So much BAMA drama!
The original founder of BAMA is a parachute genius, and when he started into business, he made parachutes for hobby rocketeers, but he also made much larger chutes for university research projects and commercial ventures. Those are two very different markets, and he was involved in both.
I bought some of his first chutes sold to hobby rocketeers, and they were fantastic, custom designs, made to order. Really first rate chutes, and very good prices. But he is NOT a good business person. It’s not for lack of trying — he just does not have the personality or skills to make a business work well. And it seems like his personal life is a bit rocky too, which affected his ability to run his business.
At some point, he got into a very public social media interpersonal conflict (and maybe a legal dispute) with the owners of another hobby chute company. It was a big deal in the Facebook rocketry groups often referred to as The Parachute Wars. So the hobby chute business turned into a real mess, it became too overwhelming for him to handle, and he basically shut it down maybe 2 years ago, except for occasional side projects for hobbyists.
In the meantime, he continued working on the university and commercial projects. I don’t know much about it, but I believe the Valkyrie business was formed to handle that side of the business, and I sincerely hope the guy I’m talking about is focused on designing and making chutes, which he excels at, and someone else is handling the business side of the business, which he is no good at.
A few months ago there was a big announcement about BAMA chutes reopening. The story I heard was that the original founder I’m talking about had sold the hobby chute business, which was separate from Valkyrie. After the sale, I’m not sure what involvement, if any, the original founder had. People started asking who the new owner was, and it was a huge mystery. The new owner said he wanted to remain anonymous. I think he said he wanted to be known as the mysterious Spruce Wayne, or somesuch. That didn’t sit well with some people who wanted to know who they were dealing with. And then that whole controversy turned into its own social media soap opera. The next thing I heard about BAMA was this unexpected “immediate and permanent” shutdown. I really don’t know if the temporarily reopened BAMA ever shipped a chute. Did anyone get one?
BAMA was like a beautiful, well-crafted rocket. And its flight started gloriously, with a nice, straight boost. But unfortunately, something went unstable, there was an extended period of crazy skywriting, followed by a tremendous cato! And just when you thought it was over, surprise! A second stage ignited! But oh no! It was aiming in a dangerous direction and went on a terrifying cruise missile trajectory, followed by a deployment failure, and a now wicked lawn dart!
. For all the talk about how nice rocketry people are, it turns out we’re a bunch of schmucks on par with the rest of humanity. No statistical significant difference.
