H

Harland E. [n.m. u.s.a.]

Well Known Member
I'm curious.I didn't start coming down with the aviation disease until i was 30 years old.It started with WW-2 flight sims on my old computer , that lead to buying and reading alot of books about Aces and bomber pilots and then subscribing to magazines.I didnt have the money or the time to get a liscence but that didnt stop me from living and breathing everything airplane for the last ten years.So that brings me to my point....I STILL dont have a liscence to fly but I'm building an airplane now because I'ts a good time in my life to do so.Am I nuts?How many of you guys or gals have put the cart before the horse like I have? I'm allmost a little embarassed to admit it ,but todays news from Dirk in Germany shows that at least one other guy has taken the same path as me.How about the rest of you...any more back-asswards late bloomers out there?
 
Excellent question... I was backasswards too.

I bought a partially completed Sonerai and started working on it before my first lesson. Good idea? Yes and no. About six months into my project, I started my flight training and am I glad I did.

Before you get into building you want to know what your mission is. And that can change drastically from what you think. Every airplane design is different. If you are living and breathing airplanes and have a chance to try others aircraft then you might have a good idea of what to build before you start flying.

In retrospect, I bought the Sonerai project because it was fast, cheap flying fun. In reality it was a hyper little plane that was out of my league as a low time tailwheel pilot when I first started flying it. Now, I wouldn't think twice about flying something like that since I have been flying performance taildraggers for the past 9 years. Then, I was too inexperienced to know that I was too inexperienced. Now, transitioning to my recently completed RV-8 was a piece of cake because I've been flying aircraft far more demanding in the ground handling department for quite some time.

You didn't mention what you are building.... I will assume an RV...

That said, you have made an excellent choice and really can't go wrong because the RV fulfills quite a number of missions. Moreover, you can actually build an RV and not lose money should you ever sell it. That is remarkable in and of itself in the homebuilt market.

RV's have excellent handling qualities and while responsive they are not overly sensitive or hyperactive. So, you are way ahead of me on that curve, if you are building an RV, then you chose wisely. I had to go thru a number of airplanes and find my "mission" until I fell in love with RV's and had to have one.

However, I would recommend starting your training as soon as you can so that you have time to work up to flying the RV by the time you finish it. While they are excellent aircraft and easy to operate, they are not Cessnas. I wouldn't recommend getting your license and hopping right into one unless you get proper transition training. Why - things happen quickly at speed. It takes training and experience to manage the additional performance and stay ahead of the airplane.

Just as it will take patience and persistence to get your RV project moving to completion, you need to also build your flying skills and gain experience so that by the time your baby is ready to fly, you are personally up to the task.

Good luck with your project.

Cheers,

Rob
 
I also have the cart before the horse. In my 40s building tail feathers for a 9A and will start lessons in the next couple of weeks. Wings will be ordered within a month. I asked the same question and figured that I dont want to be asking it in my 50s or 60s. Good luck and remember we only live once go for it.
 
What you will miss is not knowing what a certified aircraft is to maintain and annual if you never had one. You will probably consider your RV as standard and think all airplanes fly that way!!!! They don't. If all you ever drove was a JAG and then one day you had to drive a 73 LTD stationwagon (FORD) you would think something was wrong with the car and park it as soon as possable. If you are building an RV, consider yourself luckey in making a good choice. Now go build.... go learn to fly.... and get some time in friends RV'S.... You won't be sorry.
 
Childhood disease

I'm just the oposite. I've been wanting to fly since i was 6 or 7 years old. saw a guy flying a radio controlled airplane in a vast open space that is now known as the South Park Mall area in Charlotte NC.

I knew then (around 1963) that someday I would fly. It took until 1998 to finally get my license. I love any and all aspects of aviation. Flew R/C for 20 years plus.

Getting into the Experimental aspect was brought on by the desire to build and fly airplanes along with ownership. I hated having to call the local flight school today to schedule a rental plane two weeks later - weather uncertain.
 
I think there are more guys out there like you than you think - I used to flight instruct at a local FBO, and I had a good number of customers who went out and bought an airplane, and then came and and asked if I would teach them to fly in it.

HOWEVER, there were a few over the years that discovered that they really didn't like flying after they started taking lessons, and ended up selling the plane and moving on to something else in their life (I never could figure out what's not to like about flying!)

I assume that if you are building a plane, that you've at least been up in a small plane once and were crazy about it, and hoepfully you've gotten a ride in the same type as you are building. If you haven't done these two flights yet, I'd do those right away before you spend several years of your life building a plane.

The latter is important because you want to know you'll like what you build. An RV is a pretty safe choice because there are thousands of satisfied pilots, and I doubt you would be disappointed in any of the models. However, I have seen people build for example, a single seat Pitts, without ever going out and getting a ride in at least a 2-seat version, only to complete it and find out they don't like the plane, are afraid of it, or don't even like aerobatics.

