Thinking of building an aircraft?
Some fundamental truths -
if you want to build, then build
if you want to fly, then fly - but don't build because
you want to fly.
Builders are a unique group within the aviation community;
I joined their ranks some six years ago. I bought a stalled
project and set about completing it with the aim of flying
the aircraft within 18 months. I'm still building, the
same aircraft. The thoughts that follow in this story
grow out of the experiences I have had since I took on
the project. There are some strong cautions in the story.
They are not there to discourage you, rather they are
there in the hope that they may make your building experience
a better one.
The real costs of building an aircraft
It's always cheaper and makes better sense to buy an
ultralight aircraft if you want to fly.
It's cheaper because of the time you will invest personally
in a building project, and because the cost of all the
bits you will buy incidentally along the way. For example,
I'm off in a minute to visit Jaycar (again) to get more
crimp on electrical connectors. I have packets of these
with one or two used from each packet, but there is not
one with the right sized hole to connect up the oil pressure
sender on the Rotax 912, so off I go, and another $5 OOPS!
(Out Of Pocket Spending) gets forgotten in adding up the
total.
The cost of the kit, or the cost of getting a plans-built
aircraft to 'lock up' stage is probably about 1/3 of the
total cost, and that's not counting the cost of the engine.
Another example; I have just spent two hundred dollars
buying fire resistant hose to cover the fuel and oil lines.
Count on adding in the cost of things like tools, paint
and paint preparation, instruments, radio intercom and
headphones, wiring the aircraft and the rest of the bits
that go to making a working aircraft. When you buy an
aircraft, say a second-hand Gazelle, chances are that
95% of what you consider to be necessary for a good aircraft
will be included. There may be a few small things you
want to do to personalize the way it works, but in the
main it will be 'fly away, no more to pay'. Well, almost.
Who are the builders and why do they build?
The na•ve builder
I know about the na•ve builder, because I started
that way.
This is the bloke who buys a Bingelis book and gets all
inspired about building an aeroplane, or perhaps he picks
up a copy of Kitplanes Magazine and sees a report on one
of those American kit super hot rods with an Oldsmobile
V8 mounted up front, reported 230 knots cruise, full glass
panel, and there featured in the photos is the pilot with
his blonde wife, both looking like they have just flown
in for a lobster dinner at the club.
What the article doesn't say is that the pilot is a millionaire
who made his money from machine tools and who has a workshop
fully equipped with every gizmo available. Not that he
did much on the aeroplane; read the article and find that
most of the work was farmed out to the industry that has
developed in the USA, built up around completing sport
aircraft for the wealthy. It also doesn't say that pilot's
wife won't fly with him because the aircraft is so fast
that he is always way behind it when he is in the air,
and that frightens her witless.
Some times the na•ve builder is fortunate enough,
as I was, to meet someone wise in the ways of building
aeroplanes, a member of the RAA or the SAAA for example,
and is taken under the wing of that person. (Pardon the
double entendre). From there he is on a fast learning
curve that may in the end result in an aeroplane.
Otherwise the na•ve builder may find some idealist's
plans for an aircraft, and may even build it, to find
it cannot be registered or flown. There must be a na•ve
builder who has completed an airworthy aircraft without
help and guidance, but I have yet to find him. It is thought
that only 10% of scratch built aircraft (i.e. built from
plans only) are completed, and the builder who started
the project completes even fewer of those.
The economy class pilot
This bloke wants to fly and to own his aircraft, and thinks
the way he can afford to do that is to build. "It's
bound to be cheaper."
Well, in most cases it isn't cheaper, and he will find
that flying and building are mutually exclusive activities.
So he ends up spending a lot of money, and in the interim,
gets no time to fly. Now, I do know of one or two builders
who have completed quite respectable aeroplanes for somewhere
between $10,000 and $15,000, but they typically have a
head start in that they have built aircraft before, and
have access to resources like equipped workshops and technical
expertise for free.
Engines for example. The amateur building network is rife
with stories of builders who have put together a Subaru
EA81 or a Volkswagen engine for their aircraft for $3,000,
sometimes for less than that. Scratch a little deeper
and you find that they started with a background of motor
engineering, the engine has no reduction gearbox and runs
direct drive, or the builder is an extraordinary scrounger
and is super resourceful. One builder put together such
an engine, and has modified it over the years to make
it perform. He now says it has cost him as much as a new
engine.
Even given that some builders have been able to finish
an aircraft for under $15,000, we should remember that
refers to materials only, and does not take into account
"OOPS!" or the builder's time.
Blokes and their sheds
There is a whole collection of builders who just like
pottering around in the shed, and who are in no particular
hurry to complete their project, so if it is a good day
they will go flying, or meet the significant other for
lunch. This builder has probably built model aircraft,
or boats, restored motorcars, or renovated the house (always
a good starting place if you have a significant other
in your life).
Their sheds are as many and varied as the people in this
group. Some are absolutely meticulous. One of my mates
works in a shed so tidy that I sometimes wonder if the
work on his aircraft is done "off-site" and
shipped in. The quality of his work is better than the
same article produced commercially. He will make a piece
three or four times if he is not happy with the end product.
The project is taking time, but he is enjoying the process
and will have a stunning aircraft when it is finished.
The shed doesn't have to be big, though it helps if it
is. Aircraft have been completed in single car garages.
It doesn't even have to be a shed. One builder I know
earned brownie points by building a sun room on the back
of the house. The deal was he would build his aircraft
in the sun room and give it back to the family when he
finished. He's now a happy pilot.
