I was saddened to read the recent postings of Rick Schrameck and Jack Kane.
I don't know Rick personally, only through his postings on the Lancair List
in the past and our disagreement on line last year.  For my part, I am sorry
that exchange occurred between us and publicly apologize to Rick for my part
in that exchange.  As for Jack, we have developed a personal friendship over
the past year while working together to develop and bring to market his
wonderful gearbox creation.  I'm not sure of the reasons for his posting but
will certainly try to catch with him this week.

Concerning Rick and Jack's comments, I don't think there is an aviation
product around that hasn't had some problem, especially when it is new and
coming to market.  This includes Continental, Lycomings, EngineAirs,
American Eagles, Walter turbines and you name it.  Trashing these products
for whatever reason serves no purpose and certainly does not benefit
aviation in general.  I know Rick is friends with a group in Nevada that has
had bad customer relations with the EngineAir company.  As with everything
in life, there are two sides to every story, most folks know both sides, and
Rick and Jack's request that people talk to them "off line" serves no
purpose other than to try to kill a fledgling company.  Is this what we as a
group are all about?

Rick is correct that I am a customer and investor in EngineAir.  Therefore,
please take my comments with this in mind.  Anyone who thinks that they can
make money in aviation is crazy.  This is all about passion for flying and
has little to do with a good investment.  It takes a ton of money to bring a
new technology to the market and a bad economy, negative comments behind the
scenes and other similar misadventures can quickly flush a new technology
down the toilet before it has had a chance to prove itself.  Putting it in
context, where would we be now if the people at Kill Devil Hills had tried
to kill the Wright Brother's plans disseminating information concerning the
many crashes they had (which they did) and the fact that they were "just"
bicycle repairman?  Hey guys, we need to work together here, not against
each other.  If Continental, Lycoming, EngineAir or Rick's supercharger that
he is developing have teething problems, let's not bash these companies when
something goes wrong.  Let's work together to look at the problems and make
the various applications work better.  We have few enough choices in the
market without further narrowing those choices.  This should be
collaborative, not destructive.  We all love aviation and we should put
aviation, not ourselves, first.

In the spirit of this, I promise to limit my future comments to
constructive, rather than destructive, views.

Doug