(Then again, there are those who just like to build too, so even if you decide you don't like flying, or like flying what you chose to build, you will still experience one of the most rewarding things you can do in this life - building an airplane, and watching it take flight for the first time!)

Good Flying,

Josh
 
Absolutely

Harland,
I gave my first Transition training student a few hours last year, after 5 years of building his slow build -7A. He was/is 77!! ;) He started when he was 72.

My buddy is building a -4 in my hangar and is 50 with no license but has soloed.

Another buddy at a fly-in community near Savannah is 70 building a -9A.

Start pounding rivets....you can do it :D

Happy building..........
 
Flybipe said:
An RV is a pretty safe choice because there are thousands of satisfied pilots, and I doubt you would be disappointed in any of the models. However, I have seen people build for example, a single seat Pitts, without ever going out and getting a ride in at least a 2-seat version, only to complete it and find out they don't like the plane, are afraid of it, or don't even like aerobatics.
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My wife has been flying for years, but I just got my license last Fall. One year for my birthday she got me an aerobatic ride in a Pitts. I loved it and, being a woodworker, researched building one figuring I'd get my license during the build. Fortunately I didn't. Since getting my license I've logged about 20 hrs of TW and now have an appreciation for how long it would take before I was safe to land/takeoff a Pitts. Like they say, "the airshow begins when the Pitts flares to land". I also didn't appreciate how poorly it would fit our mission profile of 300+ nm IFR cross-countries.

So now I'm lurking here while I decide which empennage kit to order. I still need to decide between TW and nosegear so I'll continue to fly the 3 rental TW planes available to me and try to talk my wife into getting her endorsement. I also need to decide between the 7 and 9. I'm taking my second aerobatics lesson tomorrow which may make that decision for me. When the weather clears a bit I know a guy who'll give me a ride in his 6 and, hopefully, will find someone to give me a ride in a 9.

Truth be told, if I'd have started a 7A before starting lessons I'd probably be tickled pink. I likely wouldn't have gotten my TW endorsement so wouldn't know what I was missing, I could do aerobatics, I could add a wing leveler for my wife's IFR cross-countries, and would have the side-by-side seating my wife prefers.

All this to say I'm glad I didn't start building something before getting my license, but that's because I really didn't understand the concept of "mission profile". I'm guessing if a person put enough thought into it they'd do just fine and the RV series is a better "Jack of all Trades" than a lot of planes.
 
i call it the wright brother syndrome

yes, i starting building first. After getting to the "i need to order the fuse" stage i started flying. to make sure this was what i wanted to do.
the building seems to much like work but i dont want a 50 year old plane that has all sorts of maintenance issues. i am an A&P but i want to fly not be let down. i put most of the work in the front end of the project. now i want to fly a bit. however i only have 80 hrs myself so i guess i'll go see pierre or someone for some transistion training in about a year or less.
 
Got my PPL while while working on my fuselage. No regrets.

Alas, this morning I am faced with a difficult decision.....The forcast for central Georgia says that if you own a plane and don't fly today you should be slapped! :eek:
So, will it be a local flight with my daughter to get ice cream, or up to the ATL area for burgers? HMMMMMM.....
What to do, what to do........
 
I started my 9A empennage at the beginning of this year and just started my flight training a few weeks ago (~6 hrs total now.) At first I had second thoughts about the RV since the C150 I'm training in seemed awfully fast :eek: But I've noticed it's slowing down... ;)

I'm holding off on ordering the wings until I'm sure I'm going to make it through to the PPC and I'm sure the RV is what I want. It's been a bit of a roller coaster, some days I'm tense and feel overwhelmed and other days are great. Yesterday was a good day -- doing takeoffs and landings. Andy
 
gasman said:
What you will miss is not knowing what a certified aircraft is to maintain and annual if you never had one. You will probably consider your RV as standard and think all airplanes fly that way!!!! They don't. If all you ever drove was a JAG and then one day you had to drive a 73 LTD stationwagon (FORD) you would think something was wrong with the car and park it as soon as possable. If you are building an RV, consider yourself luckey in making a good choice. Now go build.... go learn to fly.... and get some time in friends RV'S.... You won't be sorry.
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Gasman,

T'is so true. Once you start flying performance planes, flying anything else is painful. Hard to drive a Ford LTD around when you drive the Jag everyday. Last time I flew my buddies Mooney (a very nice one mind you) it felt like there were cinderblocks attached to the ailerons. But that's what folks want in an IFR platform I suppose.

And annuals, well let's use the example that a friend just paid 4600 in annual costs for his largely flawless Tiger and didn't have all that much done. Indeed the days of the $1,000 annual are over for certified planes. Mine cost me a case of oil, a few filters and o-rings and some sweat equity.

It is indeed hard to go back. The only flaw I noticed in our RV's is that they don't like the bumpy days as much. That's really the only compromise that we make and it's one I can certainly live with. Someone had a good quote that I saw the other day, something like "It may be windy, but at least it's bumpy."

-Rob
 
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