What ever happened to this revolutionary engine?

A great question which the following addresses. The two primary answers are first, September 11, 2001, more commonly referred to simply as 9-11, and second, a group of stock market scam artists. NONE of those things had anything to do with how well the real Dyna-Cam engine performs. Notwithstanding the blog comments of some armchair-engineers and shade tree mechanics, the Dyna-Cam engine's reliability and performance is exceptionally good. Flying is intrinsically a high risk activity where you need great engine reliability and performance! The Federal Aviation Administration takes seriously its mandate to keep flying as safe as possible. The FAA does not certify an engine for use in aircraft casually. Any engine that the FAA certifies must pass a rigorous set of tests to confirm performance, reliability, and longevity.

The original REAL Dyna-Cam engine has that FAA certification!

When the Palmer family acquired the IP rights, blueprints, existing parts, and a couple of running Herrmann engines from Dr. Herrmann, the basic design had already been proven. The Herrmann engine had passed all of the tests that the United States Federal Aviation Administration requires for aircraft certification. After passing the grueling tests required for aircraft certification, the FAA issued a Type Certification # 293. The Palmers then owned all that, but struggled for years to get enough investment capital to engineer and implement needed changes for cost effective manufacturability. A much needed name change resulted in the Dyna-Cam Engine Corp. By 2001, it was on the verge of success. The changes to the engine block for manufacturability were successful. The final machining of the production tooling, fixtures and jigs was finished. Programming for the CNC Production machines was verified. Parts for a trial run of 20 new engines were on order or out for quotes. Plans to machine and assemble them into complete engines, run new thermal, fuel, and dynamometer tests, were on the calendar. The company that was handling the IPO that would get the needed capital for production had completed all the SEC work to have the IPO go public on September 13, 2001. Then the investment world died on 9-11-2001 because of the World Trade Center attacks.

To add insult to injury, before the investment world cratered, the company handling the IPO had been so sure of its success that they had loaned Dyna-Cam over half a million dollars for expenses. To cover their own backside after the crash, Dyna-Cam was given two choices. Pay back the loan, or the assets of Dyna-Cam pledged for the loan will be liquidated. Mortgaging their houses staved off foreclosure but left them nearly broke. Keeping the family dream going for the next two years was a struggle. By the Spring of 2003, operating capital from investors and lines of credit was almost exhausted. Finding enough money to pay the bills in May and June was problematic. Without an infusion of capital, Dyna-Cam might have to close its doors.

Then a savior seemed to appear. But it turned out that appearances can be deceiving. More than a few engineers that have developed a great product and started their own company to manufacture it, have faced a common problem. They may be brilliant engineers, with a fantastic product, but they are not well schooled in what can be a cutthroat business world. Couple that with a company struggling for operating capital, too few people in management, wearing too many hats, trying to keep too many balls in the air, and you have a prime candidate for a group of sophisticated scam artists. From the Palmers perspective, that is what happened to their Dyna-Cam Engine Company on June 30, 2003!

In hindsight, looking at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) records and other documents, makes it very clear that the principals involved in the shell companies that "acquired" Dyna-Cam had a checkered history. One SEC filing lists Sam Higgins as the principle stock holder of Aero Marine Engine Corp (Aero). Examining the SEC records of the shell companies involved, their filing dates and wording, reveals the scheme to take over Dyna-Cam was months in the planning. Lawyer Garth Bailey represented himself as simply the legal representative of Aero Marine Engine Corp. doing the contract negotiations. Little did the Palmers know that Bailey was CEO and 13% owner of Aero per SEC records. Aero was setup to look, and maybe technically was, legitimate. Over several months, Lawyer Garth Bailey had convinced the Palmers that because he knew they couldn't afford proper legal representation on the contract negotiations with Aero, he would make sure their interests were protected. By the end of June 2003, Bailey assured them that everything was OK! However, a sudden change in the finance arrangements required immediate, now or never, signing of the signature pages of the contract on June 30, 2003. In hindsight, signing the contract without having a complete copy of the contract was a Monumental Fail! But believing in lawyer Bailey and having little or no choice at the time, they signed.

