The Back Story

Starting is always the hardest part for me, followed by finishing. Big projects take commitment and determination to see them through. I've wanted to build a kit plane for at least the past 6 years. In that time I've met and married my awesome wife Kelley. We've fixed and sold one house and purchased another. I've gone through my private pilot training. Through all this time and through all these milestones I've been dreaming about this project. See I'm a contemplator I think through all contingencies and study and educate myself before jumping into things. Kelley on the other hand is a woman of action, she doesn't want to hear about the talk she wants to get started already!

It's important to understand that while the flying is enough fun for me, Kelley's primary interest is in utility, what fun doors will it open for us? Can we load up the mountain bikes and fly down to Ashville for the weekend? How about loading up our backpacking gear and heading to Adirondacks? Three hours trip to the nephews instead of 8 hour car ride? You get the idea.

When the dreaming begin it was all RVs all the time. Initially the RV-7 then the RV-10. Then there was the Bearhawk, Lightning and the Panther. Over time it became clear that utility and the ability to carry two full size bikes was highly desirable to us. This really meant a 4-place like the RV-10 or the 4-Place Bearhawk. The RV-10s performance, kit refinement, active builder community are all pluses. The Bearhawk on the other hand is the ultimate utility plane, 4 seats 1100-1300lbs useful load, 4 or 6 cylinder lycomings supported, highly capable off airport, ability to scratch build or kit build, still fly at 150+mph, and a great community of builders, although much smaller than the RV community. In the end for us utility and cost trumps performance.

So this leaves us at the hard part getting started. Earlier this month the opportunity to purchase a wing kit from another scratch builder came up and with Kelley's blessing we are finally getting started! Right now the plan is to build as a hybrid scratch build. When and were it make sense (cost/time/value) we'll purchase completed parts otherwise we'll chip away at a scratch build. It's a huge undertaking and commitment but we're looking forward to the challenge and adventure.

In the next post i'll cover the wings kit purchase and pickup!