Getter Done

[dustman]

Another question for the group a what if. What about a concept that has been used for years, barn raising, but instead of barn raising it would be RV raising. This is the idea that a bunch of guys and gals fly in from all over to help a builder complete his or her aircraft. It could be for the complete build or for portions. You would likely get a group of folks having a lot of experience in building, which could result in a person having a well thought out and built plane. It would be a great time for a bunch of folks to hang out building, talking planes and socializing afterwards. This would not be for the guy who was building for the enjoyment of building, it would more so be for the guy who wants to build but lacks the know how are time to commit to the build. I know that there are EAA chapters that help builders , but want I?m talking about here is a shock and awe attack. Get in build the plane plant the flag and move on to the next. How might the 51% rule come into play for a plan such as has been laid out?

[pierre smith]

....IIRC, this exact topic was brought aup a few years ago and it involved building a bare bones RV during the week of Oshkosh.

A group of 6-10 guys tackles the wings, another group the fuse and another group the emp and flaps/ailerons.

All tools and parts would be laid out and everyone assigned specific individual and team assignments.

If no pay is involved, the 'spirit' of the rule would be (51% amateur built), complied with.

Best,

[John Courte]

This is similar to what the computer-future gurus call 'crowdsourcing.' A location-independent version would be where local groups build left-wing, right wing, emp, fuse, and FWF, then bring it all together in a central location equidistant from the assembly groups.

[f1rocket]

Can you do it? Yea sure.

Does it comply with the 51% rule? Don't know. Others here can answer.

Why would you want to do it this way?

If the objective is to have a flying airplane as quickly as you can, then go buy something already built. Even if you take the interior apart and redo the panel, and re-paint, that's probably going to result in an airplane quicker than building it and probably cheaper as well. I have several friends who have gone this route.

If you want to build, then having a "group think" exercise seems counter intuitive to me. People usually build because they like to build or they want to build exactly what they want, neither of which is achieved by this approach. I would think the coordination alone would be quite difficult.

Hey, if it's what you want to do I'm sure you can do it as long as it achieves the final outcome you are looking for. If you do this, be sure to document the heck out of it. That would make for a pretty interesting magazine article.

[videobobk]

I read of a group of guys (?four?) who built identical airplanes. After the planes were completed, they drew straws for who-got-which. I believe these were WWI replicas, but it has been a while. The advantages were always having help and wider expertise to draw on. Actually, it sounds like fun to me, and quite a way to build friendships, as well as airplanes. IIRC, most airplanes have been built by groups of people. The B-24 comes to mind...

Bob Kelly

[dustman]

Bob, I was thinking the same thing this could be a huge amount of fun. We get in our planes and fly to pancake breakfast just for heck of it, why not jump in the plane and meet up with a bunch of folks of like minds and build a plane. Talking and building planes don't get much better than that. Sure you could buy a plane and buy it cheaper, but what we do I think is alot about the comrodery of our activity being around planes talking and sharing ideas.

[comfortcat]

Wow! Actually, it was 14 airplanes!

The group was called the Noon Patrol, and one of the planes was sold for the EAA chapter. These were 7/8 scale Nieuport fighters. There site is down, but here is the EAA link with some info:

http://www.eaa292.org/

Cool!

Dkb

Originally Posted by videobobk

I read of a group of guys (?four?) who built identical airplanes. After the planes were completed, they drew straws for who-got-which. I believe these were WWI replicas, but it has been a while. The advantages were always having help and wider expertise to draw on. Actually, it sounds like fun to me, and quite a way to build friendships, as well as airplanes. IIRC, most airplanes have been built by groups of people. The B-24 comes to mind...

Bob Kelly

[CNEJR]

"Airplanes for Humanity"