Richard Isakson wrote:

Dennis,

So, you were undercapitalized and your product was underpriced. A brilliant
example of pending business failure.


Welcome to the world of kitbuilt aviation. You can only sell what people
will pay for.


My big problem with this thread is your claim of a 2000 hour TBO. You knew
from the start that a helicopter is a harsh environment for parts to live
in.


I sure do.


Some helicopters have to be thrown away well before that.


They sure do.


Your
advertising claim was huge. You were telling people "Look! This one will
last."


No, I said if you build your kit the same way we built ours, you should
expect the same results. Our advertising claim was correct. We did use
the 2000 hour mark as our designed goal. Like "ALL" helicopters ever
built, some components needed redesigned after being exposed to the
customers. Like "ALL" helicopters, there were some things that we simply
designed inadequate, and had to redesign. And we did, each and every
problem, and for free or at our cost to the customer.

Even then, we had less problems to correct than the most popular
commercial helicopters did after they first come out. THAT SAYS
SOMETHING, and we didn't even built them, the customers did.


Dennis, design includes testing. It's not a part until it's proven
it's a part. That was implied in your advertising claim.


We did do testing, more than most companies did too. We were as
confidant as we could be when we started shipping parts. But, unlike
you, we were not blind to the fact that we knew that someday there would
be problems. All helicopter manufacturers know that. We took the
problems as they came and fixed them. We were lucky there were so few,
compared to all other new designs.


Now, you've
redefined "design" to mean ... Well what does it mean?


It means designed. You want it to mean designed and tested to the life
expectancy, but that is something else, that means commercial and high
prices.


If a part is
designed to last 2000 hours and it breaks at 1500 hours, there are those who
would say that's close enough. I wouldn't say that but, others might. You
had parts failing at *tens* of hours.


What is Frank Robinson excuse, and was it good enough for you? You are
right dude, we had some parts fail to soon. We know it, and we corrected
them. But you have to give some credit for as few problems as we had,
and how cheep it was to fix them. It's not OK that we made mistakes, but
we fixed them and that is the best I can offer. I understand that is not
going to be exceptable for you, you don't have to be reasonable, I do.


There are only two possible
explainations: either you're a truely crappy designer or you lied and you
never even tried to design to 2000 hours. So, which is it?


Who are you to say anything? Who are you to say these are the only two
explanations? You are so closed minded that even if the facts slapped
you in the head you would refuse to believe them. Read what I said above
and stop talking like some uneducated idiot for a moment.


Are you an
incompetent or are you a liar who's word shouldn't be taken about anything.
It doesn't matter what other people do. You should have learned that when
you were twelve years old. It doesn't matter what sort of remediation you
offered. Your parts weren't properly designed.


I wish I was a better designer. I wish I had never made a mistake. I
hope I never will make another mistake, but I am realistic, unlike you.

But Mr. Isakson, there is one undeniable fact you can't deny, well you
could, and will. Even if I was the worst designer in the world, the fact
is that I did design a working helicopter, built the kits and sold over
500, and that puts me high above what you have done. The lower you try
and place me, the lower you place yourself. I may be a has-been in the
kitbuilt field, thank God, but better that than a never-been, or a
never-gonna-be, like you. And you judge me?


Dennis Fetters

Designer of;
Air Command 1/plcs Gyroplanes
Air Command 2/plcs Gyroplanes
Mini-500 1/Plcs Helicopter
Voyager-500 2/Plcs Helicopter
Excalibur 5/Plcs Turbine Helicopter
Star-Lite-A VTUAV Helicopter
Star-Lite-B VTUAV Helicopter