AEC

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citationbravo

Climbing to Cruise
Well everyone, just got off the phone with the owner of AEC...Ordered some parts for the Musketeer, and guess what????? Do to everyone's lack of purchasing items from them, which by the way they produced SPECIFICALLY for our planes, they are in the process of raising their prices...Everyone who hasn't purchased items from them SHOULD be ashamed by themselves......Mike Rellihan has gone out his way to find a vendor, which in todays market is a feet in itself, and has asked them to produce PMA parts for our relatively small fleet, with the intent of keeping REDICULOUS Beechcraft prices in check. They commited great sums of money in doing so, and now no one has bought enough from them to cover their R&D, and production.........He said practically no door seals, or handles purchased...Come on guys, this makes our organization, and ecspecially Mike look REALLY bad......How embarrassing...no wonder Rosen doesn't give a SH#@ about our market. I know times are tough, but come on. :oops: :(
 
When I buy parts, I make every effort to patronize the vendors who are supporting our airplanes. I have a limited budget, so I'm not able to stockpile parts. Sucks if AEC isn't selling enough to justify their lower prices, but I guess that's business these days.

I did just order a baggage compartment door seal from them though...
 
I bought a full set of donuts in September. I am sorry to hear about their issue, but I am not sure raising prices is the way to increase business. I see many businesses raising prices, but it does not seem to be working to well based on our country's economic performance.

I do feel for all that are not doing as well as expected, but there is a lot of that going around these days. Perhaps they can collaborate closer with whomever our business manager is (Mike R., or Chris?), and tell us what they are expecting, and what the performance is. If they gave us goals, perhaps people can push up repairs that have been waiting a while. We all benefit from this relationship.

Conway
 
It would be my observation that AEC does put out great products but doesn't seem to do a very good job of marketing them. To be fair, our membership is just over 630 and represents less than a third of all the flying baby Beeches.

Now, I must confess that I don't know for a fact what AEC has done in terms of marketing to the non-member owners out there, so I may be all wrong in this but I have seen no evidence of any marketing outside of having a table at BACFest one year.

Certainly, BAC members need to support vendors like AEC, Powerflow and others but those businesses need to make their decisions on sound business practices relative to the entire fleet of planes, not solely on the Beech Aero Club membership.

I certainly hope AEC can hang on and I'm sure our membership will always turn to them first for the products they need which AEC makes. Times are tough for members and buisnesses alike.

All for one!
Chris L.
(PS-I have purchased a full set of donuts and three of the fantastic aluminum door handles....great products and excellent customer service. cl)
 
Clinderman said:
Certainly, BAC members need to support vendors like AEC, Powerflow and others but those businesses need to make their decisions on sound business practices relative to the entire fleet of planes, not solely on the Beech Aero Club membership.
Click to expand...

Chris, that is what I was trying to say, but you said it much more eloquently than I did.

I also hope they do well regarding R&D costs and make a profit for their effort. I would think they would keep very small inventories, and build to order. That is pretty much their stated business model anyway. We may indeed pay a little more per unit for things if they build to order, but that is okay. I suspect they will recover their cost anyway over a period of time. Some of these items we do not have anywhere else to turn anyway, so they will eventually get the business.

One of my points is that they may be sitting on inventory. That is an expensive proposition, so if they share with us what they have, perhaps we can help deplete the "built" inventory, and change the model a bit. Communication could go a long way in solving their problem, and keep a viable vendor around for us to use.

Let me know Chris, I can volunteer for some duty to research and work this a little if you would like.

Mike
 
I believe most of us using the BAC site also buy from vendors or each other. I have made several purchases from AEC when I needed items they produced. I think the best way to help our vendors is to continue spreading the word about BAC to non members and encouraging all our members to use the site. Out of 650 members (approx) I'll bet we don't see 50% using this forum. It is a great resource. It is my opinion that most vendors see limited sales for their efforts even in good times and AEC is no exception. I bet the number of speed cowls sold vs the number of Pipers out there would reflect this for the Lo Presti company. In this economy I believe people are cautious about parting with their cash and a lot of owners defer maintenance until things become a necessity or their economic situation changes. If user fees become factored into the equation, things might become worse before better for all. I am pleased just to read of members still flying. my 2 cents
 
Maybe even some product reviews by the vendors. Most magazines have a 'whats new' section where vendors get a little free publicity. Even a 'featured' vendor of the month might work. I'm all for supporting our vendors and member any way we can.

I agree that most of our members probably have no idea of the products available from AEC, PowerFlow, LoPresti, and others.
 
I think you have to watch what a vendor has to say about thier
sales thay could be saying things to get thier sales up or trying
to get more money for their product. now I have also bought a set of donuts from them and getting them here in Canada is not cheap . I think if we took inventory of what we all bought from them we would be surprised.

