I’ve been eyeing RV-8s for a while now. Hopefully they can pull through.
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wasnt here for a while, so pls make some space, RL helo pilot talking 
… but I have nothing clever to add, really.
I think you are clever and reasonable man smokinhole. you know what have happened, what you have done and I like the way you are open about it. open like your hangar.
thats quite important imo, to stay open about these things and not try to cover it somehow in lies or pretense. so yeah, more Vans, zero more Dons.
and definitely hand whats left to your friend. you can burn your license 
btw how old are you? doing some amateur psychological study of my friends reaching their 50s, lol 
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There is no way in heck they won’t pull through. I’ll predict Boeing’s demise well before Van’s.
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I sure hope you’re right.
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I’m sure they will be ok to be honest.
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Happening here too. Only last week I bought a 2017 VW Tiguan. Fully optioned, one previous owner, up-to-date service history and only 80,000km on the clock for $17K (Australian), not a mark on it and it still looks and smells like a brand new car. Even only a year ago it would have sold for well over $30K.
I thought it was due to the supply of new cars ramping back up post-COVID (and everyone is buying a hybrid or EV these days)? But, maybe the rising cost of living and stagnant wages are having more of an effect than I imagined?
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My understanding is that there is currently fierce price competition on the EV market, especially in China. The old big brands’ transition to EVs has been slow, so the EV markets are dominated by the new players like Tesla and BYD.
At the same time governments subsidise climate friendly EVs, making it tough for the traditional internal combustion engine alternatives. This will also create competition for the luxury ICEs.
The markets are in turmoil, and once the dust settles we may be looking at very different shares for the car companies.
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Wonder how that will play here in the US? Chinese brands can’t sell here. Yet.
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Difficult to say. Same goes for Europe, which is dependent on auto industry.
My guess there will be more tariffs for foreign cars and subsidies for domestic ones.
On the other hand the transition from ICE to EV may be slowing down, because the price for money and investments has gone up with interest rates
Interesting news about Vans. A half formed retirement plan was to weld out frames for people building their kits. I was going to specialize in torch welding as that’s not a usual service you’ll find most shops offering. I might have to rethink that plan now.
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Dear Mr. Anderson, (aka smokinhole)
My name is Chris Anderson, and I am the Interim CEO of Rotor X Aircraft. I am currently focused on completing the due diligence phase between an investment group and Rotor X. Don is transitioning into the role of Chief Technology Officer and will be solely focused on engineering efforts. He has forwarded me your email, obviously.
We made a small announcement via our website that you may have noticed in mid-December that we hope to be able to announce more by mid-January. We are close to closure and then a broader announcement. I am being very careful in striking a balance between conveying appropriate and accurate information and making commitments that we don’t ultimately control. I do anticipate closure of the acquisition and resumption of normal business operations, I just don’t know exactly when.
When appropriate, I will be personally contacting all past customers of Rotor X Aircraft, giving them a specific update, and working out arrangements for each customer’s situation. I hope to be speaking with and working with you soon.
Thanks for your patience and your previous business with Rotor X Aircraft.
Sincerely,
Chris Anderson
Consultant and Interim CEO
Rotor X Aircraft
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It’s a start. Now their needs to be follow through.
Hope it goes in a way that you end up being satisfied with the outcome @smokinhole.
Wheels.
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Sounds encouraging (but that’s it, they’re just words at this point) and hopefully a better outcome for you than you were anticipating?
Whatever happens and whatever you decide, still have my fingers crossed for you.
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Oh dude, i hope sincerely that is true… i also know that you have all but written the project off in your head already and that is perfectly acceptable as well in my view. Sunk cost fallacy rings too true here.
But if you can find the strength to complete the build, regardless of the helicopter at the end of it. It will be a personal victory.
Build it. Insure it. Burn it.
Its still a win if you can build it. I really believe this. I never feel so at peace with myself as sitting on the muddy floor, surrounded by tools and swearing at something i can’t reach/undo/attach and not being paid for it. Its calming in a rage inducing way. I can’t explain it. Its truely odd but definitely real.
