WHAT IF (separated from Whispers of North)

[Hank Jarrett]

WHAT IF from Whispers of North

Let's get together and look at the national (international?) distribution of Taylorcrafts. That should show us how to break up the regions. I would be willing to help if everyone else could put up with my SLOWNESS. ;-)
Hank

[Forrest Barber]

Re: Whispers of the North

thanks Hank , I sent an e-mail direct to you then came back here , they crossed in cyberspace.... I am running out to get a POV camera ; " Duke" Iden is now on the internet, going to visit him today. ; Mid-Atlantic , hmmmmmmm maybe you?? !!

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Whispers of the North

In my opinion the Foundation should remain what it is, a resource for information preservation and the center point for all Taylorcraft activities. Ever notice that the axle doesn't rotate? Not it's job. It is there to keep the wheel in place and provide steering and suspension connection. That's what the Foundation and Forrest do. Forrest also provides a lot of power to the wheels, but that is OUR job, not his.

I think the Forum should remain OPEN and free. If that means I need to pay extra, so be it. A lousey $20 a year is a bargain, but it would loose SO MUCH if only Foundation members could post. This is our outreach, and it needs to be open. Don't listen to the blasts from those who want to make the forum more "elite". If we do that it will die. If the cost goes up and you need more to support the Forum from Foundation members, you are right, just ask and we will pay. I can tell you I'll gladly pay more for something that provides me so much.

As for the Regional Representatives, I haven't had much contact WRT local activities, YET. Again, I don't think it is "Their Jobs", they are there to coordinate. If We want to have activities, WE need to get together. Seems like a good time to start planning for this spring and summer.

Hank

Who IS the rep for the mid-Atlantic anyway? Let's get together.

[Forrest Barber]

Re: Whispers of the North

The Taylorcraft Foundation was formed to do what it does do. We have all the information preserved , we do not do parts, we formed the Discussion forumn and have not insisted that you belong to the Foundation to join and post. ( I have been blasted for that by paid up members!) I still truly belive that those who understand will freely pay their dues of only $20.00 per year.
If many want to see a reason to belong then we can insist that you join the Foundation to post ....... We set up the Regional Representatives to have the local aspect being taken care of with Regional Fly-Ins and get togethers. I was going to eliminate the Alliance Annual Fly-IN ...... My choice , my airport. However; all agreed to continue with the week-end after the 4th of July till the end of the Barber Airport .
D. Rude is welcome to visit any time and participate in using the drawings and materials stored here, perhaps he and Hank can work in their REGIONS to encourage get togethers..... Please read the Foundations latest newsletter to see some of the frustrations we go through here trying to just keep the Taylorcraft Owners together. YOU had a Type Club , the Taylorcraft Owners Club and the newsletter there continues. The Taylorcraft Foundation has been labeled by EAA to be a Type Club and an "organization" this changes all the time.
I am sending notifications for the New Year to the Foundation Board and the Regional Reps tomorrow. I plan to visit with "Duke" Iden today , he has asked me to come to his home and discuss the future; Duke of course is one of the last of the " Old-Timers". Tom Pittman , VCTOC is in a rest home of course and does read the e-mails to him..... The site is off line ( to my knowledge) .
We are still building airplanes, 1925 WACO 9, Pietenpohl, Kolb Kobra, repair of a Cessna 140, many things going on and just got the runway plowed. OFF today and back tomorrow afternoon. bye Forrest

[mulwyk]

Re: Whispers of the North

Hank, Dave, Richard...ditto me too.

Some thoughts on this highjack subject.

First: strong national type club
Then: regional

And don't let everything depend on just one guy, especially if that guy is trying to run an airport and a family and... Look, I'm retired, I certainly have time to volunteer for type club duties. I'll bet there's others online that would also have time to help out. It only needs someone to organize.