John R.
CF-QVM
 
Well with nearly 4 million lost jobs in the last 8 months, spending on non-essentials isn't going to be high. Even if you have a good set aside of funds to have fun with from time to time, spending will still be conservative until the outlook improves.
 
jradysh said:
I think you have to watch what a vendor has to say about thier sales thay could be saying things to get thier sales up or trying to get more money for their product
Click to expand...
Before AEC came along, it was Beech only for the donuts & if you had a door latch/lock problem, it was fix what you have, find a used one or too bad.

Last I heard, a gascolator was going for ~ 17k+ & a fuel selector valve used to be ~ 5k.

AEC has certainly stepped up to the plate here offering what no one else has.
 
Raising prices at this time??? Not if you want to sell anything at all! I am not sure how much they are paying their business consultants for advise, but I am not sure they are getting up to date information, for their money.

I have purchased a set (3) donuts from them. Why did I purchase from them? Because they were a quality product, 50% cheaper than the Beech product. I bet their sales have been 95% of market share on these donuts. Many of us would have never changed our donuts had the opportunity to get these at a good deal not been there. We would have said, "Well, the prop is not touching the ground yet."

Allison, has got it right! She has found a good market at BAC, by offering a 30% discount on the Hubba Hubba Caps (I purchased 3 of those). And a 50% discount on that other stuff (I purchased some spray stuff and can't even tell you the name of it). I think she had about 40+ orders of each item. She was happy. She ran into some competition with the landing light sale, but she has got to be the top sales person at Lopresti.

I support AEC and all BAC vendors! I have purchased the PowerFlow exhaust at $4.5K and EI UBG-16 & FP-5L at $1.7K.

I would like to purchase some of AEC's door handles (3) but there are comparable new handles out there for $79.00. They could sell me these products if they would get real.

I have not seen any of AEC's marketing attempts. If they raise prices, their sales will go from some to none, IMO. That sounds like pretzel logic to me. I do not know of a single company or household in the U.S. that has not called a 'corporate huddle' and ask the questions, "How are we going to survive, this economic down turn?" "What can we cut back on?"

BAC history seems to indicate, we will still spend our money if we see a bargain. I think AEC needs to find their roots of, bringing a quality product to market at half the price of the other guy.

Sciscoe
 
Has anyone said exactly which items are going up in price? From what I see on their website, they have increased the price of the fuel selector valve, which we were advised they were going to do several months ago, but I don't see an increase in the price of the Donuts or Jo Bolts.

I appreciate what AEC has done, but you have to admit that they have a rather narrow product line, and what they offer are not items that are replaced on a regular basis. Donuts should last at least 20 years, and the fuel selector valve and door handles only fit a limited number of planes, and once you replace either of those, they should last a long, long time. I'd love to get a new door handle for my 1966 Musketeer, but what they offer only works on newer models. They don't offer Donuts for Mooneys, and their Shimmy Damper for small Cessnas is more expensive than one from Lord.

It's sort of like a Rolls Royce Dealer complaining that Honda is selling more cars than he is.
 
Rodger,

I think, Wag-Aero Group sells your door handle for $79.00, looks all metal with the complete latch assembly. Call and check if it will work. I do not know for sure, having never purchased or installed them. But it looks to be your door handle.

Sciscoe

This is my payback to you for the interior 337 you faxed me, remember? Good luck!
 
When I replaced my main gear donuts a few years ago, RAPID was the only game in town. Had AEC been in that market at the time, I certainly would have purchased from them. Sadly for them (happily for me), I'm unlikely to purchase another set of donuts for the next 25 years or so! Thus, repeat business, even from those who bought and liked their products, is likely to be -- let us say, irregular.
 
The WAG-Aero handles will fit the older style ha ndles. They worked on my '73 Sundowner.

The issue is getting three (if you replace them all) that fit the same key.. I think Mike Rellihan rekeys these, but you'll have to check with him.

BTW, I've seen the AEC handle and it is thing of beauty. Looks like it should be on a military aircraft. The handle from Wag-Aero is exactly like the original handle in quality.
 
When buying the handles, buy aec even if you need to buy them one at a time. For you or the future owner, they will last the life of the aircraft. The argument is the other handles have lasted thirty years and most of us probably won't be flying in thirty years. That might be true however, I have seen the handles break on newer planes due to exposure and heavy handed operation. AEC handles are bullet proof.
 
Thanks for that information. It is great to hear from some one that has held them in his hands and installed them. I thought the Wag-Aero handles would only fit the Musketeers, but if it will fit your '73 model it should work on the entire line of airframes. Please confirm this before ordering, do not take my word for it!!!

I personally would rather have the AEC handles but at 4.43 times the price, in these economic times, I can not justify that level of pure want, over 'common sense' reason.

Sciscoe
 
Mike can chime in on this, but my understanding is the Wag Aero handles fit the older style where the lock moves with the handle, and the AEC handle fits the newer style where the lock is stationary when the handle moves (a VERY technical description!).
 
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