There are many reasons that I wanted to build instead of buy. I will attempt to list them out below:

1) Have you ever rented a bug smasher that looked like it had seen its best days before you were born? I have flown some real “experienced” aircraft over the years. When you build, you start with a brand new aircraft. The airframe clock is set to zero.

2) “Oh what fun it is to ride. . .” When you build, you can pick an aircraft that is designed to do exactly what you desire. The certified aircraft out there are fantastic machines, but they are not matched to the type of flying that I want to do.

3) I love working with my hands. This sure beats building bird houses!

4) I needed a mountain to climb. If you like to challenge yourself, this is a great way to go. My wife won’t go so far as to call it a mid-life crisis, but I hope this is as close to one that I get.

5) Building is a great way to learn a new set of skills.

6) Building is a great way to meet new people. There are thousands of people just like you that you can learn from. Pilots are a special bunch. Builders are as good as it gets. They will loan you their tools and time and offer a listening ear when times are hard.

Pitfalls of Building

1) It takes way more time than you would ever imagine. If you are in a hurry to fly, don’t build. You will become impatient and do a poor job if you are racing the clock.

2) Surprisingly, it can cost way more money to build than to buy. Builders tend to rig airplanes with more goodies than the typical certified bug smasher has in it. Of course, you can build on the cheap as well. Many aircraft have taken to the skies behind the urban sound of a Briggs and Stratton, and I would rather be buzzing along in the sky than cutting grass any day! Seriously, I could purchase two reasonable certified aircraft for what my experimental will cost, and that does not even include factoring in 2000 hours of my labor.

3) It takes away from your family life. Make sure that your spouse is on board with your project, or you will probably not have a spouse by the time that you have an aircraft. Don’t neglect your children. No airplane is worth the cost of a marriage.

4) It can be very boring. Many tasks are brainless and can suck the energy out of you just because they are boring and menial.

5) Building can be too exciting. I know that it seems as if I am talking out of both sides of my mouth, (Or out of both sides of my keyboard?) but if you want to learn some new dirty words, try riveting a wing skin and having the rivet gun stitch a line of dings across the skin after you lose control of it. You go from boring to very exciting in a few seconds. I have learned to play a stereo in my shop to help cover up some of the expletives. I have started making up new dirty words that my four-year old daughter can say without getting me reported to DSS.

6) You can kill yourself if you cut corners. I bet that got your attention. If you are the type of person that has a rolling pigpen of a car or can graze a few head of cattle in your yard because your grass is too high, you probably are not the type of person that should build an airplane. You need to be anal. If your socks are matched and stored in your drawer based on color, then you are on the right track. If your cereal boxes are lined up based on height, then you should do fine. My socks and cereal boxes are not in order, but if you inspect under the hood of my cars, you will see what being anal is all about. You can eat off the top of my engine. Please make a realistic assessment of your discipline before you attempt to build an airplane.

What to Build?

This is probably the most difficult part of building an airplane. If you can decide what to build, you are on your way. There are a few points that need to be addressed when deciding on the model:

1) What are your current skills when it comes to working with tools? Do you want to learn a new skills set while working on your airplane? Do you have the tools on hand to build the type of aircraft that you desire? Can you afford to re-tool if you don’t?

2) What are your current flying skills? This was easy for me: I didn’t have any real skills other than being able to take off and land without bustin’ up the runway too much. As a matter of fact, when I decided to build an airplane, I had not flown in almost eight years. I needed to select an aircraft with a forgiving nature. I needed a big, fat air hog of a wing that would reach into the cockpit and tap me on the head to let me know that I was getting ready to ask it to do something that it was not capable of. There would be no sexy fast-movers for me. If I get lost in a C-152, imagine how fast I would get lost at 250 kts. I wanted a plane that could fly slow, and then go reasonably fast. Slow flying aircraft are much safer in a forced landing situation. I wanted an aircraft that could do mild aerobatics even though the closest thing to aerobatics that I have done so far has been trying to balance on the lift strut of a C-152 while dipping the fuel tanks. I also needed an aircraft with fixed gear because my brain isn’t always with me, and I know that sooner or later I would forget to lower the gear and that would be too much shame for me to stomach. Conventional gear or tri-gear? This has been the toughest decision for me so far. I have never landed a tail dragger, but I have a desire to learn some new flying skills. My landings have always been pretty good except when someone else was around to witness them, so my thinking was that I could learn how to manage a tail dragger with ease. I then researched the cost of insuring a tail dragger at my current skill level, and the decision became clear that there would be no tail dragger in my future. I put tail dragger pilots on a pedestal…maybe some day I will go this direction, but after a realistic review of my skills, it won’t be with my first experimental aircraft.

3) Do you have access to a climate-controlled shop? If not, you won’t be building a composite plane. Composites require tighter temperature and humidity control than wood or metal aircraft do.

4) How much wampum do you have to spend on your airplane? In my case, I am building way beyond our budget, so it will take longer to save up for the bigger items such as the engine and avionics.

5) How much time are you willing to spend? You can swap money for time with some models by going with a quick build program.

6) What is the primary mission that you will ask of your airplane? If you like to fly the pattern on the weekends, you don’t need a sleek cross country ship with a huge avionics package.

7) What can you afford to build? In my case, I can afford to build an ultra light, but my wonderful wife has allowed my to squander untold thousands on something that more closely fits our mission.

8) Do you trust the kit vendor? Have they been in business long enough to demonstrate stability? Have you had a chance to fly the airplane and meet some of the factory employees? Have you spoken with other builders? Have you studied blueprints?

My Choice

Now that I have laid out items that need to be considered when selecting an aircraft design, I will tell you what I am building. We wanted a sporty aircraft with a top speed of 180 kts. We also wanted an aircraft that could fly slowly if necessary. We set our fastest landing speed at 60 kts. Now we have eliminated most aircraft from consideration because there are not many that can do the above requirements. Next, we wanted the ability to do aerobatics. Now the list is really getting short. Finally, we wanted aluminum construction and tricycle gear. With all of the above, we were able to limit our search to one of Vans Aircraft’s models. My wife is tall, so I found the RV-6A to be a little too tight on leg room. I liked the RV-8A, but it had tandem seating instead of side by side.

Here was the first big compromise of the project: we decided to go with tandem seating because my wife had no desire to fly the plane. It turns out that this was a bad choice in hindsight because she has since seen the light and will most likely obtain her private ticket. If we were to go through the same process of elimination again, we would end up selecting the RV-7A. This model wasn’t available at the time, though. We ordered the empennage kit for starters, and a week or so later, the crates arrived.

Nesting

Stay tuned