A few weeks back, FlightPro stopped updating their charts. The app had been launched to much fanfare, and between 10,000 and 50,000 people have since installed the app and paid for its Electronic Flight Bag services. The updates stopped when an internal scuffle between the original developer of the code (Avilution) and the new FlightPro team came to a head, and the Avilution team refused to keep updating the app. It seems like the new FlightPro team have come up with a workaround to the kerfuffle, but Avilution are the guys who actually have the keys to the castle (the Google Play and Google Wallet accounts for FlightPro) and blocked any progress, and now lawsuits are beginning to fly as the future of the app seems more and more bleak.
The long and short of the latest update is that the FlightPro guys had engineered an update to the app to allow them to continue to update users while the dispute with Avilution was settled. But since Avilution has the keys to the Google Play account, they are unable to provide the updated version of the app to their users. Further stymieing their efforts is a new lawsuit demanding that Avilution be given sole control over the app and the entity that runs it, so releasing that update under the table is off the table.
Here’s the full email to FlightPro subscribers:
Dear FlightPro Users and Supporters,
Last Friday morning, I was ready to send an update. The new developer was less than three weeks away from having a new functional version of the FlightPro application ready for download. The new version would have pointed to the FlightPro.com servers instead of the Avilution.com servers. In addition, I still had hope that Mark Spencer of Avilution would agree to keep pushing chart data updates from his Avilution.com servers in the interim.
However, on Friday afternoon, I received notice that Avilution has filed a lawsuit directly against FlightPro/Aviation Mapping Solutions. As many of you are aware, Avilution was the original developer of the core code within FlightPro, and Avilution is the largest single shareholder of the FlightPro corporate parent, Aviation Mapping Solutions Inc. Furthermore, Avilution controls the the Google Play and Google Wallet accounts tied to the application, and thus the revenue, your accounts, and the data subscriptions. AMS/FlightPro does not have control or even access to these account. Furthermore, Avilution is now seeking a court’s determination that it should be able to continue controlling all of the assets of FlightPro/AMS. To follow these court proceedings you would need to search for Avilution, LLC v. Aviation Mapping Solutions, Inc. with cause number 47-CV-2015-900353.00 in the Circuit Court of Madison County, Alabama.
Consequently, I have stopped all work by the new developer as the new investors have refused to fund any work pending resolution of this suit. The courts will ultimately determine who legally holds the assets moving forward as well as the liabilities, but in the interim, all of the assets are controlled by Avilution.
Therefore, please direct all inquiries concerning those matters to
Avilution LLC
c/o Registered Agent: Mark Spencer
100 Maple Valley Drive
Madison, Alabama 35758You may also be able to reach them at support@avilution.com
For actual legal proceedings, you would probably need to contact the attorneys listed for Avilution, LLC as follows:
W. Brad English or Emily J Chancey
Maynard Cooper & Gale, P.C.
655 Gallatin Street
Huntsville, Alabama 35801
256-551-0171Many of you have realized that support@flightpro.com now points to a ZenDesk account where I have been working to respond to inquiries and support requests. I will endeavor to continue responding to all of your communications over the next few weeks, but please note that only Avilution will be able to address requests for subscription termination and reimbursements through the Google accounts that they control.
All I have left at this point is to once again apologize for failing our faithful users. You have supported FlightPro in a myriad of ways, not the least of which is with your checkbook, and words just cannot convey how deeply disappointed I am to have let you all down.
Sincerely,
Shane Gordon
With how few electronic flight bag apps there are for Android, seeing one as big as FlightPro in this kind of trouble is… well… troubling.