Bailey's promise of a complete copy of the final contract the next day, or two at the most, became three+ months. During that time, not only did the Aero group appear legitimate, but they came up with REAL money (about $1,200,000 in cash) to retire Dyna-Cam loans, settle payables, and provide the Palmers with $70,000 for salaries and miscellaneous expenses. At that point in time, having operating capital to deal with the day to day tasks of running the business and getting new engines built was a full time job for the Palmers. Dealing with all of the legal paper work and PR issues of the change of ownership was like a second a full time job for months. Based on Bailey's assurances, the signature pages of the contract to sell Dyna-Cam to Aero were signed on June 30, 2003. By the third week of June, the principals of Aero sent out a million flyers to kick start their "Pump 'n Dump" stock scheme. Example: 600,000 shares were traded on July 24, 2003. Click on the "Stock Fraud" link for more files that document the "Pump 'n Dump" stock scam using the ARMR ticker symbol. When the copy of the real, and registered, contract finally arrived, it was not the same as the draft version the Palmers thought they had signed. Close, but with key ommisions and some modifications. Bailey assured the Palmers that the elements agreed to in several "Memorandum Of Understanding" were still legally binding even if they were not included in the contract.
 

NOTE: It gets confusing unless you know all of the names of the group of people involved. A number of these people were convicted of financial crimes and sentenced to prison terms. The names of most of the principle players appear in SEC records. Start with the Canadian HMS Financial ponzi-scheme, a project of Harold Murray Stark (HMS), Robert Fyn, and Garth Bailey. Concurrent with that scam, and with funds from it, they launched other schemes. Princeton Ventures Inc. which became Aero Marine Engines Inc. which became Axial Vector Engine Corp. which became Axial Vector Energy Corp. were all directly involved with the Dyna-Cam engine scam. The dates they called themselves one name or the other overlap. Related to those names you can throw in Transporter Inc., Perma-Tune Electronics, Trans-Max, and a few others.

By December of 2003, Dennis Palmer had two of the new design engines built and running and a third close behind. One of the running engines was mounted to the dynamometer to gather new data and one just running on a test stand. It appears one of the first major AVEC/Sam Higgins' decisions in January of 2004 was to shut down the California facility and move everything and everyone to Ronkonkoma, New York where an associate owned a large industrial building. Apparently the AVEC group hired the equivalent of "Starving Students Moving Company," to save money. Transporting the Haas production CNC machines that cost over $200,000.00 across the country on a flatbed truck wrapped in a few blue tarps instead of an enclosed, cushioned ride trailer was not a great choice. Especially when the tarps blew apart during a rain storm and soaked everything, including the Haas CNC control computer. What was once a beautiful machine is now a rusty, non-functional, very large, paper weight!

There were a couple of individuals participating in the first "Public Front Group" (PFG) in Ronkonkoma, NY that wanted to build the FAA certified engine. By March, 2004, the members of the first "PFG" that actually wanted to build the FAA certified engine were thwarted by events and other members of their group. The loss of the Haas CNC machines was the first, and largest event, of the many failures of the first "PFG." Their lack of management skills, manufacturing knowledge, and experience were at the root of other failures. One of which was the other PFG members that insisted a "Pie in the sky" engine redesign was needed to "modernize" the Dyna-Cam engine with things like ceramic pistons & sleeves to add "WOW" factors for the investing public. The fact that making those changes would void the FAA certification, so what! The WOW factors will sell stock.

There were many other poor decisions made before the real head of AVEC/Aero, Sam Higgins, fired the first "Public Front Group" and brought in a new group. He ultimately shut down the new manufacturing site in NY and wrote off the assets. But AVEC/Higgins had what he really wanted, a great story about a real engine. A story backed up with verifiable performance documentation that he could continue to use to run a "Pump and Dump" scheme peddling OTC stock. AVEC needed to be able tell the original Dyna-Cam story and over time, augment the story with hype about its many "new and improved" models. Models that were always under development, but never actually built and/or successfully passed acceptable and verifiable run tests. At least Google searches draw a blank.

