Pace Airlines owner arrested

[hoover84]

Pace Airlines owner arrested in insurance probe

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Staff Reports

The owner of Winston-Salem based Pace Airlines Inc. was arrested and charged with failing to pay group health insurance premiums, a state official announced today.
William Charles Rodgers, 59, of 608 Nashua Road, Liberty, terminated his employee group health insurance without providing the required 45-day notice to his 337 employees, state Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin said in a press release today.
Investigators arrested Rodgers at Piedmont Triad International Airport on Tuesday afternoon. He was taken to the Forsyth County Magistrate’s office for processing.
Additional charges are pending, according to the press release.
Investigators from the N.C. Department of Insurance’s criminal investigations division are still seeking information from Pace employees.
There will be an informational meeting for Pace employees on Sept. 29 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Lawrence Joel Vets Coliseum at 300 Deacon Boulevard in Winston Salem.

 

[samballs]

sucks, but is it safe to say another door is about to close

 

[Full of LUV]

Aren't they "Hooters Air"

sucks, but is it safe to say another door is about to close

Don't they fly as "Hooters Air", I don't live on the East coast so not sure if they are still flying....

 

[Full of LUV]

Where's the list????

sucks, but is it safe to say another door is about to close

Does anyone know the list of now defunct airlines. I think there was a link on each one which gave some basic details.
THX

 

[Colonel Savage]

Hooter's Air (flown by Pace) was shut down a few years ago, beginning the slow demise of Pace.

 

[jdubya]

Probably no surprise to the employees unfortunately. I believe the mechanics had paychecks bounce more than once, not sure about the pilot side. Seems this guy has quite a background.

A lot of airlines have gone down the tube in North Carolina impacting a lot of good people. Its unfortunate everyone wants to be in the airline business. I hope everything works out for the employees.

 

[climbhappy]

colonel,
here are the facts. pace had a 30 million dollar contract with CAL. our boeing mech installed LIVE TV on the new 900s.. we did C checks. we had 10 737 on our ramp at one time. CAL was absolutely pleased with us. CAL pulled out when the story broke about missing payroll. would you want a guy turning wrenches on your 75 mil boeing whose wife keeps calling on thecel screaming "when you gettin paid and you're not gettin any till you get paid" I think not

the company did 55 mil in reves last year. it could sustain itself. we did about 20 mil in charters.
same ol Stuff: greedy execs rape it and funnel cash out the door.
new owner buys it with no money down and can't meet payroll. CAL leaves, then the guy halts ops and stops the revenue..

Hooters air, LLC, a separate entity, was a 3 year experiment that could have made it.. the skittish owner got nervous right as we reached critical mass...

so, Pace was always Pace, it had a great combo of maint and charter, and in the end corruption did this.

Alot of fine people who loved their job because of a short commute among other things are on the street...my fav "it is what it is"

 

[Colonel Savage]

The question I answered focused on the Hooters part of Pace's history. I wasn't trying to say the end of the Hooters flying caused their demise, just that it seemed to be their zenith with the 20+ planes in the total fleet flying before the Hooters flying ended.

I agree that screwing up the CAL contract was stupid and inexcusable, and was the final nail.

 

[climbhappy]

hooter air was shut down a few years ago, beginning the slow demise of Pace

colonel,
no big deal.. i reread your sentence. it still says the same thing to me. the point is many didn't understand Hooters Air was a separate entity. we had a solid customer base consisting of many notable college/pro teams. NHL hockey, pro baseball, 757,767 ETOPS,

this shouldn't have happened period. I don't know what it is about aviation and the greed it attracts and manifests. Most other fields make money, sell at a gain and everybody is happy. No in this business. Idiots who have no business sense come in and destroy. that is all that took place here. Oil prices were one thing, but the cert is turned and the MGT team still thinks there is a sucker who wants to "give" them 20 million to start fresh.

right now , there are not many suckers with 20 million in the bank.

 

[CitationLover]

My buddies at MLW (the 757/767 charter op using pace's certificate) told me they didn't get paid for the last month. Martin Woodall evidently gave pace the money to pay them, but pace never did. Really crappy situation and I hope he gets what he deserves in prison.