China Bought Rotorway
 

Rumor is Rotorway Helicopter has been bought by a man from China ( you may not know it, but it went bankrupt )
I think we see the wave of the future here in America

Yup. They don't need to invade. They will simply own everything.

They do already. America has been bankrupt for the last 30-40 years, yet the idiots in DC keep spending money like a drunken sailor. It will eventually stop when America is brought to its knees... which may not be too long from now.

I was wondering what happened to those guys. I used to see them out testing all the time as I drove in to work.

I "get" the whole kitplane/experimental plane thing. But a kit helicopter? No thanks...

The wave has been underway for a while now. As capitalism moves on from the USA and into the far east this trend will go on. And yes, we Americans will sell them anything and everything we can. Sanctions against Putin? You can just bet that American businessmen effected by these sanctions are screaming at the administration, in secret, over the money they are losing.

Think of it, if bin Laden had wanted to buy a hundred 747s at list price, cash payment, to use them as flying bombs, and the sale could have been kept 100% secret, the deal would have been done. That's how capitalism works when it is "unfettered."

Anything for a buck!

Pardon my PARF.

Aaron,

Good friend of mine here at Deer Valley Airport has one. That said he flew helo's in the US Army then spent 33 years flying them for the Phoenix Police Dept, so he knows helo's pretty well.

He build the kit himself and made several excellent modifications to it. Its as good as any factory built machine...

Joe A

Not the first and not the last...

Cirrus, Piper and Continental already went down that road

In many countries they have already bought up any 'quality' business thats being sold
 

A good example is Barbados (strategic to US) where they have purchased basically all the 'quality' accounting businesses. Now that tourism is flat (a leftover from GFC) they are scooping up quality tourist real-estate thats being sold cheap. I imagine this is happening in other small countries like Trinidad (strategic to US + oil) .

The same thing is occurring in the US too - at the moment its just on a small scale & beneath the radar. I am waiting for Chinese Money investors to buy out Rupert Murdoch -- might even happen before he dies!!!!

These days the Chinese are the only ones with oodles of money to splash using the profits from their successful capitalist modernization.

Just imagine how much more money the Chinese will have if Russia is forced by Western sanctions to deal primarily with China.

When you sit dwn and think about it, all things are assembled from "kit" form, just some in the same place, others not close.
The only problems with kits is there is no Quality control over the assembly. (50/50 rule)
Even Boeing is kit form.
Of course there are good and bad kits !
R.W. has had some bad designs that were never let go, some bad propaganda, but a great a rotor head and air frame.
It is problematic due to bad add ons like a belt on their 32mm secondary shaft that that will shear off.
A maint hog because of a sawmill jackshaft and belt system.
Engines that will not go a 100 hours. ETC
They never rectified these problems. ( In a honest fashion )
End results = Bankrupt for at least 2 nd time.
Hope lessons learned and they will figure it out.
Too bad china bought it.
But alas "we" have run out of money.

I would't expect the QC to get any better. The Chinese suck at that...and probably always will..can' blame the QC guys tho. Go up & tell the CEO ( who happens to be a general in the PLA) that last month's production is fit only for a land fill.

How is that re-education gulag?

I guess when you cross Millimeters with SAE you get low cost in between.........

Rotorway was doomed when Netherwood took over.
The Chinese can only make it better from this point.

I have had two.
They are like a Harley. ( please no offence to my illustration I own them too )) Once you throw all their bad parts out, re do the piss poor engineering then it is a great machine.
I am picking up a Hughes recip transmission for mine here in a couple weeks.
A belt system to my T/R can not ever be a good idea.
R.W. has a belt for belt ! LOL
I checked with engineering here on the board.
With out a lot of calisthenics the losses are are least 1% per pulley ( min)
there are over 16 pulleys ! OMG !
Now lets pre flight............LOL maybe we get off tomorrow ....

Yup. The Chinese have huge interest in many tech businesses, such as aerospace. They are pushing hard to develop their own domestic capability, buying foreign businesses and their intellectual property is one way to leap up the learning curve. They would probably own even more of them, but ITAR limits the businesses that they can purchase.

We know we shouldn't use communist slave labor but it's just so damn CHEAP!

Afaik.........they will keep the real estate in AZ .
But.......it is their call
personally i do not need them so i dont care..
Point being, no one in the good OL USA bought it ( RWI ) but a dude from china could...!!
(They can not make the copter any worse..........)
Just less worse LOL

Legal question -
The person(s) that bought out R.W.
Are they responsible for anything prior their ownership?
I notice their phones still do not work...just the same recording.
If it was me that would be the 1st thing i do is turn on the phone and cash machine.

It depends on how the sale was structured, whether there were any indemnity clauses in the sale contract, etc. I would think these parties have enough sense to make sure they are not responsible for anything prior to the buyout. Really.... who wants to be responsible for a Scorpion?!
If the company was in financial trouble, dire straights that warranted a sellout, then there is probably a lot to do before turning on the phones and opening the doors. They probably need some time to evaluate the situation fully.

No doubt they have a lot to do...but it has been a month.
Maybe they do not need the cash flow?
True -I would not want to be responsible for "anything" either. In fact i would rename the company ..slightly,, to distance myself.
But i do not know the "law".

Introducing.... Chinaway Helicopter.
Now 20% more super fun.

http://www.rotorway.com/misc_images/dealers/china.jpg