Anyone else fly a homebuilt airplane?

[billyclem]

I am curious how many pilots we have lounging about and how many fly their own homebuilt craft. I am flying my third and as I am in my early 60s it will probably be the last that I build.

It is a Knight Twister and was built from plans that originated in the 30s. It is a small, aerobatic, open cockpit, single-seat biplane the same type as the one in my avatar. I do mean small: 16' long, 6'8" to the top of upper wing, 19' upper wingspan and a wet weight of about 1000lb. It is a joy to fly, sort of a flying go-kart.

Always remember concerning the FAA, they are not happy until we are not happy!

[Bertha Venation]

1. My dad flew an ultralight he built from a kit purchased in Brazil.

He loved it so much. He had finally realized his dream. He got to fly it for 18 months. It crashed and he was killed on January 10,2008. He was 68 years old. We never found out what happened, but he was such a motorhead that I am sure there was nothing wrong with the plane. He crashed in remote area, and recovery of the plane was hampered by bad weather for a month. When they could finally get to the crash site with equipment, the airplane had been stripped. All that remained was some paneling and some tubing.

I am glad that you're flying. I'm sure it's the joy of your life, as it was my dad's. :)

On edit: I didn't mean to rain on your parade. I just get a lot of peace from knowing he died doing what he really loved in this world. Cliche, I guess, but no less true.

[billyclem]

3. There is no rain on my parade.

Sorry about your dad but I understand what you mean by how he died. Sounds like a great way to go to me. Certainly beats a nursing home with someone wiping the drool off your chin every so often. That thought scares me more than anything.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. I'd be scared to death to fly anything I built.

But I know people who have, and they have as much fun building as flying. But you have to know what you're doing, and since you are on your third, obviously you do. I knew some people who were active in EAA, and they had horror stories about home builders who'd modify the plans and come up with weird mutant aircraft that they just knew would fly better than the original design, except that they didn't...

It sounds like a lot of fun for someone with more skill and guts than I have. Good luck with it!

[billyclem]

4. I've been an EAA member for a long time.

I did some airframe mods on the Twister a few years ago; but, I had the changes reviewed. My nephew is a senior aero-engineer at Boeing, he and one of his friends at work reviewed and corrected my changes prior to beginning work. Nice to have very competent family help.

About those horror stories, over the years I have seen some very strange and non-flightworthy design changes made by people who shouldn't even be building birdhouses much less an airplane. It is in cases like these that I don't mind the FAA rules at all. Thank God they must be inspected before the initial powerup for testing.

[Orrex]

5. I once jumped off of my garage roof with a bedsheet for a parachute. Does that count?

[old mark]

6. Always wanted to, never got started. I'd love a small biplane, though.

I have to look these up.
Enjoy it.
Thanks.

mark

[Blue-Jay]

7. I can't even build a good paper airplane.