You pay the blokes before you pay the bank. It has to be that way!
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Thanks guys. It’s all good. I went to the hangar today and did some hard acro over my box for the first time in months. I looked at the helicopter and felt…nothing. No pain. No regret. A bit of loathing. I just want it gone so that I don’t have to look at the POS. Plus, it’s cluttering up a perfectly good hangar. The itch to build is gone. The itch to hover is gone. The whole helicopter experience was a big mistake. It was as if I just broke off a two year affair with a homeless heroin addict. She was everything my wife wasn’t: slow, stupid, expensive and ugly. But I did it anyway. For whatever reason, my wife took me back. (metaphor over) We’ll do our best to forget and focus on getting my daughter through college.
As I wrote to some friends on Facebook who are in the same boat and itching to sue:
It is total waste of time to…
…Get a lawyer
…Join a class action
…Attend the hearing
…Buy the factory
…Worry
…Be angry
…Say I told you so
It’s over. The (Rotorway) helicopter will survive the next 20 years through the love and devotion of builders around the world and then join the heap of history. Forgive. Forget. Move on.
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Amen brother.
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Could you at least sell it to someone that’s willing to cannibalize it for parts?
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I was thinking it was the world’s coolest sim pit, put in on a full motion base and it would be amazing!
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Once the bankruptcy is done and I am certain that the helicopter isn’t needed to get money back from RotorX, I’ll probably just give it to whoever is willing to come to NJ with a trailer. There is a vocal group who I believe are waiting for the bankruptcy to finalize so that they can pick up the company for a song. They win twice. One, they have no obligation to creditors like old employees and customers. Two, they will likely get a winfall of cheap partial builds like mine. You can almost sense their glee between posts of sympathy and support. A friend suggested dumping it into a nearby converted quarry used for scuba training. I like the idea of destroying it, just not the cost of transport.
It would be the world’s must uncomfortable simpit. Pictures fail to convey what a tight space it is. My Pitts is roomier.
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You are very much like me @smokinhole
I’d rather burn it in the garden than put an ounce more effort or money into certain projects once ive been burned
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I’m detecting a theme here. I once said “I’ll raze it to the ground before I hand it over to you…”
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We all have dreams and passions which define us at certain points in our lives. I’ve had some like skydiving, that as much as I loved it, the reality is that the list of friends from that hobby who are no longer with us can’t be ignored. I look back on those times and some of the outrageous things we did, and wonder how I survived. Flying a homebuilt helicopter doesn’t quite fit in that category, but it does take incredibly big ones, IMHO.
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They’re pretty safe I think. The only deaths I am aware of have been clearly the pilot’s stupidity or, as in the case of Mark Peterson, unrelated to the “homebuilt” or “helicopter” aspect of the operation. It’s just flying. Acro is way more hazardous. And without the helicopter to deal with, I’ll be doing a bit more of that. Speaking of Mark, I’ve had maybe a dozen friends die in aviation in my 40 years of flying. None of those deaths have had such detrimental effects on a community as has his. His passing turned the little Rotorway world upside down.
@Harry_Bumcrack Yeah it cames across as a mix of spiteful and immature. But the thing is, seeing this thing fly as the result of someone else’s skill will be a reflection of my own failure. Burning, burying or scuttling it is a fantasy that makes me feel quite good. It’s a character flaw. I won’t REALLY do it because destructive disposal will just cost me yet more money. I’ll probably just give it to a friend. The guy I am thinking of is more motivated post-downfall than he was before. I don’t mind seeing him succeed and maybe make a bit of money in the process. But I won’t let the vultures currently circling the RotorX carcass anywhere near it.
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Which is why it didn’t come across as spiteful and immature to me. I share those sentiments exactly.
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I disagree on that. It might not be ‘healthy’ in the conventional sense but I find it cathartic and freeing. On a personal level, that means more in my opinion. I’m not telling you to wreck it or burn it or give it away, but if you do take out some of your own frustration, who cares. Its yours.
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Thanks @Victork2. These last couple of months have been puzzling. The helicopter was beyond my control of course. But recent work issues have left me questioning every thought, decision and interaction.
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Different scale, same boat unfortunately for us.
Things will happen but if its not your fault its out of your hands. Fix what can be fixed. Dont bother with the rest mate. Not your problem and not worth the sleepless nights
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It looks like RotorX is in good company. It must be tough times for manufacturers of homebuild kits.
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Incredible! I saw a mention of this on the Rotorway Builders Facebook group and didn’t believe it. Vans is the gold standard of kit- and plans-built airplanes. There are more of them out there than any other design. For 50 years they’ve outflown everything offered in their class. The “Vans Airforce” is an aviation community juggernaught, whether it is formation flights, mass fly-ins or builder support. RotorX I totally get to be completely honest. Vans? No way.
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It’s mind boggling to me as well, except that they’ve had some horrible luck lately with the laser cut parts debacle, and then the millions of dollars of kits they’ve had to scrap due to the primer issue.
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I wasn’t aware of any of that. Note the contrast with RotorX. Van and his wife, as the sun sets on their lives, are digging deeply into savings to keep the company afloat. Don Shaw of RotorX meanwhile lied to his employees and customers. He prodded his staff to work unpaid for months. He flew to OSH and Sn’Fun to sell kits that suppliers had long since refused to supply. He maintained a facade of BS which continues to this day. Like a tourist at the Dead Sea, he seems to relish floating on that hot, steaming lake of his own BS. Don’s is a life of grift and swindle. Van’s is one of creativity, honestly and leadership. The world needs way more Vans and zero more Dons.
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I’m hearing lots of weird talk over here regarding the state of extremely expensive luxury car prices about to totally Plummet. Im assuming that the covid markup and inflation of this stuff has reached the unsustainable levels it was always expected to get to
One of my best customers just upped and sold his R8 audi and his 458 Italia while he still could. The dealers and speculative market is about to totally collapse. I have to assume that the covid markup prices on planes and choppers is about to do the same. The ridiculous money that 50 year old 152’s have been getting couldnt possibly last much longer.
Even weird stuff like my HMMWV is going to see massive movement when the demand in UKR falls off and the world starts to contract again.
Tough times ahead i believe
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Agreed. A correction is in order.
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