people who worked in the industry. Glad I listened to them.
Jerry Airola is an idiot! He doesn't give a crap about any of his employees or students. My husband and I both only 22 years old with 3 children are now stuck paying for something that is going nowhere. Considering Jerry new back in October this was probably going to happen he should have come up with something to say to the students whose lives he's messing with. Yet today there is no statement for the students. What are we to do now???
I find it ironic that Jerry Airola was able to host of benefit for Gov. Gibbons Legal Defense fund, yet this week had to file for bankruptcy. As the credit markets were drying up, they should have modified their management structure and scaled back appropriately. My hope is that the former employees and students are able to find suitable recourse.
"Sad and Sincere"?!?!!? Are you serious?!?! This man needs to be in prison! He knew exactly what he was doing. His scam worked perfectly. The lenders, i.e. student loan express through American Education Services wouldn't even help the students who found out about the scam months ago. They just kept sending the disbursements to Silver State because Silver State had the student listed as "in school" even after they quit the school. Call the school, call the lender, sorry we can't help you, you will have to call the school. Nice work Jerry. I think the lenders need to be investigated for their share in this scam. Once students signed for loan there was no way to get out of the full tuition $70K. Better Business Bureau did not even help, I sent a complaint to the Las Vegas Better Business Bureau and received, "We were unable to process your correspondence as a complaint and have sent the documents to the company as a "comment" letter.” I researched the company and they had a satisfactory rating with BBB. I attended 5 weeks of school and am being billed the entire 70K.
We in Florida have started a student forum to give the former students of SSH more information about what is going on and to do some brainstorming to discuss a plan of action to see if we can get this situation resolved.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SilverStat...
I think this is another clear case of a large corporation an its board members blatant disregard for its employees and students. I was a student at the Fort Worth Texas school,my first question to Airola and it's board members: Where is the 71 million this school reported as a net worth in 2006? It has become to easy for these large corporations to file some form of bankruptcy,then just pull the rug out from under its investors, in this case the students.I hope there is a lawyer somewhere willing to start a class action suit against Silver State. I'm sure there are many students looking at a 30 year loan that can not possibly pay this kind of money back. I started taking lessons with Silver State in November of 2007. This company had to know they were on the verge of bankruptcy my their 3rd quarter numbers if not sooner, and still they held expensive seminars drawing in 800 to 1,000 people. Knowing very well that these potential students would never obtain enough schooling to ever get off the ground. This is fraud! I am devastated. I thought this was a great career change and a life change for my family. One last comment,I believe they should liquidate Silver States assets and pay all of the student loans. This way they could kill two birds with one stone,pay the loans an the lenders at the same time,instead of paying the investors first and the students left holding the bag!
I worked for SSH. It only took me a few months of being a non-flying, salaried employee, to know that it was a Ponzi scheme. Airola was only concerned about his public image and how to put on a sad face when an accident happened and not overly concerned about the cause. He would fire students for simple mistakes during their training process in order to make room for new students and more cash flow. Based on the contract; if you were terminated from the program for unsafe act,s your money would not be refunded. I would venture to guess that if you started looking in the Turks and Caicos Islands you would probably find millions of Jerry's $$$ hidden there.
It is so amazing how he stayed in business. He hired washed up ex-cops, some of them had been fired from their departments and then marched around pretending to be cops, telling stories of how they were Reserve officers, special deputies, etc...
My name is Chris i was formaly a student at SSH New Braunfels texas location some of the students and employees have created a websight for all who were affected by the closure last sunday we would strongly like to welcome anyone who has any imput or help the web link is www.latesilverstate.webpaint.com we hope to see you there an email has also been set up www.latesilverstate@yahoo.com
My name is Drayton. I am a former student in Columbia,SC.
Our group is looking into stopping the bankruptcey filing. Please reply with interest or information.
Sad and sincere? I am sad, my best friend was the CFI killed in Jacksonville Florida in March of 07 because of Silver Sates gross negligence. On 1/28/08 the NTSB came out with a report that put all the blame of that accident squarely on Sliver States shoulders, than on 1/4/08 Silver states files chapter 7 making the wrongful death lawsuit come to a screeching halt. The funny thing is in August of 2007 Airola sold 60% of his shares to a New York based investment company for 30 million! Airola is sitting pretty, my best friend is dead, her family has a $70,000 dollar debt to repay(to add insult to injury) and there are thousand of employees and students that have had their hopes and dreams crushed. "Sad and sincere" are two words that I would not use to describe Airola and if there truly is a God (and I feel there is) one day he will have to face karma and that is a day I would truly not want to be him. What he took from me personally I will live with forever and hopefully one day he will have to take responsibility for his actions.
Anyone who thinks Airola is sincere and will reopen his "school" has got to be mmisinformed. There are so many creditors trying to find there money that SSH will never reopen. Orix gave SSH a 40 MILLION Dollar line of credit that SSH ran up to 30 million between August and their closing. Airola owns a huge million dollar home in Texas with his wife. Insiders from SSH involved in financing are coming forward to talk about how Airola used themoney for inappropriate things rather than on the students education.
the entire company ran on a scam in a way. Train students to hire them as pilots to train students to hire them as pilots, to train students.....get the picture? After awhile he had too many students, not enough pilots, too few choppers and had pissed away the companies money...alot of it I am sure on his bid for Sheriff in Clark County.
SSH will never open their doors again, never pay their creditors or students and Airola will take the millions he has hidden or shuffled overseas and start some new scam business elsewhere.
Remember,
Airola said that if elected, he would run the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police department like his helicopter company! Thank goodness the voters didn't buy it.
http://www.airolahelicopters.com/
Check out this website!!!
Jerry like Floyd Hiser were both Ex-Cops. Both started Helicopter companies and grew too fast and got too big to handle. I warned Jerry not to grow too fast and let it get out of control like Hiser did. I worked for both of them. They are both driven men and I really believe they both had good intentions. Floyd Hiser was killed in a later Helicopter crash while fighting fires. I hope the same fate does not hit Jerry. My advise for Jerry is to take a deep breath and deal with the angry minions one at a time as soon as possible.