SC Flier Forum to change hands?

[Sierra Charlie]

I've come to a cross roads, of sorts, in that I've got my SC up for sale and plan to relocate to Florida to be closer to our grandkids. I would like to transition from the blog and find someone willing to take on the responsibility.

 

Financially, it is $20/month to keep it operating and the 'system' basically keeps track of spammers.  Only a few times have I ever had to intervene as the "Admin".

 

Practically speaking, I get on the site about 3 times a week to check on what the traffic is, so the burden of being the Admin is about as difficult as a no flap landing.

Anyway, if anyone is interested in taking on the responsibility, please contact me.  Invision Power Services provides great support.  SC Flier Forum is hosted in their cloud so transfer of ownership is relatively easy.

 

Regardless, it’s been a great 2 years and today we have almost 180 members.  I’ll continue to operate the site through June 30; after which I will cancel it, if we can’t find a new owner.

 

Clear Skies,

 

Dave
Sierra Charlie

 

[DavePilot]

It would be a bad thing for the SC FLIER BLOG to stop operating.

While I certainly understand the priorities between grandchildren and workload, I hope there is a way for the information exchange to continue in the SCFLIER blog without your leadership.

And, while the SC FLIER blog is not a VANs Air Force,
maybe over time it will continue to grow as the CRUZ sales continue strong in the LSA marketplace.

Best wishes and strong tailwinds in your future.

BRAVO ZULU for a job well done !

D

[plangley]

Very well done to Dave for his leadership over the past two years.

[ShawnM]

I too applaud you Dave for what you have done over the past two years. A big thanks for this forum and the work you put into it.

 

I'd be interested in partial admin responsibilities and would love to share the responsibility with anyone who'd like to help. I could dive in when Dave is finished as I also am in the process of moving from north Florida down to Tampa. I also think that no one person should bear the costs associated with this site since we ALL benefit from it. I'd propose a annual fee for those who want to take part in the site. I know we can all spare $5-10 a year or enough to keep the site running. Any thoughts?

 

Dave, what is the $20 a month for? Hosting? If so, that's expensive for hosting. I use Godaddy for hosting all my sites and it's $8 a month. Maybe US Sport could pitch in as well. Patrick?

If it's just for hosting then we could even charge a lower annual fee for membership. This site contains a lot of valuable info for our plane.

 

Any thoughts from others?

[Sierra Charlie]

Thanks to all, but Dave has stepped up and contacted me and he'll take over the reigns in the coming weeks.  We will keep everyone posted.

 

Shawn, the host is Invision Power Systems and I used them because I modeled the SC Flier Forum after a Flight Design Forum they started several years ago.  Invision takes a lot of the 'admin' out of the situation; hence it's been worth the $20/month and doesn't increase unless we have over 50 members on at a time.

 

US Sport Aircraft has not been much of a contributor over the years, not because they don't care, more because they are busy selling airplanes.  It think it best that the owner or "admin" of our forum be an owner or third party rather than the actual importer.

 

Not sure what you mean about charging a lower fee for membership ... membership now is free, so not sure how we lower that!  Charging a membership fee would be too difficult; hence I made the membership free.

 

Anyway, will keep everyone posted on how Dave and I proceed.

 

Dave

[Stitch462]

It would be a bad thing for the SC FLIER BLOG to stop operating.

 

And, while the SC FLIER blog is not a VANs Air Force,

maybe over time it will continue to grow as the CRUZ sales continue strong in the LSA marketplace.

 

 

 

Agree 100% VAF started out small.  While this isn't a homebuilder's forum like over at Van's; BUT just like VAF, its still a good place to swap information on everything from aircraft performance to maintenance issues to trip reports when someone wants to share an adventure they've taken in their Sportcruiser.  Given the chance and some time hopefully this site will grow as well.    Just gotta get someone to give the web address to this place to buyers in their new owners paperwork package when they purchase their airplane.   

[lsav8tor]

Thanks, Dave, for all you've done to give us the Forum. As to Shawn's proposal, I think a PayPal account could be set up to accept donations to defray costs. Just a suggestion.

[designrs]

>>US Sport Aircraft has not been much of a contributor over the years, not because they don't care, more because they are busy selling airplanes.

 

>>Just gotta get someone to give the web address to this place to buyers in their new owners paperwork package when they purchase their airplane.

 

Thank you Dave for your time & effort on this site.

Love the site, SportCruiser and US SportAircraft...

Gotta say, if they are selling all the airplanes they desire then great.

However this would be a good time to consider the role of this site moving forward

to benifit all.

 

1) The presence of new buyers here builds brand excitement and loyalty for owners.

2) New owners benefit from experienced owners

3) We all benifit from shared information

4) Members should actively refer interested others to the board

5) The stronger the brand the stronger the resale values

 

* I believe US SportAir has someone now working actively on social media, this would be an easy extension for them to cross-post.

 

Don't underestimate the power of the board. Tecnam is active on SportPilotTalk. I know of two new Tecnam owners, another with plane on order, and a serious potential buyer. Some of these guys are posting photos and sharing enthusiasm. Wonderful to see. Would like to see similar with SportCruiser!

[ShawnM]

Dave,

 

I know the site is free, I was proposing exactly what lsav8tor stated, setting up a paypal account for donations and/or annual fees to offset the monthly cost of the account. Everyone here benefits so I only assume that everyone would donate to the cause. Since you have a successor then no worries.

[Ianlor]

Dave
Sierra Charlie- thank you very much for all the work and time (and money) you have put in to SCFLIER.COM
I wish you lots of happy times with your family in Florida. We will miss you.

I would like to say how happy I am that Dave is taking over the running of the site.
He will do a very good job. Good luck Dave !!

[DavePilot]

Thanks Ian for the encouragement and positive words.

 

I hope that my "job" running the administrative aspects of the SC FLIER FORUM can help all members and maintain a great place to exchange ideas on many topics related to the Sport Cruiser / Piper Sport aircraft.

 

I really enjoy all the information that is exchanged regularly on this blog, and have learned a lot from the friendly discussion contained here on many topics. I look forward to working together with current and hopefully more NEW members to continue the enthusiasm and excitement for our flying of the CRUZ aircraft.

 

I look forward to working with Dave F, our excellent Flight Lead and the one who started it all, to make this a smooth transition.

 

I encourage any suggestions and comments as we continue using the SC FLIER FORUM to increase EXCITEMENT about the great CRUZ LSA AIRCRAFT.

[designrs]

Sounds good Dave. Thank you!