When Silver State Helicopters salesman “John Smith” (not his real name) was laid off in mid-November from his job recruiting student helicopter pilots, he figured that the now-bankrupt company was cutting expenses in an attempt to make the financials look better for an initial public stock offering. Silver State owner Jerry Airola had often discussed an IPO, according to Smith, and it seemed that it might be a possibility. But then all the regional sales managers were fired. After Smith left the company, he learned that the general managers at the helicopter training bases were let go, too. It soon became clear that Silver State’s financial situation was not improving.
The first indications that there was something wrong at Silver State came a couple of months earlier, Smith said, when loans to pay for helicopter training became harder to obtain. “We saw that the credit markets were not supporting our efforts,” he told HAI Convention News.