I hope this email is a good thing for you. For me, its corporate speak. Its nonsense, not real until the cheque lands or the parts land. Enjoy the process because this is what it is. A shitty, dumb process and its all yours and out of control. But when and if it comes back under control, it will be all yours. You can ■■■■ it up, you can be dissatisfied with the final build, you can hate yourself for that one weld, one rivet that nobody else will ever notice. But it will be absolutely yours.
I’ve been through this so many times. Nothing worse than a stalled build. Especially when you are already at the end of your ability to complete it anyway. Don’t chuck it in. Just bide your time and wait. When and if the parts land. Wait till you need to carry on with it. With me, its when I’m upset or need to gain control over something. I NEED to do something to come back from the edge. Thats when things really happen. Bolts are looser. Rust vanishes and tape measures work properly.
I really hope you get some of that feeling here.
If not, you can still burn it and laugh your ass off
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Read in Morgan Freeman narrator voice:
Little did @Victork2 know that @smokinhole was reading these words weeping and wailing, as realising the profound wisdom and truth in them, he knew he had already burnt all of it last summer…
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No weeping or gnashing of teeth. I won’t burn it or bury it as I vowed to do earlier. I’ll build it in the unlikely event that they restart the factory or sell what I have if they don’t. Always nice to get the perspective of my Mudspike friends. I’ve never met any of you, yet you all mean so much. Thanks!
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I hope it works out, I want to see it finished, especially after all the work you put In.
I don’t know why but the email gave me a sense of foreboding, almost like they’re going to ask you for more cash. I really hope this is just me being sceptical.
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Aviation could probably be the poster-child for sunk-cost fallacy. I see it time and again in this industry. Most recently…the woes of what used to be my “parent company” Wheels UP. The division I am in (managed aircraft) was recently sold off by them (thank God!) as they try to go leaner and stop the bleeding. Delta injected a bunch of money into them…but when you are losing hundreds of millions per quarter…it is only a matter of time. As a pilot group we have been pretty insulated from all of it…as we are dedicated to a hospital system that owns the aircraft outright. Benefits change…HR changes…stuff like that…but we still go out and do our job just as we have…well…for me the past 25 years.
@smokinhole will have to make an assessment if indeed the time comes when he gets the letter saying…we can offer you this in order to complete your project… I’m very skeptical of cash infusions into companies…particularly aviation ones. The guys at the top of these companies aren’t clipping coupons to make ends meet.
Whatever the case. I really hope we get to see a startup and first flight video eventually from Eric. That would be amazing…!
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Your company used to be so simple @BeachAV8R. CMC owned the planes and the Flight Nurses. The company I worked for, Piedmont Aviation, owned the certificate and trained the pilots. And because of that, I got a small taste of the great work you all do. Back then, everyone made money. Modern companies are layered to distribute liability. There is nothing within the arrangement that’s intended to benefit workers, customers or patients.
This company, RotorX, is different. Different incarnations of it have shuttered on five previous occasions. This last guy, Don Shaw, was a Air Force vet and engineer, not a pilot. What I didn’t know at the time when I wrote the biggest check of my life was that he hated the helicopter and experimental aviation in general. What he wanted was the rotorhead. His was to be the first autonomous quad vehicle with autorotation capability. It might have worked. But somebody gave him the dumbest possible idea. Develop a single-seat quad for rich idiots with no aviation knowledge and use the funds and the fresh automation knowledge to fund and feed the military project. That idiotic little POS took every dime “invested” by us Rotorx customers.
The moral of the story: if it flies, floats or fornicates; RENT!
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You know it. The “CM” tail numbers on our old planes stood for Charlotte Memorial hospital. The “mothership” as it were. Then it was Carolinas Medical. Then when we bought hospitals in Georgia…it became Atrium. Now we are buying hospitals in the midwest (Chicago area - Advocate Aurora) and Wake Forest Baptist…so we might be in for another rebranding.
I still have my Piedmont badge somewhere in a desk…there it is…damn…look how dumb and inexperienced that guy looks… 
Where did all that time go? We were probably very close to crossing paths…
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