Is building the ultimate way to own an airplane?
Be honest now. If what you really want is to turn a pile of cash into an airplane — a finished, ready-to-travel mode of transportation — stop right here. With some very specific exceptions, you need not even consider the homebuilt alternative. And what are these exceptions? Maybe you simply can't find what you want in the production world for all-out speed or land-in-your-driveway STOL characteristics. Or perhaps you're just tired of the traditional models on the turn-key lot.
But you've got to keep some perspective here. It's more like a multi-year seminar that teaches you patience and building skills than an inexpensive way to a set of wings. Indeed, you must look upon rolling your own as a form of schooling at the end of which you just happen to own an airplane, rather than the other way around.
So maybe you've decided that, fine, education is a good thing. And besides, there's just nothing on the production market in my price range that isn't either old enough to vote or as bland as hospital food. Does it still make economic sense to build your own? Yes, but only on the condition that you can give of your time for nothing. Consider this scenario: Your new homebuilt will cost about $50,000 to complete, including the usual cost overruns, farming out of certain difficult tasks (like paint and interior), and the typical monetary penalties of having to do some part of the construction twice. (It happens.) But your fifty grand has bought you an efficient, exciting airplane. Let's say, though, that it took you 1,700 hours to spread the glue or buck the rivets. Even at a not-getting-rich hourly rate of $20, that's a $34,000 investment of your own time.
How about getting your investment back at resale time? Most popular homebuilt models will return the cost of raw materials early in their lifespans; that is, while your particular airplane is still fairly rare on the used market. Wait for a glut of your type to hit the classifieds and suddenly it's a buyer's market. High-end models perform well at resale time, too, but they are also subject to the rather narrow supply and demand constraints of the field. Early Glasair IIIs, for instance, were hot tickets, but in time a number of them became available used; then, the prices softened considerably. Today, the III's value is inching back up. Look for Lancair IVs to do the same thing, since the number of completed airplanes has just recently begun to blossom. It also helps if your airplane comes from a stable, ongoing kit manufacturer. Kit value and support suffer for orphaned airplanes like the Questair Venture and Wheeler/EDI Express.
Hardest hit seems to be the light end of the spectrum, in particular those models with two-stroke engines. You often see them advertised for less than the value of the kit and components combined. At the other end of the line is the Van's RV series. Despite a healthy number of these airplanes flying, their resale value has been positively blue-chip. Industry watchers suggest that the good reputation of the airplane and the kit manufacturer, along with familiar metal construction, plays a large part in their investment- grade value.
Consider also the liability issues at work here. As the builder, you are the sole manufacturer of the airplane. If you sell it and the new owner wraps it around the runway lights, you could be sued as the manufacturer for construction or design defects. (Don't think the kit maker will help you here; you did the majority of the work, so you get all the glory.) Has anyone been sued successfully? No. Is it likely that it will never happen? Don't count on it. Several wealthy builders have said that they would rather saw the wings off than take the chance of selling a homebuilt.
Maybe you have no interest in selling your pride and joy — at least not right away. What are the other advantages? Maintenance can be performed by the builder, who receives an airplane-specific repairman's certificate, greatly reducing periodic costs. In addition, as the builder, you are not beholden to some large company to crank out spare parts. Break a bellcrank bracket, for example, and you can simply turn out a new one from raw parts, just as you did the first time around. Want to install new avionics? How about overhaul your own engine? All of these things can be accomplished by the original builder of the airplane.
Homebuilts can be certified for instrument flight and can fly at night. According to FAR 91.319, "Unless otherwise authorized by the Administrator...no person may operate an aircraft that has an experimental certificate over a densely populated area or in a congested airway. The Administrator may issue special operating limitations for particular aircraft to permit takeoffs and landings to be conducted over a densely populated area or in a congested airway...." Most homebuilts contain approval for those uses right in the operating limitations. Experimentals cannot be used for compensation or hire and must be flown in a limited flight-test area during the initial 25 or 40 hours. Once out of initial flight test, though, the homebuilt is for all intents and purposes as useful as a factory-built model.
Insurance availability and costs, save for the upper-echelon, high-horsepower airplanes, are similar to those of production airplanes. Expect your first year's hull insurance to be expensive, with a high deductible. After you've proven that your airplane is a reasonable risk, the prices should go down and the quality of the insurance should go up. For the big guns, expect to attend model- specific training before the larger carriers will touch you — and don't expect the premiums to be blue-light specials.
Current Experimental-class rules give designers and builders tremendous latitude and often are a large attraction to those who chafe at the arcane and sometimes counterproductive approval and maintenance regulations regarding certified airplanes. With a homebuilt you are welcome to seek out a better way.
All it costs is your time.
Hired Guns Explained
You see the advertisements everywhere. An A&P will build your (insert kit name here) in a year for (insert reasonable amount of money). Is this legal? Strictly speaking, no. If the individual's intent is solely to have you buy a kit, deliver it to his door with a check for labor, and then call you back some time later to pick up your flying airplane — absolutely not legal. In the language surrounding the Experimental/Amateur-built rules, the FAA wants to see you seek "education and recreation" in the construction of the bird of your dreams. The category is not intended to be an end run around certification rules.
But the hired-gun issue is not nearly that clear-cut. Some souls just like to build airplanes. They may take on a Kitfox one year and sell it to finance an Avid the next year, then sell the Avid and try a GlaStar after that. Nothing illegal here and, assuming good workmanship, the airplanes are probably a good deal used. (Homebuilders inevitably get better with experience.)
To further muddy the waters, consider the builder-assist centers for most major kits. There you pay for the help of an experienced builder (often, but not always, an A&P) to get you through the early learning curve and those few steps in every homebuilt that are pure agony. Generally, assistance from these centers will not affect the airplane's chances of getting the Amateur-built license. The catch is that you as the builder must actively participate. Showing up once a month to slather some epoxy around may be enough in locales with lax FAA oversight, but don't count on it.
Moreover, the FAA has published a draft advisory circular that will set new guidelines for builder-assist and hired-gun shops; everyone involved expects stepped-up enforcement of the so-called 51-percent rule (wherein the builder must do the "majority" of the work). Most feel that the hired-gun shops will go underground or out of business altogether. — MEC