Within a few months after its move to Ronkonkoma, AVEC had breached the contract under which it "acquired" Dyna-Cam in multiple ways. This was made clear in April of 2004 at the "NEW" manufacturing site in Ronkonkoma, NY. It became obvious that the new AVEC crew didn't have the talent or the intent to build the FAA certified engine. When the AVEC group stopped paying the salary that the contract stipulated would last two years, the writing on the wall became clearer. It became crystal clear when a hired strong arm type, with shoulder harness gun showing, said, "Go away and don't bother us anymore. We know where your family live" The Palmers realized they had been taken to the cleaners, and returned to California. Even though they were broke, the Palmers tried to continue the engine on their own. Then, to add injury to injury, AVEC/Higgins filed a "everything but the kitchen sink" law suit to bar them from using the Dyna-Cam name in any form or fashion. Considering that AVEC verifiably breached the contract used to acquire Dyna-Cam Engine Corp., how they could maintain they still owned the company is a conundrum. Between lack of funds for lawyers, and threats of violence against their person, the Palmers had to drop the fight. They gave up on their dream to build a great engine for the world and got on with their lives as best they could.

At the same time, AVEC and its' cohort of scam artists, continued to scam investors with all kinds of new variations of the basic story of the Dyna-Cam engine. New technology improvements to the engine, new production partners, new company mergers, new distribution/manufacturing partners in other countries, new investment partners in other countries, etc. When the stories wore too thin, they actually spent money to design and build their own "Workhorse" 8 piston, 4 cylinder diesel version of an axial engine. While there are photos of the prototype "Workhorse" engine, performance reviews by an independent testing organization have not been found. The SEC.gov site and several investment sites chronicle a long list of misleading claims that were used to keep the "Pump 'n Dump" scheme going. In the process, the original, very real and great performing, FAA certified Dyna-Cam engine was tainted. As a result, while verifiably false, the real Dyna-Cam engine acquired a reputation as having never been more than a hoax and a scam in the eyes of the investing public.

 

So that is what happened to the Dyna-Cam engine!

 

What's the purpose of this website? To remind the world that the real Dyna-Cam engine design is still FAA certified and is still a great design with impressive performance characteristics. That the combination of a bunch of Muslim fanatics on 9-11 and a group of stock scam artists, aided by a few shysters, killed production of the engine. Had life taken a slightly different path, you might be flying one today. With a little luck, maybe yet!

 

Why remind the world about the Dyna-Cam engine?

 

Because the Palmers and a lot of their supporters and aircraft owners would still love to see the engine in production. The Palmers still possess the IP needed to successfully produce the Dyna-Cam engine.

There are people in the world that are rich enough to bid on a painting that ended up selling for $450 Million dollars. The egos that fuel Art collecting are in a world unto itself, I get it! However, for a fraction of that amount, a mere 3%, someone could found a new company to manufacture the Dyna-Cam engine. For some people, the pleasure and satisfaction of actually building or creating something real and useful is huge. To have people thank and praise you for your creation and be able to say "I did that!" is great on so many levels. Someone could have all of that by starting a new company to build an engine that people want. A "want" backed up by letters of intent that totaled nearly 6000 engines that people were willing to pay for.
Not to mention creating a lot of new manufacturing jobs.

IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH INVESTMENT CAPITAL TO MEET THAT 3% NUMBER, IT COULD BE A FUN ADVENTURE.

GET IN TOUCH!
 

There is a lot of information about the engine, the original Dyna-Cam company, and its people on the copy of the 2003 original Dyna-Cam website that is linked to and included here. There is a lot of information about the stock scam artists on the fraud link. There is a lot of information about odds and ends of interesting stuff on the Dynacam History link.

If you are one of the possibly hundreds that are just a kibitzer or want to ask a question that you could Google, or read the answer on one of the included links, PLEASE DON'T. Life is too short for two people to deal with that.