Sling HW Radio Silence ?

[wiseguy59]

At the Sling Ding, Mike and James didn't go into details of what had to be changed, but I think I remember them saying that there were several things changed on the cabin composite/steel tube assembly. It is currently 8 High Wing kits shipped per month, and they were looking to increase that by the end of the year. I believe that they mentioned that the problems were solved and they can now focus on getting kits shipped. They've also moved into more and larger buildings, so that should help increase kit output of all models. If you want to get the latest information, you should contact Jean D'Assonville(I think I spelled that right), as he is much higher up in the hierarchy than Edward, and would be getting any information in a more timely fashion and straight from the source.

[Montreal]

Contacted Torrance AF about my order status... they are currently "taking orders" on pre-order 137. Unrelated, Sling HW tail dragger ZU-JAM spotted at FAWA https://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitle ... /7607085/L

[FloydRTurbo]

I talked to two different Sling representatives at Oshkosh and got a similar response in what was changed from the very early fuselages to what is coming out of SA now. The early ones had a flexing issue, but nothing that was a safety concern. It was admitted that the engineering and changes took away along with the expansion & moves that were happening near the same time. The ones produced today are much stiffer in the frame near/around the door and the floor has had some reinforcement plus a thicker decking. One of them was quite enthusiastic about what was done (sounded like he had some composite experience) and kept saying it was just beautiful/fantastic.

[Rancho56K]

I just got the newsletter last night and saw that they claimed HW production was ramping up. I emailed Edward and he got back to me in minutes. He said they are currently taking specs from those with numbers in the 130s. Based on current production, I may actually make the original estimate of two years on the waitlist.

[McCreary637]

I attended the build seminar in Michigan a couple of weekends ago. They have 1 HW in process and there calendar board showed a half dozen scheduled to be started in the comings months.

I also visited the Torrance site and there were few fuselages there in various early stages of assembly.

They are going down the list and several people are postponing or cancelling orders so working their way through the list a little faster than expected, but they clearly have backorders going well into next week.

My reservation is in the 140s (I think), and based on what I saw they will likely be contacting me for my pre-shipment deposit soon.