Is this the Twilight Zone?

[guyguerra]

I post this without searching for an answer, it's just an observation. Kind of like talking politics lately (I won't). How does someone really disappear in today's connected environment? For quiet some time now you could have validly changed the name of this forum from Avant RC to "Where's Augusta" or "What happened to Avant?".
You would think that someone out there (beside Augusto, whom I do not know so I feel odd using his name casually) knows what happened and would be involved enough in this forum to say something. There must be vendors, manufacturers, ex employees, team pilots, or fellow hobbyists that follow this thread for one reason or another, yet no one has ever stated first hand that they know what happened to him or his company. If there was a forum that mentioned my name this much, (and I have no impact on the hobby other than spending money and crashing, where Avant was a main part of it) someone that knows me would write something.
To me this is a very bizarre disappearance to happen in such a public arena with zero explanation by anyone.

[Fauropitotto]

I guess you could start by compartmentalizing your life.

Keeping family separate from your business, hobby, and friend circles is a great way to make sure that if something were to happen to you, nobody in your hobby community would even know how to reach you.

What was his last name? For those that know, why not search business registrations, lawsuit databases (pacer), state licensing agencies, federal licensing agencies, obituaries, arrest records...

Another way to do it is to burn bridges and cut communication with friends and associates. Former employees may not even consider reconnecting or looking up their former employer. Vendors burned by unfulfilled orders and no communication would cut their losses and move on. Team pilots probably never knew how to contact his family to follow up when the phone number was disconnected.

The sense of being connected that we feel today comes from our willingness to share a lot about ourselves openly online and with other people. If you sever enough of these connections, by the time people realize that you've disappeared, the trail has already gone cold for the armchair detectives.

Avant used to be one of those fantasy models for me. It's a shame I never got a chance to own and fly one.

Maybe someday someone will have the time and money to measure and prepare the CAD files and resurrect this machine. Clearly there's no one left to defend the intellectual property. If only I had the skills...

[guyguerra]

There's a joke that Mitch Hedburg does where he's in line at a restaurant and the name of the group just before his is called. The Anouncer over the intercom says "Dufrain, party of three, your table is ready. They announce this about three times then announce, Hedburg, party of two ready. He runs up to the Hostess and says, how can we eat at a time like this when the Dufrain's are missing? Shouldn't you form a search party, they may be tied up in the back of someone's car!
My version doesn't do the hilarity and the comedy of his misunderstanding when the Dufrains can't be found, but you get the point. The entire skit is hysterical.

[Hawk404]

My opinion only but I would bet that he could be found but the consensus is that he shouldn't be found.

He clearly either can't post or won't post - not many other options.

If he can't it could be for reasons of illness or death and for some that are adept at tracking down people that's enough not to make the attempt.

If he won't then why force the issue?

In the legal world there's a concept known as mens rea - the intention of wrongdoing. So while Augusto may have taken 900.00 from some of us in exchange for a shelf queen he, by all indications, didn't intend to do so. He intended that his product's QC be 100%.

Unless someone can plausibly suggest that he intended to furnish some portion of kits as non-flyable then I see no reason to circumvent his unstated but pretty obvious wish to be left alone.

[fatboyrob]

He did take money off hobby shops and never gave them the kits. So I would think they would like to find him and get their money back.

[Hawk404]

Originally Posted by fatboyrob

He did take money off hobby shops and never gave them the kits. So I would think they would like to find him and get their money back.

It's mostly a matter of degree. Some of us got one non-flying helicopter and at least one dealer didn't get anything.

But again it's reasonable to assume that Augusto didn't intend to stiff the dealers.

Wanting to get one's money back is reasonable but I would assume that they haven't made much of an effort based on the plausible assumption that Augusto doesn't have any to give - one can't get blood from a turnip.

The Mostro didn't gently slide beneath the waves - it went down in a rather messy fashion with Avant basically providing multiple attempts at making a hot mess kit into a flyable kit.

One sure fire way to bankruptcy is to provide your product multiple times for a single sale. Though to be sure I question to this day the hinky business practice of shipping the first kits to people who had not paid for them while withholding them from people that did pay for them. The Mostro "pre-order" wasn't really a pre-order - it was a non-binding, zero cost notice of intention to purchase which should NEVER trump anyone who has provided actual money.

Finding Augusto is one thing. Extracting money from him is quite another.

[JesusFreak]

He can be found, but it is pretty much pointless at this time.

[dmorrow71]

I thought I remembered reading somewhere that Augusto had other businesses in addition to Avant. I wonder if that's the case and did they go down too?

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[guyguerra]

He's probably hanging out with Waldo!

[Vom Feinsten]

Originally Posted by guyguerra

He's probably hanging out with Waldo!

😂😂😂😂😂


Cheers Janis