Winging it: Building an experimental aircraft is more than a hobby

You can thank the Wright Brothers for starting the homebuilt aircraft industry. After Orville and Wilbur put together an airplane in their backyard and got it off the ground in 1903, the world would never be the same.

A hundred years later, amid all the commercial carriers and fighter jets that evolved out of that first aircraft, people are still building their own planes. In fact, these homebuilt planes, dubbed "experimental aircraft" by the FAA, are more popular than ever, with their own support industries, magazines and associations worldwide.

When it comes to members of the Experimental Aircraft Association, there are builders and there are fliers, says Bob Froelich. Most do both, of course, but some build their own planes so they have something to fly. For others, the primary enjoyment is in putting the plane together.

"I'm a flier," says Froelich, who serves as a technical adviser for EAA's Chapter 23, which has approximately 150 members along the Wasatch Front. "Basically, I built a plane so I could stay in touch with my family. I have family in Santa Barbara, Virginia, Arizona. I've flown all over."

Danny Sorensen is a builder. He finished his first plane in 1984, sold that one, and is now building his second, an original design that he's been working on for eight-plus years. "Flying is fun, too," he says. "But building is certainly part of the adventure." His plane has a steel-tube framework, wooden wings and a Russian engine. "It will be a high-performance air show plane."

The EAA chapter recently held an open house at Sky Park Airport in Woods Cross, where many of the members have hangars, so they could show off the projects they are working on. Talk with them, and it won't take you long to realize that both fliers and builders share a couple of other traits: patience and passion.

Building your own airplane means a huge commitment of both time and money. There are three ways to do it: from your own design, from plans purchased from a designer or by using a kit, which comes with some of the materials prefabricated.

To be an experimental aircraft, at least 51 percent of the work must be done by the home builder, but even with kits, there is a lot to do. Figure on at least a year if you can work full-time, says Bill Oberg, president of EAA Chapter 23, and if your time is limited, it can take much, much longer.

Oberg's been working on his plane for about four years. "The kit says it will take about 2,000 hours. That's how much you work at a job during a year. If you're only working part-time on your plane, it stretches out."

It's equally hard to pin down costs. Kits can run anywhere from around $25,000 to $40,000 and doesn't include the engine, propellers, radio equipment or paint. Oberg guesses you're looking at a minimum of about $50,000. "And the sky's the limit from there."

Still, he says, if you consider that it costs around $180,000 to buy a new Cessna, you're looking at a considerable savings.

Costs vary a lot depending upon the kind of plane you want to build. "In aviation, speed is money. The faster you want to go, the more it will cost," says Oberg. The most popular homebuilts are probably those that go between 100 and 200 mph, but there are faster ones, as well. Experimentals are also more flexible, he says; most can do rolls and loops, something that Cessnas, which go up to 135 mph, can't. "So you're looking at something that can go faster, do more and costs less."

It's not surprising that combination is appealing to more and more people these days.

Like many homebuilt enthusiasts, Kent Brown's passion started as a boy. "I always liked model planes. There was just something in me. You get the bug, and you can't get rid of it."

Brown has a Kitfox that took him five years to build. "I planned on a year. But like everything in life, that changes." He is now starting a second plane. The Kitfox, he says, is great for "short, fun, economical flights. It's good for landing on dirt strips, for backcountry flying." But now he wants a faster plane for cross- country runs.

Brown shares a hangar with Joel Rowley, who is building an RV-6, one of the most popular of the experimental planes. Rowley confesses that he actually started about 10 years ago, but he only began working seriously last October.

You start with the tail, he says, and then move on to the wings. Next comes the fuselage. "Then you hang the motor. The instruments are the last thing." The EAA has technical counselors that monitor every step, and before the plane is flown, it is inspected by the FAA.

"That first flight is exhilarating," says Brown. "But pretty scary, too." At least, adds Rowley, "you know where every rivet and bolt is."

Boyd Seal was a commercial pilot for Pan-Am, and on long flights over the ocean, he and his co-pilots talked about someday building a plane, he says. "Then I went to the show at Oshkosh (the EAA sponsors one of the country's premiere air shows in Wisconsin each July) and there were airplanes everywhere. I went ga-ga. I thought, 'I've got to do this.' That was in the early '80s. I finally bought a kit and started working."