Taylorcraft Aircraft Factory update 3-11-04

[ROllerton]

Forwarded for Harry Ingram , President Taylorcraft Aircraft.

" Just a quick update to let all the members know how things are going down here at LaGrange. We are looking forward to the Taylorcraft Factory Fly-In on May 21st, 22nd & 23rd. Call me for any questions , Forrest is putting the schedule of events in his section of the newsletter. I want to thank Bruce & Forrest for the reminders each time to get this portion of the TOC newsletter in on time.
Our 21 Gal tanks are close ( still waiting on approval from ACO). I know some people do not understand the process we must follow for this design change, but it will be worth the effort to have tanks that do not leak. We had our Poly-Fiber workshop this week-end it was great, got to meet Chet Peek and Capt Jon again. Jim & Dondi Miller are the best, it was a great pleasure to meet all the fine folks that attended. I am sorry to say that at the present time we will not make Sun-N-Fun. WE will be attending Air Venture , see you all there at Booth #48. Forrest & I have exchanged some ideas this week and hope to implement our ideas. We are now only taking parts orders that are paid in full, if there is too much of a delay in delivery then we can refund the money.

Thank you very much, God Bless! Harry Ingram , President Taylorcraft Aircraft.
"

[Steve Pierce]

Our 21 Gal tanks are close ( still waiting on approval from ACO). I know some people do not understand the process we must follow for this design change

It's funny that Winston and another guy who I was handed off to when Harry wasn't there told me they had a lot of irons in the fire to get the new planes into production and they weren't working on the gas tank issue as of yet. Whan I asked if Harry could build me a tank just like what I had he said he could and told me when it would be ready. When that time came it was an approval problem. When I asked if he could build me the tank to my specs without FAA approval as an owner produced part he agreed. That would have been perfectly legal. He told us up to the end that he was building the tank etc. etc. Then a used tank arrives and Craig is impatient. When I tell my customer they will have their plane in 2 weeks and then when the 2 weeks is up I have another excuse and then another I doubt I will be in businesss very long. From all the private e-mails Craig is getting it seems there are a lot of others being treated the same way. If this had all come to light prior to the purchase of this airplane I am sure Craig would have not bought it. Painting the picture of him being the one discruntled customer is incorrect and not fair to Craig. Sorry for the rant but the Taylorcraft factory has left a very bitter taste in my mouth that I will not soon get rid of.

[Forrest Barber]

Factory stuff

We thought this might get the discussion going out in the open. All we ask is that the truth be published for others to read. Lets hear some of the problems.
With each change of ownership over the years there have been great problems. WE do need to have a fair & accurate forumn on the problems. When Craig called me about his purchase I was curious how this particular aircraft got back into the country. He had already bought her so there was no more to be said at that time. I was to go to Australia with the engineer at that time in history to help with the certification process. WE got into a real mess with problems their goverment ran into with that aircraft. I politely withdrew from the project.

I will support the factory effort for a while and hope things get going.

[Steve Pierce]

What kind of problems? I have been over the A/C with a fine tooth comb and the only problem I found was with the gas tanks.

[crispy critter]

Factory or Fraud???

Sorry to be so blunt but I ordered leading edges for Crispy Critter and when I ordered them I was promised they would be completed with in 2...3 weeks tops.I sent them my check and it was cashed by the factory 5 days later.I ordered from the factory for 2 reasons.(1)There price quote was $70 cheaper than Aircraft Spruce.(2)I wanted to help support the factory.When I placed my order I placed it with a firm verbal agreement that I needed them with in 4 weeks,that was the first of January.Since then I have been put off,promised(time and time again),flat out lied to,and played for a fool !!!!! The thing that makes it worse is that I talked a 3 friends(I'll not say who at this time,offline freinds)into purchasing from the factory and they have recieved the same OR WORSE service!!!
I have called the factory 3 times in the last three weeks and told them to send me my leading edges or send me my money back ASAP and have yet to see either one.I am 3 days from doing all I can to Crispy Critter until I get those leading edges.If I don't have them by then(refund or no refund because now it would take me another week to reorder from someplace else and cost me close to $100 more)I'm seriously thinking about filing a legal complaint.
I don't want to see Harry fail but I won't be treated this way by anyone.

[CraigH]

Glad to see some of you guys coming out of the closet. Based upon the email and PM's I've received there are many more out there. Hopefully they will come forward with their stories as well.

My problem with Harry was not the fact that he was not able to produce me a tank. If he had been upfront in the beginning we would have simply gone at the problem another way. To break things down for all who don't know the details, here is what happened:

1. After we determined our tank to be too far gone to repair, the factory was contacted. Harry informed Steve (my IA) that he would fax us a copy of the upcoming Service Bulliten within 3 days, and have us two brand new tanks within 10 days.

2. The 3 day period of waiting for the Service Bulliten came and went and we were told that there was a hang up with the FAA. If we would wait until the next week it would be cleared up. Next week came and went and still no Service Bulliten.

3. Harry was then asked if he could build us a tank to our specifications as an owner produced part. He agreed, and said we would have the tank within a week. Of course, that week came and went and still no tank. At this point, Steve (my IA) contacted someone at the factory (Harry was unavailable) who informed him that they were not working on tanks and that fuel tanks were a back burner item.

4. At this point, I was getting rather upset at continually being put off and lied to. I contacted Harry and ask what the real story was. He stated again, that they had some problems, but that he would have me a tank built by Friday. This call was made on Tuesday. I told Harry I would call on Friday and see how things were coming. When I called on Friday, Harry said the tank was not complete, but that the sheet metal had been cut and all that was lacking was to weld it together. We agreed again that this tank would be identical to the existing F21B tanks WITHOUT the tabs. Harry promised the tank would be ready on the following Monday.

5. When I called Harry on Monday I was shocked. He told me that the tank was completed. I hired a driver to make the 5+ hour trip to LaGrange to pick up the tank. Unfortunately, the tank that was sent to me was not the new tank that was promised. It was a USED tank out of another Taylorcraft. This tank HAD tabs, you could still see rivit heads in some of the tabs where they had bee drilled out from the ribs.

As stated by the others, I'd really like to see the factory make a go of things. However, if others are being repeatedly lied to as I have been, all the potential customers will have been run off before the first plane rolls off the assembly line. Hopefully if enough people will come forward with their stories, the factory will be forced to change the way it deals with customers. Otherwise, they are doomed.

In case anyone is wondering "what the heck is he talking about?", here's a link to the original thread describing my problems: http://vb.taylorcraft.org/showthread...=&threadid=310

[Buck]

This does seem a bit ridiculous. I also called the factory on a Friday to inquire as to whether or not they produced landing light lens covers. The person answering the phone stated she didn't know, but assured me someone would call me on Monday. That was weeks ago and still no call. Since this was hanging up my annual, I took another route. I can chalk this up to growing pains, but these other stories appear quite disheartening................

[Carl Ellis]

I've been calling for something like six or eight weeks now about a landing light lens. I was told they didn't have them, but the materials were coming in a few weeks. Then supposedly the materials arrived but the lenses hadn't been made. Several weeks go by and I call again to speak to Harry. Call back in a week he says. So I called yesterday and spoke to the parts guy (Harry was doing an annual and was out of the office) who didn't know anything about lenses or materials. Hmmm... there is a pattern here.

I hope I"m not going to run into the same problem with the gas tank cap that I've been assured they have but I've holding off ordering till the lens is available so I won't pay shipping twice.

I've also noticed that they don't seem able to return phone calls.

I'm calling on Monday to see if I can get a straight story. My enthusiasm is dropping off rapidly.


- Carl -