Looking to build an airplane

GSXR69 said:
Thanks for the reply, I do agree that the low cost of ownership could be a myth.

However, I do live in the San Francisco Bay area and low cost of ownership might be relative just because of how expensive it is to rent anything other than a trainer plane. And every time we want to do a trip, the trainer planes are a hassle to book. Hence the decision to build my own plane.

That being said, if you have any other insights that I might not have looked into, please share as it would be much appreciated.
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I kinda think you should only build if you want to build. For the experience of the process. If your only reason to build is to fly. I recommend buying one that someone else built.
 
A friend of mine built, I think, 3 planes. He just liked to build planes. As I understand it, he built the first one, then it wasn't quite what he wanted, so he sold it and started building something else. Rinse/repeat. He was retired and found putting in rivet after rivet after rivet relaxing. He didn't fly much.
 
WOW, great responses here guys. I even got a few PMs so that I can call. Thanks a bunch!
 
If your budget is $250k then you area buyer not a builder. 4place e/ab is not that common most popular planes are 2person.
 
pfarber said:
If your budget is $250k then you area buyer not a builder. 4place e/ab is not that common most popular planes are 2person.
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I consider myself a builder as much as anyone who’s built a 2-place kit. The RV-10 is very popular and the Slings are growing steam. Add in Velocity, Lancair, and Murphy to name a few and 4-place E-ABs are well solid market segment now. Just because they are more expensive kit to build doesn’t make the purchaser any less of a kit builder.
 
tsts4 said:
I consider myself a builder as much as anyone who’s built a 2-place kit. The RV-10 is very popular and the Slings are growing steam. Add in Velocity, Lancair, and Murphy to name a few and 4-place E-ABs are well solid market segment now. Just because they are more expensive kit to build doesn’t make the purchaser any less of a kit builder.
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velocity lancair et al are a tiny segment. I remember when the Lancair first flew. They used to run an ad on the back cover of kitplanes with a red lancair for years.

the eab workd is full of unique solutions to the same problem. but other than the RV series i cant see how any other line can be considered a sucess. since 1984-ish there are how many lancairs inthe sky?
 
pfarber said:
velocity lancair et al are a tiny segment. I remember when the Lancair first flew. They used to run an ad on the back cover of kitplanes with a red lancair for years.

the eab workd is full of unique solutions to the same problem. but other than the RV series i cant see how any other line can be considered a sucess. since 1984-ish there are how many lancairs inthe sky?
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What do you consider success? Lancair, Velocity, Bearhawk, and lots of others are still in business after decades and their aircraft are getting built today. In my book that's success. If you are going to restrict the definition to market share or number of completions, then that's your choice but I'm not taking that myopic of a view of the industry.
 
Glad I found this thread. My budget is $75-100k but i dont want to make payments on something I cant afford to fly often and I dont like $40,000 dollar surprises. Im inclined to build a zenith 801 but my wife wants a 6 place. I could probably afford to acquire a Cherokee 6 or a Beech Sierra but paying an A&P to do every jot and tiddle would put me in the poor house or looney bin.

2/4 of my kids want to be pilots so that helps justify the cost, but a 2 or 4 place me-built bush plane kept here at the ranch would probably cost a lot less than a certified plane kept at our unsecured local airport.
 
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moparrob66 said:
I could probably afford to acquire a Cherokee 6 or a Beech Sierra but paying an A&P to do every jot and tiddle would put me in the poor house or looney bin.
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As the builder/owner of two experimental, I’ll tell you that maintenance expenses should not be a deciding factor. You’re talking about a relatively small number, and one that can be mitigated by owner assistance.
 
There are other factors for me. Not a lot of certified planes that will get 4 people in and out of my 600 (800 with some dozer work) foot backyard strip. That eliminates hangar rental or tiedown fees as well as more spontaneous flying instead of making time to drive to the airport.

If money were no object, I'd probably be showing off a Helio Courier.
 
moparrob66 said:
There are other factors for me. Not a lot of certified planes that will get 4 people in and out of my 600 (800 with some dozer work) foot backyard strip.….
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You’re trying to check a lot of boxes in one fell swoop. Good luck finding the unicorn.
 
I think that it is definitely doable, but you really probably wouldn’t like the results, the light wingloading it would require would make it useless in all but still air ( including calm days from around 10:00 am to 5:30 ish pm, because you’ll be a leaf in the wind unless you ballast it to gross weight) and the fuel burn per mile covered in the rare times it would actually be comfort to fly would be eye watering.
 
For 4 people comfortably out of a 600' strip, I'd recommend finding a lightly used Bell 212.
 
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