Dec 03, 03

Good Morning!

Yes, our status as Authorized Repair Station... for Rotax Aircraft Engines has been revoked for breaking most all of the rules, below.  Rules have come, gone, and varied in their enforcement and interpretation during my twenty years, dealing with Rotax aircraft engines. To make the meaning of these rules easier to accurately digest, I have turned them around a little to verbalize their effect on you.
 

• Your right to buy Rotax product from Green Sky Adventures, Inc. , a Repair Station attached to a Kodiak Service Center for Rotax Aircraft engines, has been revoked.

• You are no longer permitted to view Rotax Suggested Retail Prices on the web sites of any Authorized Repair Station of any Kodiak Service Center for Rotax Aircraft Engines.

• You are forbidden to read the advertisements of any Repair Station outside your area.

• You are forbidden to read the advertisements of any Repair Station within your area if that advertisement includes Rotax prices

• You are not allowed to buy Rotax parts or engines from any Repair Station that is more than 50 miles from you or otherwise outside your area.

Here is the situation as I see it. Web sites, and the internet in general are a great communications tool. Because it is so inexpensive, and so fast, a large portion of the information, for lack of a better work, is crap. From a manufacture's or distributor's point of view, the problems arising from misinformation, or disinformation are incredible.

Really, though, this is not unlike stories you might read in a newspaper, or magazine. Have you ever had an accident or event that happened to you, personally, in your life that was considered newsworthy? I'll bet the story in the paper was far from accurate.  Or, have you ever read a technical article in a magazine on a subject within your field of expertise and wondered, why would anyone print such ridiculous, inaccurate, nonsense?

However, I do disagree with this censoring, or gag order.
We might be able to get reinstated, but it is questionable whether there is an up side to such an event. We simply gave up Service Center status early in 2000 for reasons of such disenchantment, and because we could not find a "Kodiak Approved" buyer to take over.  Relocation to Florida was a primary goal. We have excelled in Rotax product support since 1984 and cleaned up on most every product support award ever given through 1999. That is nice, but the direct flow of dollars comes from the sale of product and services. Even with a Repair Station, technical support is an important part of what we offer, but the dollars must flow from service, parts, and engine sales. The archaic structure of the Rotax Distribution  model and our ideas obviously conflict, and honestly, it's difficult to make Rotax a reasonably profitable component of our aviation operation even without hands and feet tied.

As we participate in the evolution of other distribution structures, I'm inclined to believe, the Rotax model of the past is an example of one to avoid.

Regards
Gerald J. Olenik, pres.