Brantly Meeting

[Ron Spiker]

A few Brantly owners/operators and one vendor were invited to meet with Brantly and Superior Air Parts CEO Tim Archer and Qingdao Investment Group Chairman Cheng Shenzong, at the Superior Air Parts office in Dallas, TX.

We started off with a tour of the facilities and then a detailed flowchart presentation describing of the ownership of the investment group and related international companies, of which Brantly is a part of.

We went on to discuss many of the issues we, as Brantly owners/operators, face, given the current situation of having no factory available for parts or support. Some of these topics are summarized below.

Factory Support
Brantly is currently in discussions with individuals, to bring on board here in the States, who would be able to provide tech support and to work with customers, vendors and the FAA on Brantly related issues.

Parts Availability
Currently Gary Goldsberry has a good stock of parts available. A few others have mostly used but good parts available to help keep the current fleet in flying condition. Getting new parts made and available is on the radar, and being looked at for the not-too-distant future.

Main Rotor Blades
The manufacture of new blades, repair of existing blades, and Service Bulletin 111 were discussed in great detail throughout the meeting. Brantly is in discussion with a couple of rotor blade companies to get set up and approved to do both the repairs of existing 202 & 404 blades, and to start making new blades. There is a limited number of main rotor blades currently available, so this was a very important topic of discussion. Service Bulletin 111 is currently being reviewed with modifications for a possible revision to the service bulletin.

Formsprag Clutches
Brantly is trying to coordinate with Formsprag to have them and/or a Brantly approved person(s) be able to do the inspections on the overrunning clutches.

Lead/Dag Dampers
Brantly is also working on resources for the manufacture of new dampers.

Future Outlook
The future of Brantly helicopters in the USA is very bright. There are plans for a production facility in the States once again, for the manufacture and support of both parts and aircraft. Modifications and upgrades are already being looked at, for the B-2B and other possible (or likely) variations.

[Randy Strock]

Hi Ron,
Thanks for the update. The information is very encouraging. It might be helpful for a lot of us as owners if the Factory was able to share an anticipated timeline. Surely they have priorities and general target dates....? Anyway, thank you for your personal involvement. I imagine that your trip was at your own personal expense, no small amount I'm sure, and it is appreciated by those of us who will benefit from that, both directly and also indirectly.
Randy. Btw....still enjoying the smooth t&b work that you accomplished on my ship. Many thanks!

[seneca2e]

Thanks for the update Ron. At least there's hope again. But so much has been frittered away (I personally had correspondence with Formspragg a few years back and they seemed willing to go forward but not without involvement from the factory- which of course never happened). The blade SB was well ........ At any rate let's hope something comes from this.

[G-ATLO]

I just wanted to say a big thankyou for all of your efforts with Brantly.Being here in the UK I find it really frustrating that I cannot do anything and I really worry each C of A that I will not be able to keep airbourne.I just wish someone would suddenly relise what a great machine the Brantly is, and could be with some updating and modernisation.And if the 305 problems could be corrected I would predict a great future.My father ran a 305 many years ago and said it was the most money he had ever made with a helicopter. Thank again Neil