I received the mass e-mail notification of termination on 4/17. That's pretty much what we've come to expect from this "organization", so no big surprise there. At least I can now file for UI. I'm only out 2 weeks pay, my vacation pay and a few hundred in unreimbursed expenses incurred months ago when the credit cards got shut off.
Other crewmembers continued to front expenses long after I and many others put the company on a "cash in advance" basis. Some for tens of thousands. I'm sure they thought they were doing the right thing, but this is the thanks they get for placing any trust in JD.
Now that JD has effectively ceased to exist as a business entity, former employees and other unsecured creditors will be left with no recourse to recover monies owed them. This debacle will have repercussions for some time to come. Personal bankruptcies are imminent for a few individuals who extended significant credit, not to mention the effect upon various vendors who failed to cut them off early. Trust misplaced.
It now appears that I am very fortunate to have gotten my start working for crummy bottom-feeders. Thanks to that early experience, I never trusted these folks any further than I could throw the crooked creeps. I'm still out of a job and a month and a half's pay, but probably feel much less betrayed than many of the poor Kool-Aide drinkers who believed. In the words of a senior pilot in VNY, "if this is your first go-around in the charter/management biz, welcome to business aviation and good luck in you future endeavors!"
Indeed.
Best,
