Originally Posted by
av-mech
Gabbett1,
Your failure on this forum is that you are "fishing with the wrong bait". You should be done here for no better reason that your reputation is shot. Most of the people on this forum have been around this arena for many many years. Most have seen the hundreds of start up's who promised to "save aviation" with their better idea. Many people on this forum, I would bet, have lost some amount of money to concepts like yours. Let me count the ways in which I have personally seen things go bad for experimental start up's:
1: Poor concept
2: No market research
3: Woefully under capatilized
4: One person acting as engineer, manufacturer, marketing agent etc...
5: vast underestimation of work involved and time required
6: Counting on customer builds to provide data for writing manuals and validating parts fit and finish
7: Counting on customer deposits to prop company bank account up
8: Depending on out sourced services to come through on time, every time
9: Delivering products without sufficient flight testing to validate safety and airworthiness
10: Over estimation of performance numbers and willingness to lie to keep sales going
11: Failure to estimate the time and cost involved in providing customer build support. (this is a big one)
12: The gestation period for customer aircraft to be finished and start flying is always long and without flying aircraft your not likely to keep sales going.
13: Cost and time involved in providing customer eval flights
14: Underestimation of facility needed and equipment costs (especially for the size of aircraft you are proposing)
15: Failure to understand your break even point when considering profit ie: how many kits need to go out the door to pay back your investors and start making a profit.
16: What to do when your 3D CAD modeled whiz bang ends up flying like a wet stinky turd? Don't think that happens? It's happend far more times than not.
17: How is the business plan configured to handle the first one of your whiz bangs that pile in and the widow sues the living shit out of you? That happens frequently and you can have a good product. Pilot error does not save you from being sued and having to pay for defense.
I could go on but no need. All of the things above are common issues in aviation start ups. Many people have lost many dollars in this industry and you, simply, are using the "wrong bait".
Reply With Quote