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Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:30:48 -0400
From: Ernest Christley <echristley@nc.rr.com>
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To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Re: Ut-Oh...
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Ryan Wilkins wrote:
> Since we're on the subject of Tracy not going away, what would Tracy 
> think about open sourcing the code and hardware designs?  My thoughts 
> are varied on how Tracy might go away (sorry Tracy, not planning your 
> demise, but you know.. Sh*t happens) and how the rest of the community 
> keeps operating in his absence.  While I'm not a customer yet (haven't 
> been able to convince the wife that we really need an airplane right 
> now), the EC-2 is in my design plans.  I'd really hate to have to 
> relearn everything that Tracy has already learned and implemented in 
> the EC designs.  The thing is, I'm pretty much sold on the rotary 
> design and I would try to duplicate the effort if the EC products 
> weren't available anymore to be able to use the rotary.  I'd be at a 
> tremendous disadvantage though.  If open sourcing is not appealing, 
> how about some kind of trust?
>
> My father flew Lears for various corporations and in the late 70's 
> decided to start a computer company writing software to manage 
> aircraft scheduling and maintenance, crew scheduling, passenger 
> manifests, spares inventory, and the like.  He continued flying up 
> through the early 90's and continued running his programming business 
> up through his death in late 99.  His business was mostly a one person 
> shop.  One of the questions that always came up when he was trying to 
> sell a system to a flight operations department was, "What do we do 
> when you get hit by a bus?".  He never did have a good answer for that 
> question, at least that I heard, but the same concern applies here. 
>  Just what does the rotary community do if Tracy gets hit by a bus? 
>  Is there sufficient experience and interest in the group to offer to 
> keep things going?
>
> Regards,
>
> Ryan Wilkins
>
Where do you live, Ryan?

I was talking to an aquaintance a few weeks ago that was telling me 
about someone like your father.  Wondering if it is the same person.