R.T. Stole Over $5000 From Me!

R.T. is well known as a pioneer in the Oregon flying scene.  He is considered an exceptional pilot, famous or infamous depending on who you talk to.  I was a loyal friend of his for over 30 years. No more, and here is why.

About 4 years ago R.T. had just fired D.L., his only employee in his electrical contracting business.  R.T. needed someone quickly to replace him and called me. 

Within 2 days of his call I started working for him in Portland.  To work in Portland I had to rent a room on a monthly basis and make the commute up and down from Eugene twice a week.  The overall expense of this was around $800 per month.  This seemed fine as R.T. was going to pay me well for the work I did for him.

I worked for R.T. for about a year.  I always showed up on time, worked hard and never missed a day.  Unfortunately, R.T. is a rageaholic in all aspects of his life.  Whether driving, working or for that matter doing anything, he is constantly fuming, swearing and abusing everyone around him.  On a daily basis he called me names, made fun of my appearance, swore at me, hid my personal possessions, took money from me and emotionally abused me in every manner that you could conceive.

I told R.T. on multiple occasions that I would not continue to work for him if he was not willing or able to change his behavior.  After a while D.L. was hired back again, and just like me he was subjected to the same type of daily torment.

Long story short, there finally came the day that I was no longer willing to be treated in this manner and I quit.  At the time of my separation R.T. owed me back wages totaling well over $5000.  Over the past 3 years I have attempted to collect the money owed to me in every possible and amicable manner.  He has told me over and over that he is going to pay me the money, but has yet to pay me a dime.  Part of the money that he owes me is for medical bills.  I was almost electrocuted working for him on one of his jobs and suffered permanent nerve and tissue damage to my hand.  R.T.'s electrical contracting business was basically illegal, no contractors license and no electrical license.  At the time of my accident he implored me not to inform the Urgent Care Facility that this was a job related accident, and swore that he would pay my medical deductible.  Of course he never did.

For the last six months I have tried to reach R.T. through every possible avenue.  I have called him, texted him, and e-mailed him....without any response whatsoever.  I have good information that he sold his house in Portland and has moved to Palm Desert to live happily ever after with his accomplice L.G.  The last time I spoke to him in October of 2017 he told me that he would come down to Eugene and pay me the money he owed me.  Of course, just another lie in a long list of lies.

This is not the first time that R.T. has stolen money from me.  In multiple endeavors over the years he has not paid money owed to me, and I have always forgiven him.  I have always been a loyal friend and responded to him when ever he needed my help.  Never again.

It is clear that R.T. and L.G. have no intention of ever paying back the money which they have stolen from my wife and I.  Not only did I not get paid for probably 3 months of work, but I had the privilege of paying out $2400 of my own money to work for free. As far as I am concerned our 30 year friendship is over and never again will I have anything to do with him.

In the end, this is a cautionary tale.  Beware of doing business with or having anything to do with this person. If you have been wronged by him in a similar manner I would welcome your comments.

For years I thought that R.T. was one of my best friends...but in reality...he is actually the worst enemy I have ever had.  My new mission in life is to let every pilot in Oregon and Hawaii know exactly what kind of liar, thief, narcissist and coward he is.

Unfortunately, great pilots are not always good people.

The Phantom Has Moved On!

Reluctantly, the Phantom Menace has moved on to new owners in Sandy Oregon.  Andreas (Andy) and John made the trip down to purchase the Phantom and trailer it to its new home.  Hopefully,

I will receive some updates to be posted soon!

Behold the Phantom "Menace"!

The phantom I found up in Vancouver turned out to be a pretty nice little plane.  I have been looking for one for some time that was in reasonable driving distance and I had seen this one for sale for several months.

The timing turned out to be good so I took a trip up and bought it.  This weekend I rented an enclosed cargo trailer and took the old man along with me to help load her up.  The seller Alan was very helpful in giving me information about the plane and loading it in to the trailer.

She is now back at Creswell ready for some work.  She is an older plane, not really sure of the exact age, and not perfect by any means.  She however has a lot of things going for her, such as a brand new, never run Rotax 447, new sails, and a new EIS instrument panel for engine monitoring.

In any case, this is the plane I have been been waiting for.....a part 103 legal 3 axis ultralight.  Let the games begin!

Bye Bye Birdie!

The Quicksilver MX has been sold!  Roger from Southern Oregon is the proud new owner and is on his way back from Creswell as we speak.

I hope to hear of his flying adventures with Betty Boop soon!

As for me I have my eye on a Phantom ultralight up north that I will be checking out this weekend.

We can't let that hangar stay empty now can we?

There's a New Bird in My LIfe!

The Mini Max is now gone.  It is kind of sad since I never did fly it.....but it now has a happy new home with Dale in Washington.  He is pretty excited about the plane and has the rating(s) to be able to take her up.  I hope to hear reports of it flying the Big Skies soon!

My new bird is a nice example of a flying 1983 Quicksilver MX  two axis ultralight.

She is in excellent, airworthy condition with a freshly rebuilt Rotax 377 engine, new GSC Systems 51" wood prop, new sails, hardware and flying wires, etc.  And of course she is pretty as well.

At this point I have inspected her pretty thoroughly and have performed numerous crow hops at the runway.  The 377 runs really well and she flies straight and true!  Just waiting for warmer weather to take her around the patch.

Look below for a video of the Rotax 377 running strong at 3000 rpm's!

As usual she is also for sale at the current price of $4200.  Not sure if I would let her go though...at least not yet.  She is just too fun and easy to fly!

I also have a new trike project in the works.  I found a nice Airborne X-Air trike chassis that I purchased up north.  To get it flying I need to find a engine and a wing.  If you have a nice Rotax 503 or a trike wing for sale please get in touch with me.

For Sale: Beautiful Mini Max 1550 V-Max!!!!

Very nice single place Mini Max 1550 V-Max with strong running 1776 cc VW flat four engine, engine cowling (not shown), Tennessee Prop, full instruments, summer and winter canopies, in cabin heat, in flight trim, flaps, wheel brakes, steerable tail wheel, etc.

The cockpit of this aircraft would probably be most appropriate for a pilot up to 5' 11" tall and of average weight.

Excellent condition. N-812MW, all paper work in order. $6500 OBO. Will consider trades for ultralight aircraft, motorcycles, cars, trucks, rv's, etc.

Located at Creswell airport.

Aircraft Update!

Time to update the current inventory of planes and kits.

As of today the Mitchell Wing T-10 kit has been sold.  Stephen and Traci (spelling?) of Pueblo, Colorado made the long trek to Aumsville, Oregon to pick up their new project.  Steve has an engineering background and is very enthusiastic about getting the kit completed. I look forward to his future build updates.

The Cumulus Glider kit was sold a month or so back to Jim from Tennessee.  Jim took 5 separate flights to arrive at the Eugene airport, spent one night at a hotel, rented a truck, loaded the kit up and made the odyssey back to Tennessee.  I think the whole trip took him about 10-12 days.  He is also very excited about his new project.

The Sky Cycle Trike was sold locally last year toward the end of the flying season to Steve from Roseburg.  Steve had flown just about every type of aircraft except a weight shift trike, so this was a definitely a new adventure for him.

Finally, within the last few weeks I sold most of my remaining props, engines, ultralight aircraft parts to Mark from Southern Oregon.

All I have left is the Mini Max 1550 V-Max.....and I finally have enough room in the hangar to put on the wings!