Sport Pilot Talk

roger lee · Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:50 pm Post subject: CPS sold to Aircraft Spruce

I was sworn to secrecy, but it looks like CPS has made an official announcement. This may be interesting for a while.
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Dear CPS Customers;

As of November 4, 2011 California Power Systems has been sold to Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co. of Corona, CA. who will become the West Coast Rotax Service Center, an exclusive relationship that CPS has held since 1984.

We would like to thank the thousands of customers around the world that have made CPS their choice for Light Sport and Ultralight parts and service.

Every effort will be made to track and fulfill all orders placed with CPS thru Thursday, November 3, 2011.

Sincerely Yours,

Mike Stratman

CPS President

For products and services contact:

Aircraft Spruce & Specialty

225 Airport Road

Corona, Ca 92880

Phone: 1-877-477-7823
www.aircraftspruce.com

drseti · Joined: 28 Nov 2009 Posts: 1390 Location: Lock Haven PA

I took my Rotax Maintenance-level course from Mike at CPS Hayward, and was planning on doing the Heavy Maintenance course there next. I wonder if Aircraft Spruce is now going to be offering those courses? If not, I guess I'll have to do future ones with Dean at Lockwood Aviation in Sebring...

Jack Tyler · Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 7:19 am Post subject:

Isn't THAT interesting news! Thanks for the heads up, Roger. Depending on the seller's circumstances and the conditions of the sale, this might be a vote of confidence in the eventual growth of the Light Sport industry in the U.S. And of course, the biz from the ongoing installed base.[/i]

roger lee · Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 9:29 am Post subject: Rotax Courses

To be a Rotax distributor Rotax has some requirements. You will still have Rotax courses, but they will be down in Corona, CA and not up north in the San Leandro area. There may be a few other benefits, too. I think the next ones will be around Feb., but that's a wait and see. Aircraft Spruce will take a little time to get their feet firmly on the ground. I think tech support may suffer for the short term, but it's a wait and see too.

LSASPRUCE · Joined: 07 Nov 2011 Posts: 3

Dear CPS Customers,

Many of you have read Mike Stratman's posting regarding the recent sale of California Power Systems. Irwin International Inc, which owns Aircraft Spruce, purchased CPS from Mike Stratman and CPS has now moved from San Leandro to Corona, CA. CPS will be housed in the same building as Aircraft Spruce, but will be operated as a separate division. Mike Stratman will be working at the Corona facility for a number of weeks to insure a smooth transition. CPS will be setting up a Rotax maintenance and overhaul facility soon, and will continue to offer Rotax Maintenance level courses.

We are glad to have the opportunity to acquire CPS and continue the tradition of good service to the Light Sport and Ultralight community that CPS has provided since 1984. CPS can be contacted at 1-800-AIRWOLF (1-800-247-9653) or (951)549-7786.

Best Regards,

Jim Irwin
President
California Power Systems

comperini · Joined: 24 Feb 2008 Posts: 152 Location: California

Well, this explains why I have several things on backorder from CPS, and why my e-mails to them remain unanswered. I suppose my order is officially "lost"?

LSASPRUCE · Joined: 07 Nov 2011 Posts: 3

Bob,
All orders are being processed during the transition period. Could you please email us your contact info and order detail to info@800-airwolf.com?? I will then be able to have our customer service department follow up with you immediately.
Thank you
Desiree

comperini · Joined: 24 Feb 2008 Posts: 152 Location: California

I did email that info several days ago, but will do it again. thanks!

cogito · Joined: 24 Mar 2011 Posts: 29 Location: Los Angeles

Anybody else impacted by Spruce's difficulty digesting CPS? I've had an order unfilled there for nearly two months (repeated calls and visits.) I like the people there and I'm sure they'll get around to understanding rotax eventually, in the meantime I just placed an order with Lockwood even though I live a 25 min flight from Spruce.

comperini · Joined: 24 Feb 2008 Posts: 152 Location: California

Yes I have been impacted. Simple parts have been back ordered since early November. Several calls, with promises to ship, but I'm still waiting.

bitten192 · Joined: 21 Dec 2009 Posts: 61 Location: RICHLAND WA USA

comperini wrote: Yes I have been impacted. Simple parts have been back ordered since early November. Several calls, with promises to ship, but I'm still waiting.

Same here. They kept telling me they had the part (new fuel pump) but did not. I cancelled my order and went someplace else.

drseti · Joined: 28 Nov 2009 Posts: 1390 Location: Lock Haven PA

I opted to take the cautious approach. As soon as I learned about the acquisition, I started ordering exclusively through Lockwood. I'll go back to CPS as soon as I hear they have all the bugs out of their system! :wink:

roger lee · Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 9:00 am Post subject: Spruce

CPS / Spruce has many parts on order and did so as soon as the deal had closed. They will stock more than the old CPS used to carry. Spruce is definitely stepping up to the plate on this. It will take a little time, but they are coming on strong.

comperini · Joined: 24 Feb 2008 Posts: 152 Location: California

In my case, my customer ordered generic stuff... not even Rotax parts. These were ordered in Early November from CPS, about 5 days before they publicly announced the sale. Of course, only part of my order was shipped. The rest of the stuff was backordered. Then, in mid-December, Mike Stratman said "our servers are down" while they re-located them to Corona. We were told items would ship Dec 30. Today, we're now told items won't ship until the end of Janaury. During today's phone call, we find out that they also screwed up the billing/shipping address, and my customer was charged twice for a few items (about $150).

Yeah, I'm sure they'll get it worked out one of these days... in the mean time, had I known we'd have these hassles, and that this transition would have been so screwed up, we wouldn't even have placed the original order.

LSASPRUCE · Joined: 07 Nov 2011 Posts: 3

We noticed the recent postings regarding delays in shipment of some orders from CPS since we acquired the company in November. CPS is currently shipping all in stock orders the same day orders are placed by phone or online. We have experienced some delays and backorders due to many parts being out of stock when we acquired CPS, and we are still waiting to receive these parts due to long lead times. We are working hard to expedite all our of stock products and apologize to CPS customers who have been impacted by these backorders. Our goal at CPS is same day shipment of every order placed, and we are gaining ground every day.

If you have a question or concern about any particular order, please email us at info@800-airwolf.com.

Jim Irwin
President
CPS