Two Weeks To Taxi Turns Dreams Into Reality in Record Time
One of the most exciting and innovative programs in the sport
aviation industry is an interesting little program that attempts to
defeat the many common issues that prevent today's kit aircraft
builder from completing the complex task of completing a kit-built
SportPlane. Called "Two Weeks To Taxi," the folks at Glasair
Aviation have looked at all the factors that keep airplanes from
being built and built a packaged solution that not only virtually
guarantees a completion, but does so in near record time.
"Two Weeks to Taxi was created because a high percentage of the
over 1000 kits sold each year are not completed by the original
buyer. We wanted to know what the industry could do to change
that," Glasair Aviation President Mikael Via reports. "We
determined that buyers often have a false sense of the time and
expense involved with building an airplane. They know the cost of
the kit, engine, and avionics. What they don't realize is the cost
of induction and exhaust systems, spinner, brakes, windows,
interior, light, and all of the other little things that drive the
cost up."
"They also misjudge the cost of equipping a workshop and/or
hangar," added Via. "They also don't consider the amount of time to
set up a shop, building jigs, cleaning up and setting up for the
next piece to assemble."
Initially developed for Glasair's Sportsman 2+2 model, Two Weeks
to Taxi is designed to present an organized work area where all
parts and tools are at the builder's fingertips, and expert
assistance is available to help the builder. By eliminating delays
associated with missing parts or hardware and removing the
uncertainty of "Am I doing this right?", TWTT believes they can
save from 70 to 90 percent of the time lost to these delays.
The better part of 1000 Sportsmen have been built under the
program. They spun Two Weeks to Taxi off into a separate company,
and will add additional models as market demand dictates, and TWTT
is able to handle the workload.
Another consideration is keeping in compliance with the 51%
Rule, because that limits how much contribution TWTT will be able
to make. In some cases, they may actually have to un-do work on
some parts of a kit, if they determine a need to incorporate a
difficult procedure for a different piece into the program. The
builder would then reassemble the disassembled component, as to
keep with the spirit of the 51% rule. Other possibilities are to
pre-fit some parts, so they fit together better than when the kit
left the factory.
Via emphasized that the program isn't for everyone. By the
nature of the process, some flexibility is sacrificed concerning
options available to the builder. He also emphasized that the
airframe is not complete at the end of the program, but is well on
its way to completion.
Aero-TV Checks Out 'Two
Weeks To Taxi -- Part Three!!!
About Aero-TV: It's DEFINITELY Show
Time!!!!
OK, folks, here we go... we are NOW initiating the first
feature programming series for Aero-TV... we're going to take it
slow, but we're also going to try and be steady about this. DO
UNDERSTAND that this is the most complex media program we've ever
undertaken and what you're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg...
but from here on out, we will be doing our best to educate,
inform, and entertain YOU about all aspects of the exciting worlds
of aviation and aerospace.
If you've been an observer of the media and associated media
industries over the last few years, it's not hard to mistake the
fact that a massive revolution is taking place. Old sources for
news and information are falling by the wayside, having to change
their modus operandi or risk obsolescence (or extinction).
Electronic media and print media are both under the assault of
progress, and the online world has been a cornerstone for
revolutionary change.
We've been ready to go for a while, but to be honest, there's so
much more to this program than we've alluded to, and so we've been
building and planning a massive new organization within ANN. That
said, we're hiring talented new people as
fast as we can find them (a far more difficult
task than we had imagined -- REALLY good people are hard to find),
and we're brainstorming at speeds that would make a deorbiting
Space Shuttle feel like a slug. Suffice it to say that we wanted to
do this right, rather than right-now, and that the development of
this program has been the most carefully pursued undertaking we've
ever undertaken.
E-I-C Note: The
complete feature shown above is embedded in this
story, with most of the slick and useful functionality
otherwise available on the main Aero-TV site (which will be
upgraded aggressively over the next few weeks). The ability to
embed a video on another web page is but one of the hundreds
of amazing little features that we've worked hard on, for many
months now, to implement in different phases of the initial
release of Aero-TV. It is, BY NO MEANS, the only way to enjoy
unaltered Aero-TV programming on other parts of the web... as we
have extensive plans for future functionality, but this
feature allows those with an interest in a specific Aero-TV News or
Feature program to embed it on a different web site, though we
must note that we reserve the right to forbid such use for those
sites or purposes that we do not feel fit in with the proper
mission of the Aero-News Network, Inc.
Webmasters or Administrators of well-trafficked aviation or
aerospace related sites, are welcome to contact the Publisher to
start conversations on how they may be able to leverage some of the
immense power of Aero-TV programming for their sites and
constituency by clicking the I Want Aero-TV For
MY Website! link.
Coming Soon!
Checking Out the Cirrus SR20, Seeing What It Takes
to "Compete" as An AMT, Looks At The FAA FAASTeam Program,
Flying The Piper Matrix, Hears What's Hot At Blue
Mountain Avionics, Gets Some GREAT Rotax Lessons, Gets Updated On
ALL Things Lopresti, Has A FUN Chat With Corkey Fornof, Sees What
Happens When AMTs Compete, Checks Out The Ltest in Life-Raft
technologies, Checks Out More "HIGH" Tech at I/ITSEC
2007, Hears From AOPA On Critical Aviation Issues, Spills Some
Juicy (and HIGHLY Detailed) Cirrus G3 Info, Scores
A BUNCH of LSA Reports, and SO MUCH MORE!!!!! Do NOT Miss
Them!
Classic Aero-TV: The Switchblade Flying Car FLIES!
See All