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Here is my take on the warning to be sent to owners. It is short as I have taken the liberty of separating this warning from the FAA AD fiasco as I mentioned I thought we should do in one of my earlier posts. I'll will probably have more comments later on my reasoning for the way I wrote this.
A number of concerned members of the Taylorcraft Discussion Forum wish to advise all Taylorcraft owners of the ongoing problems that many owners and other persons have had when dealing with Taylorcraft LLC and it’s representatives.
The following cases are documented:
1. Taking money for wing struts and not delivering any, and now stating that the company is no longer responsible for delivering those paid for struts. The FAA has stated in telephone conversations with our members that Taylorcraft LLC is not and never has been certified to manufacture or sell their own wing struts.
2. Taking money for working on owners aircraft and not performing the work.
3. Taking large deposits for new aircraft which were never built and not returning those deposits. Suit(s) are now in progress against the company for recovery of those deposits.
4. Continuous and devious misrepresentation of part delivery dates to customers, terminating in failure to deliver at all.
5. Non-Payment of rental fees approximately of the amount of $100,000 to the city of Brownsville, Texas, for buildings used by the factory.
In addition to the above documented items there is serious concern by our experienced and well-informed members that the following may be true:
A. That Taylorcraft LLC may have originated a service bulletin for Taylorcraft wing struts, using corroded parts of unknown origin for substantiation, in order to make the company a windfall profit. The basis of this concern is the onerous way the SB was written made it financially illogical for owners to do anything but buy new struts. The SB was subsequently rubber stamped, to full affect, as an AD by the FAA. At the price for a factory "kit" listed on their site it would cost the 3000 Taylorcraft owners over $10,300,000.
B. Considering the factory's lack of inventory and apparent inability to manufacture parts, that some or all of the parts missing from aircraft brought in to have work performed by the factory may have been either sold to other customers or used in construction of the Taylorcraft LLC “prototype” aircraft.
Additional information:
D & E Aircraft, who has “taken over” the “Taylorcraft Factory,” has stated to members that it is not responsible for the previous financial misdeeds and commitments of Taylorcraft LLC. This is even though there does not appear to have been any legal steps taken to divorce them from those responsibilities or that “other” company.
Therefore owners and others are advised in the strongest possible terms to exercise the utmost caution in any business dealings with the “Taylorcraft Factory” or any of it’s representatives.
The organizations involved that we presently know of are:
D & E aircraft
Taylorcraft LLC
Taylorcraft 2000
A list of members who endorse this document is available at the Taylorcraft Foundation Forum.
A number of concerned members of the Taylorcraft Discussion Forum wish to advise all Taylorcraft owners of the ongoing problems that many owners and other persons have had when dealing with Taylorcraft LLC and it’s representatives.
The following cases are documented:
1. Taking money for wing struts and not delivering any, and now stating that the company is no longer responsible for delivering those paid for struts. The FAA has stated in telephone conversations with our members that Taylorcraft LLC is not and never has been certified to manufacture or sell their own wing struts.
2. Taking money for working on owners aircraft and not performing the work.
3. Taking large deposits for new aircraft which were never built and not returning those deposits. Suit(s) are now in progress against the company for recovery of those deposits.
4. Continuous and devious misrepresentation of part delivery dates to customers, terminating in failure to deliver at all.
5. Non-Payment of rental fees approximately of the amount of $100,000 to the city of Brownsville, Texas, for buildings used by the factory.
In addition to the above documented items there is serious concern by our experienced and well-informed members that the following may be true:
A. That Taylorcraft LLC may have originated a service bulletin for Taylorcraft wing struts, using corroded parts of unknown origin for substantiation, in order to make the company a windfall profit. The basis of this concern is the onerous way the SB was written made it financially illogical for owners to do anything but buy new struts. The SB was subsequently rubber stamped, to full affect, as an AD by the FAA. At the price for a factory "kit" listed on their site it would cost the 3000 Taylorcraft owners over $10,300,000.
B. Considering the factory's lack of inventory and apparent inability to manufacture parts, that some or all of the parts missing from aircraft brought in to have work performed by the factory may have been either sold to other customers or used in construction of the Taylorcraft LLC “prototype” aircraft.
Additional information:
D & E Aircraft, who has “taken over” the “Taylorcraft Factory,” has stated to members that it is not responsible for the previous financial misdeeds and commitments of Taylorcraft LLC. This is even though there does not appear to have been any legal steps taken to divorce them from those responsibilities or that “other” company.
Therefore owners and others are advised in the strongest possible terms to exercise the utmost caution in any business dealings with the “Taylorcraft Factory” or any of it’s representatives.
The organizations involved that we presently know of are:
D & E aircraft
Taylorcraft LLC
Taylorcraft 2000
A list of members who endorse this document is available at the Taylorcraft Foundation Forum.