[murphy]

Re: Whispers of the North

This thread has been hijacked again!!!!
I would love to see something in my area in the form of a type club, there are seven TCrafts in this area that I know of and the only time we see each other is at fly-ins. I once had a Piper Pacer and was a member of the Short Wing Club both nationally and regionally with the Dixie Wing. My wife and I made a few meeting around the state and they were fun so count me in for a Southern Chapter Member. Mike:beerchug:

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Whispers of the North

Management of expectations is one of the most difficult parts of any relationship (personal or professional). The main way to manage those expectations is through good communications. This site is GREAT communications. If there is something we want this group to be, it's up to US to do it. Not the foundation, not the club, not the new Taylorcraft owners and not the second tier parts suppliers, US.

You are RIGHT that we deserve more. Let's get off our collective backsides and communicate what our priorities are and go after them.

Personally, I want more local activities. Anyone want to get together in the Mid-Atlantic. Time to start communicating.

Hank

By the way, I'm open to anyone in other areas too.

[asq]

Re: Whispers of the North

You certainly aren't alone Dave. Larry Huntley, Dundee,NY

Actually, I am getting discouraged with my Foundation membership (not the forum discussion). I am doubting the purpose of being a member. I am just not seeing the value added benefit of being a Foundation member.

It's just too hard or impossible to get and email response from you Forrest.

Direct phone calls sometimes get thru but even then I don't get the drawings that I need.

I did compile the data from the "what parts do you want buy in the next 24 months" thread into a spreadsheet. As I looked at it I realized that there are about 67 requests for about 48 parts and of that 48 I believe that 22 of them are readily available from 3rd party sources. I considered making a list of the sources by part number or description. However, I got to thinking, isn't that part of the foundation's charter to do such things?

Additionally I am not very interested in the reasons why it is this way, frankly I don't care. Every task has its troubles.

I just wish it would be fixed and were different.

Dave

Re: Whispers of the North

Dave,

I didn't mean to say that you had the wrong expectations. I was just pointing out that the foundation wasn't what I thought it was when I joined.

I was trying to say that I fully appreciate the efforts of the Foundation to preserve the history and technical information of the airplanes. But I was hoping for more. I mentioned in my earlier post about what some of these things are.

I think this forum is the most valuable resource most of us have. I can't imagine owning a Taylorcraft and not being aware of this site.

no offense taken on my end, you made me think

and maybe I do in fact have wrong expectations

[Pearson]

Re: Whispers of the North

Dave,

I didn't mean to say that you had the wrong expectations. I was just pointing out that the foundation wasn't what I thought it was when I joined.

I was trying to say that I fully appreciate the efforts of the Foundation to preserve the history and technical information of the airplanes. But I was hoping for more. I mentioned in my earlier post about what some of these things are.

I think this forum is the most valuable resource most of us have. I can't imagine owning a Taylorcraft and not being aware of this site.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Whispers of the North

I'm a long standing supporter of having local Taylorcraft clubs. We have the Foundation, the Taylorcraft Club (national/international) and it make sense to me to have local or regional groups. We had the Virginia/Carolinas Taylorcraft Club for years but it has gone dormant. I would suggest we do something by region. As I remember I was a member of several local Taylorcraft clubs at one time and really enjoyed hearing from all the groups. If we do it there should be two types of membership, those actually living in a region and a category for those who wish to be "involved" but may not be able to "be there".

I'm up for getting the Mid Atlantic section back together. Anybody else close interested?

Hank

We never could (or wanted to) keep VCTOC to only Virginia and North and South Carolina. We had members as far west as California and as far east as South Africa!

Re: Whispers of the North

When I joined the Taylorcraft Foundation in 2001?? I had an expectation of something more like most Type Clubs. I had friends who had short wing Pipers and Stinsons, so I would regularly visit those websites and attend their gatherings. After joining, I realized, the Taylorcraft Foundation isn't really a "type club" as I think of most others being. I get a kick out of owning a little piece of history. And it gives me a great feeling to be able to spread the word of how C.G. designed the Piper Cub and then went off to start his own company. Seems like everyone knows about the "Piper" Cub, but few have heard of the "Taylor" Cub.

Maybe instead of berating Forrest for not answering emails or for having a life outside of the Foundation, the solution would be to start a type club more like what other airplane types have. Possibly some sort of symbiotic relationship could be created where the two entities support each other and grow stronger. I would love to have a club where chapters are scattered throughout the country so there would be more fly-ins to attend.

