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Silverstate, another quality aviation company... not

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LearLove

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 27, 2001
Posts
4,451
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_State_Helicopters

don't know if this was ever discussed but I was watching american chopper in the hotel here in BOS and saw an episode where they did a bike for Silverstate, so being bored I looked them up.

Needless to say I was pretty shocked at what I found.

management informed him that "We only want about 20 percent of these people to finish." In an interview with Rotor & Wing' magazine Rowles explained that the company intended from the start that the majority of students would voluntarily cease training after the first three months, leaving them with the full debt for the loan and the company without the expense of training them. Many students did abandon the training because the school locations were understaffed, overcrowded with students and lacked sufficient aircraft. When the students did not complete their training in the 18 month period they had to start paying back their loans, but without having completed their licenses and without employment, forcing many to quit training to try to find jobs. Rowles told management that they must stop recruiting until the backlogs could be cleared, but he was overruled and recruiting was stepped up
 
I used to live near one of their training bases. A few friends and I went to one of their recruiting rallies because we were curious how a company could convince otherwise reasonable people into taking out huge loans and pursue a career in a shaky industry. It was appalling. They made all sorts of promises that were nowhere near realistic and gave salary figures for positions that only a very few of their graduates were lucky enough to stumble into. I'd heard shady sales speeches from flight schools before, but they took it to a new level.

They chose to wait to close their doors the day after the last round of student loans was safely in their bank account. There was no announcement. There was no warning. They just took the money and locked the doors knowing full well that they were screwing EVERYONE. Employees and students showed up to find the place shut down. The word on the airport was that the owner of Silverstate actually had to disappear for awhile to avoid physical violence.
 
Needless to say I was pretty shocked at what I found.

Where have you been, over the last few years?

Silver state was one of the biggest scams to come along in the industry; certainly the largest in the helicopter industry. Silver State finally self-destructed, and not a moment too soon.
 

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