Comments on: Helicopter Training and Broken Promises http://www.aneclecticmind.com/2008/03/05/helicopter-training-and-broken-promises/ Web site and blog for Maria Langer, freelance writer, commercial helicopter pilot, and serious amateur photographer. Thu, 24 May 2012 15:27:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Maria Langer http://www.aneclecticmind.com/2008/03/05/helicopter-training-and-broken-promises/#comment-1714 Maria Langer Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:43:22 +0000 http://www.aneclecticmind.com/2008/03/05/helicopter-training-and-broken-promises/#comment-1714 Thanks very much for filling in the gaps in my information. It's good to get knowledgeable input from people who know FACTS and can present them without a lot of nasty finger pointing. I'm VERY GLAD Jerry couldn't buy Robinson. I know that the other companies he bought were sucked dry of assets before SSH's failure; it would have been a complete disaster to the helicopter industry if Robinson had met the same fate. Hope you landed on your feet. My flight instructor is still unemployed and my mechanic had to take another job unrelated to helicopters. All the helicopter operators I've spoken to have been inundated with applications from SSH CFIs, most of whom lack the experience needed for the available jobs. It's a big mess right now and I suspect that it'll take at least a year to clear up. Thanks very much for filling in the gaps in my information. It’s good to get knowledgeable input from people who know FACTS and can present them without a lot of nasty finger pointing.

I’m VERY GLAD Jerry couldn’t buy Robinson. I know that the other companies he bought were sucked dry of assets before SSH’s failure; it would have been a complete disaster to the helicopter industry if Robinson had met the same fate.

Hope you landed on your feet. My flight instructor is still unemployed and my mechanic had to take another job unrelated to helicopters. All the helicopter operators I’ve spoken to have been inundated with applications from SSH CFIs, most of whom lack the experience needed for the available jobs. It’s a big mess right now and I suspect that it’ll take at least a year to clear up.

]]> By: David http://www.aneclecticmind.com/2008/03/05/helicopter-training-and-broken-promises/#comment-1713 David Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:05:15 +0000 http://www.aneclecticmind.com/2008/03/05/helicopter-training-and-broken-promises/#comment-1713 I was an SSH employee right up to the end. You seem to be well-informed, and as far as I know, your conjecture is all correct. I can answer a couple of those questions for you, too. I'd always heard that the initial package cost $70k, and included as much flight time as you could schedule (some students found this deceptively difficult at times) in the first 18 months. If they weren't done in 18 months (which represented a majority of students), students could buy the same packages you were using to get the hours they needed. That might explain the higher numbers you've heard. As I understood it, the disbursements from the lenders came in quarters, two months apart ($17k taken at signing, $17k taken two months in, and so forth), so the whole $70k was paid in the first 6 months. This would also explain why a number of disbursements was received by the company just before it went under- they were all from the same seminar, and were all on the same disbursement schedule. Yes, Robinson limited the number of helicopters we could buy. The number I heard was that the most helicopters that Robinson would let us buy was 40% of their yearly production. I also heard that Jerry was frustrated and briefly kicked around the idea of buying them outright, but being privately held by the Robinson family, that got nowhere fast. Your contact's fears about losing your helicopter were well founded: I actually lost some personal items when our building was locked by the bankruptcy executor, and I couldn't get back in to retrieve them (total replacement cost was around $100, so I'm not crying myself to sleep, but it still sucks). I was an SSH employee right up to the end. You seem to be well-informed, and as far as I know, your conjecture is all correct. I can answer a couple of those questions for you, too.

I’d always heard that the initial package cost $70k, and included as much flight time as you could schedule (some students found this deceptively difficult at times) in the first 18 months. If they weren’t done in 18 months (which represented a majority of students), students could buy the same packages you were using to get the hours they needed. That might explain the higher numbers you’ve heard.

As I understood it, the disbursements from the lenders came in quarters, two months apart ($17k taken at signing, $17k taken two months in, and so forth), so the whole $70k was paid in the first 6 months. This would also explain why a number of disbursements was received by the company just before it went under- they were all from the same seminar, and were all on the same disbursement schedule.

Yes, Robinson limited the number of helicopters we could buy. The number I heard was that the most helicopters that Robinson would let us buy was 40% of their yearly production. I also heard that Jerry was frustrated and briefly kicked around the idea of buying them outright, but being privately held by the Robinson family, that got nowhere fast.

Your contact’s fears about losing your helicopter were well founded: I actually lost some personal items when our building was locked by the bankruptcy executor, and I couldn’t get back in to retrieve them (total replacement cost was around $100, so I’m not crying myself to sleep, but it still sucks).

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