[skysurfer808]

Hello All, I've been pretty busy studying up for my Instrument Instructor license, and haven't had all that much time to post. However, an old thread about helicopter lessons and new events have made me decide to put something up here. Awhile back, one of our esteemed members inquired about helo training. I did my best along with Lakota Mech to warn him off, as a fellow forum member, we all ought to stick together. Well, now the school in question, Silver State Helicopters filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy as of February 4th, though the company founder sent out an email on Sunday.

Here is the wikipedia link with the termination letter from its founder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_State_Helicopters

I definately have mixed feelings about the demise of Silver State. On one hand, their little Robinson R-22s were difficult to see, and the tower at our airport was constantly spending its time dealing with them, to the detriment of its handling of airplanes. The school would have 3-4 R-22s in the pattern at our field several times a day, and some of the moves done by those students had to be seen to be believed. My local ramp hero, retired Lt. Col Lawrence, an A-4-O-1-F-8-A-7-A-10 and even F-4F driver with the Luftwaffe's Richtofen Wing, and also veteran of Vietnam-Southern Watch and Deliberate Force, recently took the school to task for having its students hover right next to an avgas truck, something that could have turned into a flaming disaster. I myself was regularly blasted by rotor wash when I first started instructing here. Still, I managed to make a couple friends among the school's instructor staff, and did my best to hammer out a workable operating agreement with them,(ie not flying when they were in the pattern, and finding out when they would be up so I could stay down.)

This brings the real tragedy of the school's demise to the fore. The students of the school borrowed anywhere from 55 to 70 thousand dollars apiece to obtain their helo ratings. They were told during their sales seminars that they would be able to gain all their ratings within a year to 18 months, and then start instructing. Some of their students (though not here in Georgia) did manage to gain employement as instructors. One of my friends there has 750 hours, though another instructor I know only had 245 when the school went belly up. However, those in the worst situation are the students. They still owe the money they borrowed to their lending institution, yet many have not even obtained their private pilot helo licenses. Sad to say they were taken in by a classic ponzi scheme. The school expanded on the backs of the students that borrowed money, when the recent credit crunch tightened lending requirements, the school had no way to further expand. Now there will be several hundred Helo Instructors looking for work all over the country. One guy I spoke to yesterday told me he only has enough money to drive home. A former student told me he is in hock for 70K, with 1500 a month in payments due in 6 months. I can only hope that the forum member who inquired about Silver State didn't sign the contract.

Thus, an aviation operation has made its final landing. My chief instructor told me not to gloat, as it could happen to any of us. I have thought seriously about this, and agree. On one hand it will be nice to see that our traffic pattern will be much clearer without Silver State's R-22s whizzing about amidst our Cessnas and the various executive aircraft that call our field home. On the other hand, though, I am left with a forboding feeling of "who will be next?" The economy is definately headed for a crunch over the next few years, and aviation will feel it the hardest. Still, I have come to love instructing, and being a professional aviator. Two of my students have already obtained their Private Pilot licenses, and several more are in the pipeline for theirs. As far as moving on, I look forward to the chance of flying faster machines, but in the mean time, hope that there will still be a place for me as an instructor. Nowadays there is a nationwide shortage of fixed wing flight instructors, but who knows what may happen in the not too distant future.

All this is something to ponder.

Skysurfer808

[Lakota Mech]

I knew the time would come when SSH would go belly up. I feel sorry for anyone that fell into their trap. When I gave my advice to the person who was asking about becoming a professional helicopter pilot at 40. I tred to get the point across thayt it takes many many hours in just turbine time alone to become insurable and thus employable. The promises Silver State made were totally unrealistic $100K Very few people make that even after 20 years of flying rotary wing aircraft. I think Mustangdriver works for a HEMS outfit back east and he could better tell what the pilots make where he works I bet it's not 100K..