Work on the project every chance you get!
Mike,
I started thinking about building an airplane in the late 1990s. I paid for a ride in a fiberglass pusher called the Glassic Composite, which was a variation on the Cozy Mark IV. I thought about a Velocity 173, but I did not like the way it felt when I got in it. I visited both factories in Florida when I lived down there.
In 2001, I got a good paying job and by the time Oshkosh 2002 rolled around, I went there to select an airplane to build. I looked at the high-wing kits, and again, the feel just wasn't right. I climbed into all the Van's Aircraft models at their booth and settled on the RV-9A. A woman was sitting beside me for part of the time I was in the airplane, and that helped with the "feel" of the airplane both solo and with a passenger. I am not an aerobatic pilot. The cross-country capabilities and the efficiency of the RV-9 wing at higher altitudes 10,000 feet and above appealed to me. I cruise much of my long cross-country trips between 10,000 and 13,500 MSL searching for favorable winds and using the leaner fuel mixture settings at those altitudes. I have a constant speed prop and use power settings that yield 160 MPH true air speed and 25 MPG fuel economy.
By October 2002, I had ordered the preview plans and the tail kit. I got started by late October and finished the tail in December, just in time for the wings that arrived in early January 2003. Wing and fuel tank construction went well and I received the fuselage in August 2003 and so on, etc. The engine and prop came in September 2004. The airplane moved from my garage to the airport near the end of April 2005. First flight was on June 9, 2005. I sent my first flight report to Van's and it was recorded on their web site "Hobbs Meter" under RV-9/9A as number 155 to be completed and flown. My kit number was 90622. I passed a lot of other builders in my quest to get airborne. I met the guy with number 400 at Oshkosh 2004.
Now this sounds like a simple tale of dedication. I documented the story in my web site, which is linked in the signature block at the end of this post. I had my share of set backs in jobs. My finances got trimmed a bit along the way. The week after I got back from Oshkosh 2002, I got laid off from my highest-paid job. Fortunately, my previous boss had been asking me to come back for the 18 months I had the "better offer" job and bigger salary. I got my old job back the next day. That lasted about 7 months, then I had to change jobs again with a month of searching in between. I got another job in early 2003, but again took another hit on my salary. This job lasted until the end of February 2005. All during the project up to that time, I would travel on business for a week from time to time. Those trips slowed the construction progress. I mentioned those trips occasionally in the web pages. I had a small inheritance that had paid off my credit card in 2004. I bought the Van's kits on that card with its PRIME interest rate. The inheritance money also bought and paid for the engine, the finishing kit, etc. On March 1, 2005, my regular job became the completion of the airplane and to get it flying. I worked on it every day, all day, and on the weekends as much as I could take in the spring of 2005.
I spent most of June flying to get my phase one tests completed. The Hobbs meter ticked past 40 hours on July 2, 2005 with a lot of flying those last two days. I took July 3rd off. July 4th was my airplane independence day and I flew out of my phase 1 test area on a short cross country flight. The airplane went into the paint shop on July 5th and came out the day before Oshkosh 2005. All that stuff is in the web site with plenty of building photos and text in the first 135 pages of the web site.
The ultimate satisfaction of the completed project really began on page 151 when I flew away on an 8-day trip to Oshkosh, the Great Lakes, New Jersey, New England, and back home. It was the first time since I started flying in October 1991 that I had flown an airplane and did not return to the airport of origin on the same day. This photo was taken on the ramp at Georgetown, Texas on Labor Day 2005
It is worth it to be the builder and owner of one of the 6,631 (today's count) Van's Aircraft airplanes completed and flown worldwide! Build in your garage where you can get to the airplane any time and every time you can. You will see at the end of most of my sessions where I mentioned how many hours were worked that day. I kept a spread sheet of hours worked and costs incurred from the first expenditures to add shop lights and build work tables. In the end, it was just over 2042 hours of building, and about $75k for an airplane with all new engine and avionics. That includes the cost of the paint job done by a professional. Plenty of folks have spent more and some less. It all depends on your mission for your airplane as to how plain or fancy you want to do it. I kept tools and workshop materials separate from the cost of items that became a part of the airplane.
There are plenty of flying stories and photos on my web site. I was fortunate to make a new friend during my construction project who owns an airstrip behind his home out in the countryside nearby. He got the building bug from me, and I got the $100 finder's fee from Van's for bringing in a new customer. I taught him how to build his airplane and to read blue prints. I am an engineer, he was a sales guy.
One of the best stories about flying on my web site is not about an RV excursion, but about a trip to Alaska when my friend sold his Cessna 182 to a guy from Anchorage. That sale made room for his new RV-8 in the hangar. The trip to Alaska produced over 500 photos from my friend and the other commercial pilot with Canada and Alaska flying experience who went along to share the flying duties. I documented the entire trip in 50 pages full of their photos, and maps with GPS ground tracks. I felt like I had been in the back seat of that 182 with them.
You will need high-speed internet connection to enjoy my web site. You will find something in it to motivate you, or you need to consider another hobby. If you have never flown to Oshkosh, you can watch my videos made on my 2006 trip. A short test video is made as my friend and I crossed the Ohio River, then another one of the approach, landing, and finally a departure video. The EAA chapter at Lawrenceville, Georgia downloaded my videos for a training DVD they made for first time Oshkosh pilots. These are real-time NTSC videos with audio from the intercom and communications radio. The FAA controllers are heard clearly during each part of the approach and landing. The video shows the ground handling by flagmen all the way to home-built camping and engine shut down.
It is best if you download the videos to your hard drive and watch them when you are offline. You will find smaller compressed files, and larger files with better video resolution. Those are the ones that you should download.
I get occasional emails with questions from builders who have found my web site via the links on the Van's Aircraft web site. That is why I built the site. There is much to explore there to get you going and open your eyes to the possibilities of building and having your own airplane. I meet other pilots who know me and my friend from the web site photos and stories. Some of them bought their RV's already flying. They still enjoy the flight characteristics of Van's airplanes over the factory-built "spam cans" as we call them.
As for me, I knew when I started building, I wanted that "Repairman's Certificate" to insure lower annual inspection costs on MY airplane. The guys with factory airplanes have to pay an A&P mechanic every year, home builders don't.
Now, what's keeping you from getting started?