Posted for "Bill Maddox" <reddog@bentonrea.com>:

 The last several brakes that were built were assembled by a new person  and I couldn't
 have figured that a problem might come from this, as John Wooley had built a
 good rep on putting them together correctly  and supposedly had passed it on to his
 counterparts . I'm not the builder of the brakes and I didn't like the design
 that John Wooley came up with for several reasons. I didn't own the rights to
 them, I just sold them for Wolstenholme after the deal I had with my original brakes
 had fallen apart. Those  earlier brakes were the subject of a court case that resulted from
the partner I had wanting to sell the design to a third party without my knowledge. I
 won the case but spent 30K to defend my position in court.  That pretty much ended
the original Aero Options speedbrakes that I manufactured and rersulted in the new
arrangement with Wolstenholme to sell their brakes for them.
 
 The new brakes in question could have several problems if they don't work...
 
 1 the voltage is incorrect   , ie, ordered a 24 v unit and got a 12  v unit
 
 2 the wiring is incorrect  and that includes the issues with the pilot
 trying to put the small switches on the control stick. The brakes were
 designed with  a heavy duty dpdt switch only
 
 3 the lube in the brakes might have gotten in  the clutch.   I understand the
 brakes in question were in a closet for over a year.
 
 4 Wolstenholme had new people build the last several brakes... that might
have resulted in problems with either the spring, the power, assembly issues
or some combination thereof.

The only problems we ever had with this new brake was with the clutch and its wear-in
 period (provided all the wiring issues and install was correct). The clutch needed a
 break-in according to John Wooley  at Wolstenholme. He said he did this break-in
 on every unit shipped and that the brakes worked before they left the factory.
 
  If  you had a problem with your brakes I always asked the owner of the
 brakes to contact Wolstenholme for answers and a possible fix if needed . I
 just sold them and didn't own the rights to them. I had a design and they
 turned it down for one of their own.    At that point I gave up trying to
 build a better brake and simply acted as a marketing arm for Wolstenholme's
brake.  Lancair was bought by Joe B and the brake opening got
 smaller, the Wolstenholme brake wouldn't fit in the planes and fewer
 brakes were being sold until Bob informed me he was not going to run more
 parts.  I could certainly understand his issues. I hadn't sold brakes since the
 summer of last year for Wolstenholme.     I have turned down 5 or 6  orders
 since then and told them I was not selling anything from the site at this time.
 Basically, I closed the internet shop last year
 
 The problem with the brakes were mostly people problems / wiring  and
 installation issues .The builder of the plane lost the paper work that had the wire
 diagrams and warrantee.  I had faxed and e-mailed on several occasions info
 sheets to builders and avionics personnel to put them in the planes after a
 period of time sitting around in a shelf .
 
 Colyn C... I'm sure Bob and the people at Wolstenholme will fix your problem
 for they are good at what they do.

Bill Maddox