Homebuilt Planes

GrantHubbell

GrantHubbell

New Member
Does anybody know anything about expirimental aircraft? My friend and I would like to build a small one person plane over the summer that we would go about 20 AGL. So if anyone has any experience PM or if you regualtions about this please let me know. Also my friends bro would help us because he is Majoring in Aronautical Engineering.
Thanks
 
Most of them take a long time to build (2000 hours or so). If you're talking about an ultralight I have no idea how long they take
 
It's not a summer project. Period. The FAA has inspectors that come by not only to sign off on your work, but also on your work space. You would probably be leaning more towards the ultralight market, and I have no CLUE about that. I personally don't want to fly a lawnmower strapped to a kite.

Now, if you really want to get into homebuilts, check out the EAA's website. They've got all the goods since homebuilts are their bread and better.
 
It is a very far feched idea, but my friend and I were just tossing around ideas. I just wanted to hear what you thought of the idea. I can tell you that the plane idea we had would have never gotten of the ground (no pun intended...jk) good day
 
If you are only looking for 20 AGL you might look into a fast motorcycle and a ramp. Make sure to video the test flight.
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If you are only looking for 20 AGL you might look into a fast motorcycle and a ramp. Make sure to video the test flight.
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I'm a big fan of homebuilts. I plan on building a RV-7 whenever I finally get a garage to build it in.

They're cheap (realitively)

They're fun and/or fast.

You can do your own maintence.

They're simple.

Building your own plane isn't for the faint of heart, however. The kit I want to build costs aprox 40-50k and will take 1.5 to 2 years to build. Most kits require you to modify the origional design to suit your needs. You will have to make several important decisions about engines, avionics, systems, ect.

As the builder of an expiremental homebuilt, you can make several decisions based on your own judgment, not limiting yourself to FAA approved parts.

For example, the RV-7 only has seats for two. I meet a guy who built his with a car seat instaled in the baggage compartment so both his wife and 2 year old son could ride. I asked him what Vans (the kit builders) had to say about it. They said "we designed the baggage compartment for 100lbs, what you put back there is up to you."

Many builders decide to use fuses instead of the circut breakers found in most certified planes.


As you build, you will be required to log the work you do. And you will have to be inspected at several point along the way.



Deffinatly contact the EAA if you are considering building.
 
You can PM me if you like. I build and sell both ultralights and experimental aircraft. The rules aren't as bad as most people think and there is no requirement for inspections of work areas, only the finished product. I've been through the process several times and it is easy to do with an EAA DAR.

As far as ultralights are concerned, they are hardly lawnmower engines strapped to kites. I fly a Flightstar with a 60 HP HKS high performance Japanese four stroke racing engine, the same BRS Parachute that is on the Cirrus, GPS, Radios, Intercom, cabin heat, full instrumentation, state of the air composite construction, and I burn only two gallons of car gas per hour with a 5 hour endurance at 85 miles per hour. Best of all, it's N numbered and all flight time counts toward any FAA rating. Not bad for an operating and maintenance cost of less than $15.00 per hour!

It can keep up with the Champ and Cub with no problem at all and it's LOTS of fun to fly.
 
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As far as ultralights are concerned, they are hardly lawnmower engines strapped to kites. I fly a Flightstar with a 60 HP HKS high performance Japanese four stroke racing engine, the same BRS Parachute that is on the Cirrus, GPS, Radios, Intercom, cabin heat, full instrumentation, state of the air composite construction, and I burn only two gallons of car gas per hour with a 5 hour endurance at 85 miles per hour. Best of all, it's N numbered and all flight time counts toward any FAA rating. Not bad for an operating and maintenance cost of less than $15.00 per hour!


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Okay, so it's a fancy, enclosed Japenese lawnmower with a parachute instead of a kite.
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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
As far as ultralights are concerned, they are hardly lawnmower engines strapped to kites. I fly a Flightstar with a 60 HP HKS high performance Japanese four stroke racing engine, the same BRS Parachute that is on the Cirrus, GPS, Radios, Intercom, cabin heat, full instrumentation, state of the air composite construction, and I burn only two gallons of car gas per hour with a 5 hour endurance at 85 miles per hour. Best of all, it's N numbered and all flight time counts toward any FAA rating. Not bad for an operating and maintenance cost of less than $15.00 per hour!


[/ QUOTE ]

Okay, so it's a fancy, enclosed Japenese lawnmower with a parachute instead of a kite.
smile.gif


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I didn't think they had much grass in Japan....especially not enough to require a riding lawn mower!!!
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Actually HKS and HPower have been building high performance race car, and race bike, motors for quite some time. The developer of Flightstars, Tom Peghiny, is a world champion hang glider, an automotive race driver, and an aeronautical engineer. He has been designing/building Flightstars for quite a few years now and the current model kits are built by Lockwood Aviation of Sebring. The parachute is just an emergency balistic chute, the Flightstar is a conventional three axis aircraft that even has elevator trim for hands off flight. The latest aircraft we sell is the CT which is constructed completely of composite materials and cruises at 115 knots with a range of 1000 miles. It's a certificated European Microlight that has been in production for about ten years with more airframes produced per year than Cessna singles.
Check them out at http://www.flyflightstar.com they're pretty cool.
 
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