I wrote to Bill Moyes asking questions about the future of the Dragonfly:

So can you tell us in a few words what the deal is with ELSA and LSA and Bailey-Moyes Dragonflies?

Will Bailey-Moyes be able to continue producing Dragonflies as certified N-numbered LSA in 2008? Has the manufacturing process been documented? Can Bobby keep assembling planes?

Why did you guys build two Dragonflies just before the Worlds without N numbers? Did you expect that they could be inspected and certified in time? Seems mighty close to me.

Bill wrote back and said:

Thanks for the sweet words you wrote on the Texas meet.

Dragonfly future:

Business will be as usual. The German certification is complete and accepted. My production facility and QA system is almost complete and ready for inspection by November.

Bob does not have an A2 assembly facility that will stand inspection and Quest Air has no positive future. But Bob will continue to travel to the customer’s facility and assemble in their facility as we did in San Antonio for the Texas planes.

Bob and I built three planes in nine days. The Dragonfly is a mechano set and can be built with minimum tools and facility. The work is done in building the parts correctly in the factory and assembling the kit before delivery.

The work that we were required to do in part naming, numbering and batching for part and material trace ability seemed like a nightmare at the beginning but now it’s become so simple and valuable I’m pleased we were required to do it.

I asked Tracy Tillman about this (and then Bill Moyes again). Tracy wrote:

It is my understanding that after Jan. 31, 2008, we will not be able to fly a Dragonfly tug in the USA unless it has been previously registered and certified as an E-LSA, or unless it is a new E-LSA certified kit or SLA certified assembled aircraft. Bill did not specifically address these issues in his email to you.

(A 51% or more kit construction-built Dragonfly without E-LSA kit certification could receive Amatuer-built Experimental certification, but we can not tow with an AB-experimental, we can only tow with an S-LSA Dragonfly production aircraft or E-LSA Dragonfly certified kit aircraft.)

For example, selling uncertified kits or uncertified assembled aircraft here as "business as usual" will not fly, because we will not be able to certify them as E-LSA's, as we can now, before the Jan. 31, 2008 deadline.

So, it would be good to know if he has made plans for the Dragonfly to have S-LSA production aircraft certification and/or E-LSA kit certification in the US, so that new Dragonflys sold in the US can be legally flown and used for towing.

Discuss Dragonfly at the Oz Report forum
   
 
 
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