Many of you are aware of the painfully amateurish attempt of one "Robert
X. Cringely" to design, build, and fly a homebuilt aircraft in 30 days.
This insanity was captured on video by an obliging TV crew and shown in
the UK and the US under the title "Plane Crazy". Many who has seen it
come away with the fear that all non aviation-literate folk who watched
this drivel would think of homebuilders as neurotic, egomaniacal
narcissists and dismiss our efforts as foolish at best, dangerous at
worst. I came away with the realization that TV producers can be talked
into anything, no matter how completely inane the premise. No less a
personage than Peter Garrison was shown politely yet firmly telling "Mr.
Cringely" that his idea was completely unrealistic and bordered on the
insane.
Another well know individual who had a large role in the first half of
the film is Mr. Martin Hollmann of Aircraft Designs, Inc., designer of
the Stallion high wing, composite kit plane. It seems that Mr. Hollmann
was not dealt with in a forthright manner. The following is a verbatim
transcription of a Letter to the Editor Mr. Hollmann sent to "In Flight
USA" and published in the August, 1998 issue of said publication. (In
Flight USA's web site is http://www.inflightusa.com ) I think everyone
should see what Mr. Hollmann has to say about this matter.
Steve Genotte
"Dear Editor,
In November of 1996 a man by the name of Robert X. Cringely (his real
name is Mark Stephens) contacted me to design a simple composite
aircraft for a film documentary about homebuilts. Cringely wanted to
build the aircraft in 30 days. I told him that this was impossible.
Everyone else told him the same thing. However, Cringely claimed that
the had built five other aircraft, including two Glasairs. Despite this
claim, I told him that this was impossible. However, who am I to hold
him back? I quickly designed a small fiberglass airplane named the
"Cringely Wonder." Little did I know that the film was to be a "spoof
movie" titled "Plane Crazy" which is intended to discredit homebuilding
and aviation. If I had know that, I would not have talked to him.
About 12 days into the design, I lowered the bottom of the fuselage mold
line under the seat by 1.5 inches and sent Cringely new fuselage
templates. Cringely told me that he had already cut out the fuselage
formers. I told Cringely he only had to cut several templates a little
deeper, but he insisted on cutting out all new formers. Cutting out the
new formers set him back two days at the most.
About four months went by, and I called Cringely to find out how things
were going and how many parts he had finished. he had only finished one
wing skin and the fuselage shells with the landing gears attached. I
told Cringely that at this speed he needed some serious help. A meeting
was scheduled with the producers (Stephen Segaller of Oregon Public
Broadcasting and others), and I told them that they could hire two of my
employees and that it would take another six months to complete the
fiberglass work. Because of lack of funds and time, the project was
scrapped and I did not hear anything about the program until I read an
article titled "Doing it on TV", written by Dave Martin in Kitplanes.
Dave Martin makes the claim that "Cringely received word from Martin
Hollmann that an error in calculating wing position would require
starting over, beginning with cutting 28 new full size patterns...Five
days into the process, Cringely says, he was about 10 days behind
schedule."
Dave Martin misquotes the script. Cringely admits to being five days
behind schedule. Dave Martin not only enjoys bashing Martin Hollmann
with his article, but he also enjoys promoting a spoof movie which is
harmful to the homebuilt aircraft movement. Furthermore, Cringely has
never built a composite aircraft as you will see in the movie. However,
he claims to have built a total of five airplanes, including two
Glasairs. Only two aircraft have ever been registered by the FAA under
Mark Stephens (Bob Cringely). One is Glasair Serial No. 102, which was
originally sold to and built by Fritz Bright in Buckley, Wash. The
second one is the "Cringely Wonder" which was never finished and was cut
up and hauled to the junk yard in the movie.
I recommend seeing the movie, which is entertaining and funny. But that
is all it is. You will see that Bob X. Cringely plays the role of an
idiot who wants to build an airplane in 30 days. With his lack of skill
and mental problems, he never finishes the Cringely Wonder. He contacts
the Fisher Aero Company, who ends up building a Fisher Youngster V for
him in 29 days. After ground-looping the aircraft, he flies the
aircraft (with no crash helmet) for the first time.
Although this movie seems harmless on the surface, ti will have a
profound effect on the younger generation who dream about building their
own aircraft and flying. This younger generation will not want to
associate themselves with people who act and think like Bob Cringely.
EAA and its many volunteer around the world are devoting their resources
and time to promote aviation with the Young Eagles program, conventions,
air shows and Sport Aviation. This one movie will negate everything
that they have done for the past five years. As such, EAA and most
other organizations such as AOPA will not promote this spoof film. The
makers and producers of the film make a lot of money. However, the
general public and especially the young children will be the real losers
since they will turn their interests ot other, less challenging
ventures.
After viewing this film, the general public will label aircraft builders
and pilots as crazy and fools. As such, most of us will lose, while the
movie producers make dollars."
Martin Hollmann
Aircraft Designs, Inc.
Monterey, Calif.
|