Sunfish
7th May 2017, 22:56
Hopefully the Gods and Ppruners will forgive me for posting this, I hope it might prove useful to anyone thinking of building their own aircraft from a kit or scratch built.
Attitude: I started building a kit aircraft as "therapy" - something pleasurable and useful to do while my late partner was undergoing treatment for cancer - the endless round of hospitals and waiting rooms was depressing. You need a good reason to build your own aircraft, it is not for the faint of heart, nor the over confident. You need a vision. and a mission to remind yourself why you are doing this for when the going gets tough. In my case I want to do more outback touring, my typical mission; fly Arkaroola to the Dig tree and back via Innaminka and similar.
Help: The SAAA members who have supported me are fantastic. You need help and encouragement from some source or eventually your wellsprings of enthusiasm will dry up. I read somewhere that only 50% of original builders make it to completion and flying.
Technology: I thought I knew enough to be modestly confident of building something useful. Time at Ansett, HdeH and the ability to fix most vehicles suggested this to me. Wrong! Nothing can prepare you for your first work with 25 thou 6160 Al, air drills and rivets. Nothing is what it seems. Almost everything works 'backwards" compared to car engineering. The fastening systems, rivets, AN Bolts etc., are consistent but have their own logic which is not the same as. modern automotive or structural principles.
Conservatism: Building your first aircraft is not the time to indulge in your new ideas of how things should work. Build it like the designer says. There are even cork strips and rubber bungees called for in my aircraft. They are old technology but reliable.
I elected for technology - glass cockpit, autopilot, electronic fuel injected engine and an electronic constant speed prop - this stuff is seductive. I think I would have been flying by now if I had elected for steam gauges and a Lycoming. I am also hoping that the stuff I've bought is reliable. I hope that the benefits in ease of use, performance and safety outweigh the cost and complexity of the installation. This I still to be determined.
Mountains still to climb: Surface preparation and painting, ground testing, a mountain of regulatory paperwork, retraining for the MPC, pilot selection and preparation for the first flight.
The easy bits: building the basic airframe.
The hard bits: fitting out the airframe, bracketry, seats, instruments and controls the engine installation and then a mountain of paperwork.
Problems: There is almost nothing available for building an aircraft in Australia that does not have to come from the USA, this applies right down to raw materials, drill bits, consumables and tools.
Cost: The airframe is maybe 25% of the cost of the project. The engine another 30%, the rest you spend on endless orders for stuff from Aircraft Spruce.
Time: So far it has take me Five years , with a complete interruption of one year for other reasons. During that time I have done very little flying, which is not good.
Attitude: I started building a kit aircraft as "therapy" - something pleasurable and useful to do while my late partner was undergoing treatment for cancer - the endless round of hospitals and waiting rooms was depressing. You need a good reason to build your own aircraft, it is not for the faint of heart, nor the over confident. You need a vision. and a mission to remind yourself why you are doing this for when the going gets tough. In my case I want to do more outback touring, my typical mission; fly Arkaroola to the Dig tree and back via Innaminka and similar.
Help: The SAAA members who have supported me are fantastic. You need help and encouragement from some source or eventually your wellsprings of enthusiasm will dry up. I read somewhere that only 50% of original builders make it to completion and flying.
Technology: I thought I knew enough to be modestly confident of building something useful. Time at Ansett, HdeH and the ability to fix most vehicles suggested this to me. Wrong! Nothing can prepare you for your first work with 25 thou 6160 Al, air drills and rivets. Nothing is what it seems. Almost everything works 'backwards" compared to car engineering. The fastening systems, rivets, AN Bolts etc., are consistent but have their own logic which is not the same as. modern automotive or structural principles.
Conservatism: Building your first aircraft is not the time to indulge in your new ideas of how things should work. Build it like the designer says. There are even cork strips and rubber bungees called for in my aircraft. They are old technology but reliable.
I elected for technology - glass cockpit, autopilot, electronic fuel injected engine and an electronic constant speed prop - this stuff is seductive. I think I would have been flying by now if I had elected for steam gauges and a Lycoming. I am also hoping that the stuff I've bought is reliable. I hope that the benefits in ease of use, performance and safety outweigh the cost and complexity of the installation. This I still to be determined.
Mountains still to climb: Surface preparation and painting, ground testing, a mountain of regulatory paperwork, retraining for the MPC, pilot selection and preparation for the first flight.
The easy bits: building the basic airframe.
The hard bits: fitting out the airframe, bracketry, seats, instruments and controls the engine installation and then a mountain of paperwork.
Problems: There is almost nothing available for building an aircraft in Australia that does not have to come from the USA, this applies right down to raw materials, drill bits, consumables and tools.
Cost: The airframe is maybe 25% of the cost of the project. The engine another 30%, the rest you spend on endless orders for stuff from Aircraft Spruce.
Time: So far it has take me Five years , with a complete interruption of one year for other reasons. During that time I have done very little flying, which is not good.