BIDDERS:

We will need to have a modest handful of bidders to do sub-contract work.

These bidders will be selected as I contact and establish contracts with them, and their names will only appear at this web site after the appropriate contracts are signed. Excel Aviation has been selected as a bidder for TrojanHorse and SimulatorOne, and other companies are in various levels of discussion with me now.

EMPLOYEES:

We will also need a small handful of employees. We are not accepting applications at this time because I already know who I want for these positions... I am just not naming them all here yet. As well, these people will not start working until one moment AFTER the prototype has flown and we have documented it's performance. As soon as THAT has happened, I will start taking deposits and starting these people to work IF I like the plane enough to think that many others should have one. (Note: The two exceptions are President, whose duties I am fulfilling now, and Director of Payments, which is being handled by Missy in Laminar Research software operations right now).

With it in mind that I am NOT hiring or accepting resumes (because I already know who will be doing each job) here are the positions that I have in mind to best organize our work-flow:

President.

OK that is me. It looks (for now) like there will be no share-holders. I will be the one that tries to design and optimize the total company operation. This will include the design, marketing, purchase, construction, training, testing, and support of the product to give each customer the best-possible purchasing, building, training, testing, and post-build support experience... and the best-possible airplane.

Director Of Operations

This person is planned to be Randy Witt, who is one of the behind-the-scenes forces of X-Plane, constantly monitoring X-Plane, me, and Laminar Research, and constantly nudging and re-directing (behind the scenes) to keep the company moving in the right direction. Randy also handles all incoming tech support for X-Plane. Thousands of you have emailed in for tech support and gotten his replies, which are always thorough and courteous... no matter how vague and incomplete the email from the customer to him.

The Director of Operations will use Wizard (my company-management software, which will watch and help with every operation in the company).

The director of operations, or the people underneath him that he hires, will follow every procedure listed at this web site. This includes:

-Being sure that the shop is equipped with every bit of hardware needed for start-up and production of the first customer airplane, using Wizard.

-Being sure that the shop monthly-operating costs are accurately entered into Wizard.

-Being sure that the parts and labor that make up the airplane are accurately entered into Wizard.

-Maintaining the customer database in Wizard.

-Maintaining the list of customers going into the assembly line in Wizard. As well, he will constantly monitor the time spent at each assembly-line station, moving bits of production from one station to another to keep every station taking the same amount of time to complete.

-Doing a daily inventory of all the parts in the shop, entering it into Wizard, and ordering any parts needed to complete the number of airplanes under construction or soon-to-be under construction.

-Watching the company checkbook for a total accounting of the money coming in and out of the company, using Wizard if desired.

-Being sure the flight-records of every flight in every airplane are actually making to Wizard and then being stored securely.

In addition to following all of the company routines and procedures, many or all of which are to be specified by the Wizard, (which is really watching the COMPANY), the Director Of Operations will watch and help the CUSTOMER.

To this end, the Director Of Operations will guide the customer from inquiry to fly-away, which includes:

-Answering the questions of prospective customers to tell them what they need to know to move forwards. Experience says that Randy will let me know anything that customers NEED to know that is NOT at the website, which will cause me to update the web site to be more complete in describing everything the customer needs to know to decide whether he wants to buy an X-1.

-Helping guide customers through the build process, being sure that the time required to build the plane is kept at an absolute minimum without violating build-quality or the FAA-mandate that the customer build at least 51% of the airplane.

-Helping guide customers into the flight-training process (which is covered by the Director of Flight Training).

In addition to the specific functions above, the Director of Operations should be on the watch for the exact method in which every minute of customer and company time is spent, and be lightning-fast to tell me how our procedures should be updated to minimize the use of that time.

Director of Flight Training

I can't say who I have in mind for this yet, but I know of some EXCELLENT flight instructors for this job. The Director of Flight Training will take every customer through Simulator Training, Simulator Testing, Knowledge Training, and Knowledge Testing. The Director of Flight Training MAY take the customer through in-flight familiarization in his airplane as well... but that job MAY fall to a different person.. perhaps the same person who does the flight-test of the prototype.

Director of Payments:

This will be Missy Bergelt. Missy will collect all invoices for the company, and pay them all, on 45-day terms. All invoices sent to Laminar Research in association with this project will be paid on 45-day terms. This is simply because Missy will cut checks monthly on the 5th of every month for all invoices submitted for the previous month. This gives contractors 5 days past the end of the month to submit their monthly invoices, and gives us 10 days past that for the check to be cut and arrive. Since all checks will be cut on or about the 5th of every month, invoices submitted just before then will be paid very rapidly, but invoices submitted on, say, the 6th, will have just over a 30-day payment delay.

Missy will also watch all property tax, water and power bills, etc etc etc.

Builders:

These are the people that will build 49% of your airplane, and help you do the remaining 51%. One of these people will be stationed at each station on the assembly line. These people will be hired and named, of course, as the production phase of this project arrives. They may perhaps be partially determined by work that is done with me on the initial prototype, should this non run afoul of any non-compete clause I sign with any bidder that helps with the construction of the prototype.