EAA’s One Week Wonder spreads the fun of kitplanes

This year’s One Week Wonder project is a Sonex Waiex–B, a two-seat, low-wing light sport aircraft that, when completed, will have a range of 687 nautical miles and will cruise at 130 to 135 miles per hour. The basic Waiex kit can be built and flown for $42,553, according to Sonex. The Waiex, pronounced “Y-X,” is a Y-tailed version of the company’s Sonex kitplane.

Experienced builders and sponsor companies will be on hand throughout the weeklong process to ensure that the parts are going together correctly, but the genesis of the One Week Wonder project has always been to spotlight the affordability, ease, and fun of building an airplane of your very own. AirVenture visitors, especially younger ones, are encouraged to come by and learn how to pull a rivet, and when they do they get a commemorative photo and a pin, and they get to sign their name on the airplane.

Experimental Aircraft Association members have already voted on potential paint schemes, provided by Craig Barnett at Scheme Designers—who has created the eye-catching paint schemes for many AOPA sweepstakes airplanes—and you can vote for one of the three finalists at the show. The winning paint scheme will be unveiled on July 31.

Jim Cunningham, a longtime EAA volunteer and Sonex builder, said he is volunteering all week at the One Week Wonder exhibit. “How many times in your life do you get to be part of a team that builds an airplane in a week?” he said.