Others are not as driven; another of my mates has a mantra
... "it's only an aeroplane". He points out
that a piece of work must be serviceable, but it doesn't
need to be polished, preened and picture perfect. After
all, 85% of what you build is buried away under paint
and fabric. He has been flying his aircraft for years
and is still enjoying it, although, it could probably
do with some detailing, but he will get around to that,
bit by bit. In the mean time he is flying. He too is a
happy pilot.
A number of builders I know are simply mechanical geniuses.
Two have drafted their own plans, and then built the whole
aircraft, machining up their own parts. Both come from
a metal trades background; one has just finished his third
aircraft. All three are works of art.
How long does it take to complete an aircraft?
We have one member at the club who has completed three
aeroplanes; the last one took less that 12 months from
scratch. More typically some of our members have had "projects"
bubbling away in the shed from between 10 and 15 years.
You need to be very single minded to joining the constructors
in the express lane, preferably you would be single and
definitely not be involved with school-aged children.
If you do your share of picking the kids up, being a volunteer
at their sports, and intend to stay married to your present
partner, forget the express lane, come and join the rest
of us who manage an hour or two, here and there, in the
shed.
Are there short cuts?
There are no short cuts in the building process, but there
are leg-ups.
The first leg-up is to buy a partly built project from
a builder who has run out of enthusiasm. You need to make
careful assessment of the capability of the bloke offering
the project and the quality of the work completed. If
the aircraft is wood and fabric, you need to determine
what timber was used and what glues hold the thing together.
Some very old projects used casein glue, and should be
left well alone. Casein glue is generally white or yellow.
Builders later used urea-based glues. These are generally
brown or red, and are quite serviceable if the builder
used the right mix and worked in the correct temperature
range. Wooden boats were built with urea-based glues until
epoxies became available and most of those are still in
good shape, so the glue is serviceable. Ask the builder
if you can see his test pieces. These are pieces of scrap
wood glued and dated, and are constructed at the same
time the work is done on the actual aircraft. If the glue
line in the test piece separates under normal sorts of
stress, it may indicate that the construction of the aircraft
is suspect.
Epoxy glues are clear or milky white, and bead rather
than flow out of joints. This characteristic helps to
distinguish epoxy from casein. Epoxies are reliable if
they have been mixed in the correct ratios and if they
are applied in the recommended ambient temperature ranges.
Most recent projects will have used epoxy glues.
If you are not skilled in building, take an experienced
builder with you. In fact it is always better to take
someone else when assessing an aircraft or project. They
generally pick up things you have missed.
The second leg up is to buy a kit from a tried and true
manufacturer. That path is initially more expensive than
building from scratch, but probably cheaper in the long
run if you count builders' time in the calculations. Kits
vary, some deliver a pile of raw materials sufficient
to complete the aircraft, and you need to cut, shape and
fabricate the pieces necessary to build the aircraft.
Others deliver all the pieces already fabricated; you
have to assemble the bits.
The advantage of kits, whichever form, is that 90% of
the thinking has been done, hopefully by someone who knows
what they are doing. Therefore the systems will fit and
work, and the engine installation will be straightforward.
Even if someone has fitted an engine you have, to the
airframe you have, unless you copy the installation exactly,
it's never a straightforward process and requires lots
of thinking and time. For example, change the position
of the oil bottle in the set up of the Rotax 912, and
you get a cascade effect, placing the oil bottle on the
firewall means that other equipment on the firewall will
have to be relocated. Installing an engine from scratch
is a very time consuming activity, so stick to the plans
if you are in a hurry.
Do's and don'ts
Do read a lot of material, especially the RAA and SAAA
magazines, and talk to other builders. Just understand
that most people who build think they have the perfect
aircraft, so temper the reports with a fair dose of common
sense.
Understand the limits; aircraft registered with the RAA
can have only two seats (pilot and one passenger) and
have weight limits. If you intend to fly with the family,
may be you should buy a Cessna, or at least talk to the
SAAA whose regulations allow an aircraft to be registered
with increased capacities.
Do join an organization with other builders and talk to
them.
Don't buy plans until you have seen a completed aircraft
built to those plans, and preferably flown in it.
Don't buy or build an unproven aircraft. There is safety
in numbers, so check out how many of the aircraft you
are considering are actually flying. Check out the civil
aircraft register on the CASA website, call the RAA or
SAAA, and talk to other pilots. Chances are that there
will be websites that can tell you this. For example the
Jabiru, the KR2 series, the Sonex and the Jodel series
all have websites and active user groups with lots of
information about building, maintaining and flying these
aircraft. There are lots of orphans in the amateur built
category. They don't take off (again, pardon the pun)
because they are dogs to fly, or because they are too
complicated, expensive, or just plain ugly.
Decide why you want to build. For many builders it is
the journey, not the destination that counts. Further
to that, if you want to fly for fun, a single seat aircraft
may be the option you should take. The Corby Starlet or
the Minimax both have an established support group in
Australia, for example.
Do start the process sooner rather than later. A friend
who was considering a part-built project, asked an old
member of the club for an opinion on whether he should
take it on. The reply was "how many summers do you
have left to go flying".
Don't give up, keep nibbling away. If you start, try to
do something on the aircraft each day, or if you have
a family each week. However, understand that life tends
to get in the way of builders, and if it's a month before
you get time in the shed, so be it.
Do I regret starting to build an aircraft?
Never !!!! Though I sometimes wish I had more time to
devote to the aircraft. I've met some wonderful people,
I take great satisfaction from nutting out the solutions
to the building problems that pop up each time I go to
the shed, and in spite of the cautions above, it's been
a very enjoyable process to date. But then I have had
some first class mentors. Thanks Leo, Arthur, Albert,
Paul, Peter, Jack, Wall, and the Jodel and LAA club members.
