Steps for buying a homebuilt?

[Tom @ N269CP]

To add...if you do decide to buy a plane, make absolutely sure you have someplace to hangar it. You probably don't want to park your costly investment outside on the ramp.

Hangar space can be difficult to find depending on where you are located.

I rented my hangar before buying my plane.

[edneff]

Originally Posted by catmandu

I respectfully disagree with Steve and Mel. RV's can take student abuse with the best of them, my local flight school uses -12's, and I do primary instruction in my -6a. Just like any plane, one needs to instruct folks to respect the limits of the airframe.

I agree with your last statement, but not so much with the first one. I do a lot of instruction in Cessnas and Pipers, and I have experienced some student landing events that I would probably have to stop and inspect the airframe had the event been in an RV... and perhaps result in repairs at least to the wheel pants, if not the gear itself. I don't have experience with the RV12, but I do have time in several of the other 2 seat RV's. I would recommend that a new pilot at least solo in a certified trainer before he attempts to get the PPL in an RV.

[akschu]

GhostRider32,

Would you teach your daughter to drive in a 6 speed Corvette? What about a hand built street rod? I wouldn't....

What you really want is a super durable low HP durable airplane, and they make those, they are called Cessna 150/152/172's.

I bought my 150 for $20k, hired a private instructor, got my ticket, flew the airplane for a total of 100 hours, and sold it for $20k.

This did a few things:

1. Avoided rental fees.
2. Provided me my first airplane ownership experience on what is arguably the cheapest and most reliable airplane made.
3. Gave me something that was easy to fly to start out with which accelerated my learning.
4. Saved me TONS of money on gas. I burned $12/hr (mogas), not $30/hr (assuming the RV wants avgas), and in that first 100 hours saved $1800 just in gas.
5. Taught me what I really wanted, which is a tailwheel bush rig. (I live in Alaska)

Notice I didn't even touch on insurance or other things that matter....

I would never recommend an RV as a first airplane, but it's a very good choice for a second!

schu