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Randall Jeppesen and Courtney Orton reporting More than 100 students are out tens of thousands of dollars now that their helicopter flight training school has gone bankrupt. Eyewitness News has reaction from students who learned of the closure when they showed up for class.
Silver State helicopters shut down all of its 37 locations across the United States. That includes the two here in Utah.
Employees were fired by e-mail and told not to show up for work, students weren't told anything. "It kind of makes me wonder what my future in flying is going to be. I've got these big student loans to pay off," Thomas Magarrell said.
Magarrell is just a few hours short of getting the 100 hours he needs to get his commercial license. He found out the school had closed when he showed up for a scheduled flight yesterday afternoon. He couldn't even get inside the building because the gate was locked and a Provo police officer was guarding the property.
"[It] really kind of sucks not having any warning that they are going to be shutting down. I think it's news to everyone," Magarrell said.
It was news to Reed Christensen's son, who is just ten hours away from completing his training. "Now he's sitting, no job, looking at a $900-a-month payment on a student loan and $70,000 in debt as a 20-year-old kid," Christensen said.
Former students recently filed a federal lawsuit claiming they didn't get the education they paid for. All of the students we talked to paid the tuition in advance, which actually violates a state statute.
The Utah Division of Consumer Protection is already investigating the company. "Once we get the facts in, find out who is involved, how many students, how much money have they paid and so on, then we'd like to see if we could do what we call a ‘teach-out'--a situation that would benefit the student as well as trying to get that benefit spread around," explained Kevin Olsen, with the Utah Division of Consumer Protection.
Silver State Helicopter's Web site has been replaced with a press release that reads: "The decision to shut down operations was made only after the company explored its other available alternatives. Information for former employees and students will be disseminated as it becomes available." It also states that the company has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The Division of Consumer Protection suggests students contact them in addition to an attorney to get the proper claims filed to get repaid out of bankruptcy court.