I for one would be willing to pay a higher annual dues to support paying for a website where 337s, STCs, ADs, and other important information could be downloaded. Maybe have a basic annual membership fee and then charge $10 to download a copy of an STC. Or $3 for a copy of a factory drawing.

I think the Foundation is a great organization and needs to continue in it's crusade to preserve the history of the type and the lore that surrounds it. But I think that owners are seeking more on a day to day basis regarding maintaining, restoring, and improving our aircraft. Having one person responsible for disseminating all this information is an obvious choke point. Unless this info is some sort of proprietary info that is not supposed to be shared, it would make more sense, to me at least, to put it on a website where it can be downloaded at the user's leisure.

Hi Richard,
So I think that you are saying that I am expecting the wrong things from the Foundation. Did I get that correct?

It may well be so that I am expecting the wrong things.

Dave

[Pearson]

Re: Whispers of the North

When I joined the Taylorcraft Foundation in 2001?? I had an expectation of something more like most Type Clubs. I had friends who had short wing Pipers and Stinsons, so I would regularly visit those websites and attend their gatherings. After joining, I realized, the Taylorcraft Foundation isn't really a "type club" as I think of most others being. I get a kick out of owning a little piece of history. And it gives me a great feeling to be able to spread the word of how C.G. designed the Piper Cub and then went off to start his own company. Seems like everyone knows about the "Piper" Cub, but few have heard of the "Taylor" Cub.

Maybe instead of berating Forrest for not answering emails or for having a life outside of the Foundation, the solution would be to start a type club more like what other airplane types have. Possibly some sort of symbiotic relationship could be created where the two entities support each other and grow stronger. I would love to have a club where chapters are scattered throughout the country so there would be more fly-ins to attend.

I for one would be willing to pay a higher annual dues to support paying for a website where 337s, STCs, ADs, and other important information could be downloaded. Maybe have a basic annual membership fee and then charge $10 to download a copy of an STC. Or $3 for a copy of a factory drawing.

I think the Foundation is a great organization and needs to continue in it's crusade to preserve the history of the type and the lore that surrounds it. But I think that owners are seeking more on a day to day basis regarding maintaining, restoring, and improving our aircraft. Having one person responsible for disseminating all this information is an obvious choke point. Unless this info is some sort of proprietary info that is not supposed to be shared, it would make more sense, to me at least, to put it on a website where it can be downloaded at the user's leisure.

Re: Whispers of the North

Actually, I am getting discouraged with my Foundation membership (not the forum discussion). I am doubting the purpose of being a member. I am just not seeing the value added benefit of being a Foundation member.

It's just too hard or impossible to get and email response from you Forrest.

Direct phone calls sometimes get thru but even then I don't get the drawings that I need.

I did compile the data from the "what parts do you want buy in the next 24 months" thread into a spreadsheet. As I looked at it I realized that there are about 67 requests for about 48 parts and of that 48 I believe that 22 of them are readily available from 3rd party sources. I considered making a list of the sources by part number or description. However, I got to thinking, isn't that part of the foundation's charter to do such things?

Additionally I am not very interested in the reasons why it is this way, frankly I don't care. Every task has its troubles.

I just wish it would be fixed and were different.

Dave

[N96337]

WHAT IF from Whispers of North

We do REALLY WELL here. New folks (and the rest of us too sometimes) need to remember that people like Forrest are running AIRPORTS and full time businesses! He kind of likes to go flying sometimes too. That's why he prioritizes answering the mail with family first, business next and foundation members third (speaking without knowing for sure but that would be MY priorities). That means a new guy may have to wait till the weekend (if the weather is too bad to fly) or even LONGER for an answer.

Hank

Exactly, Hank....that's why I said that the "foundation" doesn't need to try to get into the parts business.... it isn't gonna work. All that would do is tie up some more stuff and keep it from someone that might actually do something with it. Everyone already has enough to do and are scattered from one end of the earth to the other....that's not good logistics.
JH