Peter Wendell wrote:
Dennis Fetters wrote:

Dave Jackson wrote:
For the homebuilder; is that 1000 hours of flying experience, or 1000
hours
of maintenance experience, or perhaps 1000 hours of experience in
manufacturing and assembling rotorcraft?

Dave, from my experience, that sounds about right.

If Kit aircraft had the same laws backing them as certified aircraft,
then people would by law have to build and maintain their aircraft to
factory standards, and in most cases that would vastly reduce the
accident rate.

Sincerely,

Dennis Fetters


And, of course, complexity explains all of the deaths in your generation
of Air Command gyroplanes. They were banned in Britain, and your
successors, thankfully, have worked very hard to overcome the deadly
design flaws in your machines.


I have posted about this before, in case you didn't read. I went to
Britain myself and set a person up as our Air Command dealer. Some
mouths after I had left, that dealer took it upon himself, without my
knowledge, to turn his Commander customers loose after only 5 hours of
training, even after I told them before they need a minimum of 20 hours,
and then strict supervision afterwards.

The result was some of his low time customers tried to fly on very windy
days, and that wind caused circumstances that exceeded their ability to
fly the gyroplane with the experience they possessed, causing them to
loose control and crash.

Afterwards, the dealer was contacted by the CAA and asked why he would
release his customers only after 5 hours of training. The CAA also sent
me a letter asking what we recommended the training time should be. The
dealer asked me to tell the CAA 5 hours, but I refused, and told them
what we told the dealer originally. The dealer felt betrayed, and to
avoid legal circumstances left the country.

The CAA will not allow a kit aircraft to fly without dealer
representation, and had no choice but to ground the fleet. Before all
this, I was made an offer to sell the Commander business. At that same
time I was already working on the Mini-500, and decided to sell the
Commander line. If I would not have sold the Commander line, then I
would have took the time to reestablish a new dealer in Britain and help
with the crash investigation, and the fleet would not have been
grounded. But, since I sold the company, it was up to the new owners to
do that, and they never did.

So, the meaning of your statement above is not actually in the light you
tried to present it. As a matter of fact, you can go to any gyroplane
air show and see original Air Command gyroplanes that are 25 years old,
still flying with the newest designs, and keeping up or staying ahead.
There is no better testament of the design than that.


You are so full of **** I can't believe it. Go peddle your wares
somewhere else.


Maybe so. But I'm not here belittling myself by cursing and name
calling, unless the shoe fits. I'm not here making statements out of
context to portray a false meaning, like you are.

So, be careful Peter, even if you're making the standards you are still
being judged. Where will it put you on your totem poll?

Dennis Fetters