“In those early days, the Chief Engineer was almost always the Chief Pilot as well. This had the automatic result of eliminating poor engineering very early in aviation.” — Igor I. Sikorsky
This little pearl of wisdom from Igor has a real resonance with yours truly. I knew that the onset of summer was when I first strapped my backside in an airplane that was built with the labors of me and my flying buddy Tom. A quick review of my logbook confirmed that I did my first flight in N914KD on June 29, 2012, so I missed my first flight anniversary for a Quote of the Day by a week.
It was not that plane’s first flight, because I am a realist when it comes to my flying skills, and I paid a mere pittance to one of my instructor buddies, who has over 15,000 hours flying in dozens of aircraft types, and he actually had time in our type of aircraft. He did the honors of being the first, and after about 30 minutes of seat-of-the-pants flying, he landed and assessed the stability of our baby.
His assessment as he taxied back the ramp was a pair of thumbs up, but he also had a punch list of squawks that needed to be resolved before the next flight. Most notably getting the airspeed on the Electronic EFIS software displaying the correct value. Some cooling issues, which after several increasingly more invasive modifications, we have finally conquered last summer under all but the hottest (+37C) of days. Lastly, adjusting the pitch of the horizontal stabilizer. This item was finally addressed to our complete satisfaction this spring. It became important to increase the pitch down range (beyond the initial adjustable range, which we did after that first flight) for further reducing the landing speed for my son’s flying instructions. Yes, the circle is now complete, and one of my sons has tasted the flying urge and has taken to the air.
Tom and I both were bitten hard by the freedom one feels when you are coursing through the air and it’s under your control. We had done several trips to that orgy of experimental aircraft flying held annually on the shores of Lake Winnebago in Oshkosh, WI. After several trips to some Experimental Fly-ins, the idea of actually building a plane evolved from why to why not?
We settled on a comprehensive kit, both in the complete supply of the parts required and, more crucially, the instructions. Some available kits are notoriously vague on “how to do this step,” or have few pictures of the assembly’s final expected appearance. This kit came with a three-inch binder full of women instructions and pictures.
This box arrived in the dead winter, January of 2003. We had delusions visions that we could whip out the assembly and fly to the centennial celebration of the first flight in Kitty Hawk, NC, in December 2003.
The model airplanes I built as a boy as came in a box, so I guess it’s true that the difference between men and boys is the size of their toys. Well the reality of life’s obligations adjusted that to May of 2012. This is the birth certificate that the FAA’s representative (he’s a DAR, Designated Airworthiness Representative) conferred to our labor of love.
Ol’ Bill has been doing these airworthiness inspections for at least a decade, and mentioned after four hours of him and his assistants looking into every nook and cranny of 914KD that it was one of the cleanest build reviews he had ever done. That is the result of two aerospace engineers sweating the details and knowing who would be flying it for the next few decades.
The time from kit receipt to flight was also hampered by SkyStar, the manufacturer of the kit, going bankrupt before they delivered all of the parts. It required a few years of tussle to get everything for which we paid. Bankruptcy also hampered getting factory support when the instructions had ambiguities that only a pair of aerospace engineers would think to question.
Since there are over 1,500 of these kits sold, and two-thirds of them are flying, there is a demand for support, and fortunately one of the folks who worked for “SkyStar” bought the interests, tooling, and leftover parts, and reestablished the marquee. This is not that uncommon an event in the life of an airframe in both certified and uncertified GA aircraft production.
After nine years, 1,700 hours between the two builders, I got to relive Mr. Sikorsky’s nostrum, or Mr. Long’s admonition to Have Skin in the Game. Was it a risk? Sure, all of life is a risk, but if one does not have some calculated risks in one’s life how do you know you are alive and free?
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