An Apology

 

An Apology from the Robin Alpha suppliers

Mr. Manders –

We at Alpha have been in daily discussion with John Kistner at Mistral Aviation regarding aircraft production. In order to shorten communication lines, he has asked us to communicate directly with you and other customers about aircraft delivery dates.

I want to apologise sincerely and profusely about the non-arrival yet of Bulldog1. As you will have seen from its photos, this aircraft has been completely ready for shipment for several weeks now. To our dismay, at a very late stage in granting its NZ Export C of A the NZ CAA re-visited, entirely unnecessarily in our view, the self centering characteristics of the control column. Why this should be necessary on a type of which there are several hundred in service is open to question and I know that John feels even more strongly about it than we do. The net result has been that, when we were intending to dis-assemble and ship the aircraft, another week has passed whilst waiting for NZ CAA to finalise their view on this issue.

They have now finalised it entailing a minor modification to the control column installation. We intend to complete the mod and have your aircraft shipped on the next available vessel and we will inform you of its sailing date. If we had shipped your aircraft with this issue unresolved it would have required the mod to be carried out at an approved workshop in the UK with probable paperwork issues. Naturally we will pay interest on the extra length of time your payments have been made with us.

Your second ALPHA 120 was originally scheduled for shipment at the end of February, please confirm this is still the requirement at your end. I understand you have asked regarding its serial number and build position (aka delivery slot). The production line mixes all of our models of aircraft. Your next one is scheduled as the 5th 120T off the line, in build position 29.

We will keep you informed as things progress. Please contact me or Steve Lange if you have further questions.

Kind Regards,

Gretchen L. Jahn

General Manager Alpha Aviation Ltd (an Inventis Limited group company)