Anyone have any experience with Aviatix?

[MikeCV]

I did a search on here and didn’t find anything that matched Aviatix, so was curious if anyone had any experience or has seen any of these. Slightly different price point but some pretty cool planes (Lear Jet) and a few coming soon that look promising as well (747, 737, etc.).

https://www.aviatixmodels.com/

[MANFRED]

I like the Connie

[swill]

I emailed them about the Lear and they never responded. We need a Lear ARF! Preferably composite.

[MikeCV]

I would love a Lear too. I remember being obsessed about the Kyosho Learjet years ago until I got my hands on a new in box one that had somehow survived and it just didn’t do it for me. Would love something bigger, newer and not made of foam.

[Doggie]

I have been in contact with Aviatix the last couple of weeks, I have been talking to Dirk about the Lear 35 he is a really nice guy sales@aviatixmodels.com, I think he is in North Carolina and was told that no planes well be available till October due to relocating the shop, not much on the internet about the company and I'm really excited about the Lear 35 but I don't know enough about the company and not about to send them $5000 Dollars and wait from them to build to order, need more info on who they are, no disrespect put $5000 is alot of money.

[Doggie]

This is the only thing I've found about Aviatix except for Facebook

https://www.aviationcentral.co.za/tag/aviatix/

[Doggie]

The Gates Lear 35 is full composite

[Sekhet]

I have been in contact with Aviatix the last couple of weeks, I have been talking to Dirk about the Lear 35 he is a really nice guy sales@aviatixmodels.com, I think he is in North Carolina and was told that no planes well be available till October due to relocating the shop, not much on the internet about the company and I'm really excited about the Lear 35 but I don't know enough about the company and not about to send them $5000 Dollars and wait from them to build to order, need more info on who they are, no disrespect put $5000 is alot of money.

They have been "relocating the factory" for the last three years. I have only seen one of their Lear 35s and that was on display at a flyin in Fla. The "factory" is supposed to be in South Africa. I had inquired about the Lear 35 three years ago and was told the "relocating the factory" story. And then I saw that the site was up and active again so I thought I would inquire about the Beechcraft Duke and the Cessna 210 earlier this year, about March, and was told that both were going to be in production as soon as the "Factory got relocated" and the first units would be delivered in Nov, or Dec. If I were to want my aircraft in Nov. or Dec. I would have to plunk down the full price right there and then (March).
I don't know this company well enough to give them that kind of money. I do know that Aviatix and Down and Locked have the same telephone number and address in NC and the Down and locked website is unresponsive with a dead cart system.
Sooo... Buyer beware!

PS: If you call and ask for down and locked, Dirk, from Aviatix, will answer to the name Mitch and if you call and ask for aviatx, Mitch from Down and Locked, will answer to the name Dirk. Hmmm...

[Doggie]

Yeah sounds fishy to me, Thanks for the great info, Even tho I would really like a Lear jet im not willing to risk it, do you have any idea where the Lear came from, is it a scratch built.

[Sekhet]

Yeah sounds fishy to me, Thanks for the great info, Even tho I would really like a Lear jet im not willing to risk it, do you have any idea where the Lear came from, is it a scratch built.

I'm not sure where the Lear came from, it could well be the prototype for aviatix but I know of no one else that has anything from them.

[Doggie]

Thanks for the info, thats to bad that you have people in the industry like that I really wanted a Lear jet, I will be taking my business elsewhere.
.

[Aviatix Models]

Hi there guys. I stumbled on this discussion about Aviatix models and would like to set the record straight and clear up some misconceptions about us. I came from the automotive world and has been a modeller and competitive pattern and jet pilot for years in South Africa. So not new to the hobby, just new to the trade side. When I sold part of my manufacturing business end of 2016 and got out of automotive, I decided to get into manufacture of retracts and my engineering team and Mitch designed and produce a range of retracts for Down and Locked in 2017 that enabled offering an alternative to the Robart range. We actually even used some electronic tech my company owns and developed for use on BMW electric hitches in the electric controllers used in the D&L gear, hence the connection between Aviatix and D&L.

Me and Mitch did display the retracts and fly one of the first Learjet 35 prototypes at Florida Jets in 2018 and back in SA, Aviatix relocated the first time to what was supposed to be a safer area in South Africa in May 2018 and then manufactured a first batch of Learjets in South Africa of which only 2 went to the US, some in SA and rest went to Europe. Unfortunately Sept/Oct 2018, I not only lost my main engineer to Cancer, but vital tools and equipment were damaged in political unrest situation which also resulted in some other key engineers emigrating out of SA and that events led me to close the factory in SA in Oct 2018. We first relocated the retract parts to the USA so they could continue to be made there and I then had to repair and replace the plane tooling, make some new wing plugs and molds on both the Learjet and Cessna and was left with only one good engineer at the time instead of the whole team we had working on a multitude of projects before.

I decided that the composite parts for the planes would have to be made in China on the higher volume planes for now in order to use some existing capacity there and had to relocate the factory a Second time, so yes it felt like we were just moving factory all the time!

Unfortunately setting up a production line that will be able to enforce the correct quality standards and train a team of artisans in the lightweight composite tech and integrated structures our planes would need, took some time. Completing the Cessna development also took the better part of 2019 and ended up being a huge roadblock as the Cessna gear turned into a massive headache due to the very precise shape to which the main struts needs to be formed into in order to function properly. We had to make and remake form tooling multiple times and ended up with needing a lot more R&D on the motors also before we had a reliable unit. We also needed to be able to have at least 2 planes into production at the start of running this dedicated production line and enough product to be able to fill a container or else you end up spending huge airfreight cost on shipping small batches.

Then Covid hit China in Jan 2020 and ever since the main engineers have been trapped in Germany and South Africa and unable to return to the factory, myself included. We did push forward working remotely as much as we could and continued with the R&D of the next planes in line so we can at least move more R&D projects closer to completion. Unfortunately it seems like some government people do not want to allow us the responsibility to manage our own health yet and as such it has made planning and deadlines impossible to work with last year amidst all the lockdowns and restrictions. We have at least been able to move forward and managed to solve the Cessna gear and production issues over time but where I could have walked in and out the factory in China to teach or do a check in minutes, they have to now make parts on written instructions and ship it, and then we only get to see if its right in 2-3 weeks instead of 20 minutes.

As soon as the first production Cessna reach me in SA by month end and pass the QC test we will be starting regular production of the C210, and then L35 a month or 2 later. We also plan to have 4-5 planes in production by the end of the year so please watch the website for details.

So far we have refunded any payments made on planes we were unable to deliver since the factory in SA was closed end of 2018 and we also advise customers contacting us that we will only expect them to pay in advance on special color scheme orders and once stock is available to ship from North Carolina on the standard color schemes as displayed on the website. Lots of things happening at once and we needed to redo the D&L website code to make it more user friendly and also update the system to support the purchase functions of the new struts, electric brakes and wheels which is why the cart system is not working currently.

We plan to be exhibiting and flying the planes at RC events later this year and have them readily available for purchase there, as well as shipping from D&L premises in North Carolina on a regular basis. I will unfortunately only be readily available in NC once the travel bans are lifted and plan to move all R&D and production of the larger models to the US in the near future.

The vision is to create and build quality scale planes made from composite which are light, flies well and have integrated retracts, wiring, servos etc, offering a complete package that was designed and built to work properly together as your car does. Hence we are offering a quality RTF scale plane that you can take to a competition, be proud of, and yet fly as much as you like with reliability. More flying, less building maintenance and repair....

For more info, you are welcome to email me at dirk@aviatixmodels.com

Best Regards
Dirk Visser
Aviatix Models