Homebuilt

I learned this the hard way, through frequent repairs on my high school car, a 1970 MGB. But I didn’t mind—in fact, I relished the challenge of diagnosing and fixing the latest reason the car wouldn’t start or operate properly.

In college, my love for airplanes supplanted my love for cars, but I quickly learned after purchasing a 1969 Cessna 150 at age 23 that I couldn’t personally repair the many reasons my 22-year-old airplane wouldn’t start or operate properly—and I could barely afford to hire an A&P to diagnose and fix the problems.

After attending Oshkosh (prior to the event being named EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in 1998), I had an epiphany: I could apply my love for fixing cars to building an experimental airplane, one that I could also maintain and repair once it was complete. The aircraft in question needed to be inexpensive, easy to build, and safe.

I chose a Rans S–6ES Coyote II. It’s a two-seat, high-wing, tube-and-fabric airplane with side-by-side seating that mirrors the layout of a Cessna 150. The S–6ES design incorporated pre-sewn Dacron fabric envelopes that covered the fuselage, wings, and tail section to significantly reduce build time. I selected the Rotax 912 UL engine with 80 horsepower and the optional BRS ballistic parachute in case my building talents were not as robust as I imagined.

The project moved along quickly. The kit included a prewelded and powder-coated steel cockpit section, and riveting and bolting the precut aluminum wing, tailcone, and empennage together took mere weeks. I learned to install an engine, cut an instrument panel, and wire avionics, and breathed a sigh of relief when my new-to-the-market Garmin GNC 250XL GPS/com and GTX 320 transponder came to life without billowing smoke. It was almost time to assemble the parts into an airplane, but the one-car garage in my condominium was too small.

As a bachelor, certain things in life take priority, so I sold my condo and purchased a single-family home with a two-car garage to continue the build. I painted the fiberglass parts of the airplane in an ad-hoc paint booth in the basement, covered the wings and tail feathers in the living room, assembled the airplane and installed the interior in the garage, and then…I fell in love. Although my future wife’s father was an airline pilot and she appreciated aviation, the build slowed.

Fast forward a year, and as a married couple with a child on the way, I sold the 80-percent-complete airplane to another builder. Having made no modifications to the kit, I had only spent 484 hours building the kit.

I flew little for the next 11 years, but when my son turned 10, I got the itch to fly again and show him the world of general aviation from the front seat of an airplane (he had already attended Oshkosh for 10 years but had never flown in a GA airplane). On a whim, I searched for my Rans and was shocked to see it for sale on Barnstormers. The airplane had been flying in Michigan for years. I called the owner, who had just sold the airplane to a pilot based in Nova Scotia. The airplane received a Canadian registration number unknown to me, and I haven’t been able to locate the airplane since.

The experience of building (or helping to build) an experimental airplane teaches so much about the aircraft we fly. In my case, it gave me full confidence to undertake all preventive maintenance allowed by the pilot-owner of a certified aircraft, as detailed in FAR Part 43, Appendix A, paragraph (c), reducing my maintenance costs. And, although I still chafe at not being able to do more maintenance and repairs on my Cessna 140 and 170, I understand why the FAA would be so careful on this point. Airplanes are complex machines that require a great deal of knowledge to build and maintain properly, and an owner making unsupervised repairs on a certified airplane would effectively make it experimental.

I have great respect for the hard-won knowledge of aircraft technicians who keep us safe by maintaining our certified airplanes to the highest standards. And I give tremendous credit to the tens of thousands of people who have built and flown their own aircraft—particularly those who successfully build an airplane from plans alone.

In “Go Big,” I review the biggest experimental airplane I’ve ever flown. That experience affirms my admiration of the experimental aircraft market and the endless possibilities ahead for general aviation aircraft.

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