[/QUOTE]I don't think Shannon is being too hard on some of the lurkers. It's the guys that don't bother even acknowledging the help they've received that I have issues with. What we see happening is a question asked, and answer or two given, then not so much as a reply back. That folks is absolutely annoying and rude in my book. This forum is full of great information with very talented folks more than willing to help for sure, but at some point that help can dry up too. I've had the discussion with my teen about using the words "thank you" for anything and everything.
Nuf said,
George [QUOTE]
George, Shannon, and the rest of the gang,
In the "good old days", before we had the Internet, I would get many calls from people for help and/or information about Ultralights. Because I was very, very active with EAA and USUA back then, being a founding member of 2 USUA clubs (founding President of Chapter 1) and the Ulralight tech designee for an EAA chapter (that I've been a member of for 40 years now), the Nationals would give my number out to anyone that had a question about Lazairs, and lots of other Ultralight too. Some were high time GA pilots that were curious, some were guys that had never seen an Ultralight but bought a Lazair or what have you at a garage sale, and everything in between. At the peak of the Ultralight movement in the eighties, I would guess that I averaged about an hour a day between club calls and fielding these calls. Later, after Ultraflight went out of business, I tried to keep it to mainly Lazairs. With the birth of my daughter, things changed and I felt I had to retreat somewhat from the Hippy UL life I had lead during those years.
All this background is to say that things then were pretty much as they are now. After spending hours on the phone with someone, and many times a trip to the quick printers to make a copy of a construction manual, I'd never hear from most again. I spent a small fortune over the years copying and mailing manuals. I don't think I was ever reimbursed for even a single one. I got a couple thank you's before the fact, rarely after. Hell, while on vacation once, I drove from Myrtle Beach down to Southern Georgia on my own dime to spend most of a day with a fellow that had wrecked his Lazair on their first flight. I wanted to make sure he had stuck it back together properly (he hadn't). I left him a detailed list a page long of every repair that had to be made before the plane could be considered airworthy. A couple month later I got a call from an NTSB guy doing an investigation of a fatal accident in a Lazair. You can figure out the rest of the story. And no, I never heard from him after my visit. I made a couple follow -up calls but they went nowhere. At least gas was cheap back then.
So you can see that I feel we actually have it pretty good now. I personally never get upset anymore if I don't get a thank you for an Internet post or e-mail. Mostly, I'm just left wondering what became of these people and their Lazairs. I hope that maybe my help over the years has saved a life or two, and in a small way helped keep a few Lazairs flying and out of the recycled scrap heap. That's good enough for me.
And although I'd like to have the time to check into the Lazair sites everyday, it's not possible. Too many hobbies and too much work. Sort of like a life.
Chappy