srileo
03-18-2012, 10:53 AM
Hello all
I am a 36yrd old paramotor pilot with dreams of one day building and flying my own little plane. For now, am researching and soaking in as much as i can to narrow down the daydreaming possibilities.
My personal background:
Originally from India, very comfortable in the US with an american wife :)
No Sport pilot license yet, but definitely getting started in a year or s0
Budget of upto $35k on my own and more if i can convince a friend to join me in the build+ownership process
Intent to build/own is about 2-3 years from now
Wife does not fly, but could be coaxed into a cockpit with demonstration of expertise. 2 seater is a must. side-by-side is necessary.
I live in San Francisco (anyone else around here?), and therefore no place to work on a plane, let alone park one ;-). more on that later.
No mechanical knowledge amounting to much. I can change oil and filters on my motorcycles, but have recently started to build stuff around and am really enjoying the process. + wife is very handy :)
Putting aside the minor technicalities listed above :D, I was heavily interested in the Sonex for a while- and was invited up to a demo flight by a kindly owner. It was terrific and i loved it all the qualities its designers espouse - honesty with materials, build times, well engineered with simplicity and reliability the prime drivers, and a very sensible price point.
However, after a few days of research, i am refining my mission:
1. Needs to be tolerably fast for cross-country. I hope to fly from the bay area and get to say nevada in a few hours. 120mph cruise would be great, 100 is acceptable, 90mph and below is not. Above 120 is also fine, but not at the expense of high stall speeds. As a motorcyclist, i have ridden all the way to panama and back over a leisurely few months and i hope to make a similar pilgrimages in the plane to Alaska and the bahamas.
2. Back-country operations are necessary. by back country i mean fly to grass strips, abandoned airfields in NV, ID, OR to camp, hike and fly back. So, some kind of ruggedness and STOL characteristics is critical. I wont be flying "bush" right away, and will take my time getting to that goal slowly. Decent STOL is sufficient, i dont need to wheelie myself into the air like i see the zeniths do.
3. Carrying capacity: my wife is 6' and about 160, and i am 6' as well and 165. Being able to haul a small camping setup and maybe even a folding bicycle would be terrific. Flying in to Burning man would be a treat :-)
4. Folding wings are critical. The bayarea is expensive to begin with and i have other sports that i dont want to give up to pay for avoidables like hanger fees. I would share hangar space in an existing setup. Trailerability is also necessary for a 'just in case' scenario.
5. Engine: I would highly prefer my motor to NOT be a Rotax. I just dont like their pricing and what that does to our sport. I simply cannot accept that a modern motor can cost upward of $20k and still not have FI or liquid cooling. I club the Jabirus into the same class as the Rotaxes. Continentals do not interest me that much.
I highly love the Aerovee/Sonex price point of $7k and assemble-it-yourself simplicity. I do realize that because of the RPM issues, an aerovee cannot be fit into a kitfox, else i'd be happy with the 80hp frugality it offered.
But i hope you understand the philosophy. That is the big reason why the Viking Honda conversion has me eagerly awaiting news. It seems everything i want a motor to be - easily maintained, modern and sensibly priced. I am glad that by the time i roll up my sleeves for a purchase, there will be enough numbers and reviews around the Viking motor. The HKS motor, however, interests me a lot in a good way, however i dont seem to hear much about them on here.
6. Build effort: I am admittedly slightly unsure if building a plane is the right thing for me to do - given my career and the prospect of being a new father by then. If i cannot find a build partner by then, i'll probably just buy used. In my 40th year, I will want to build pretty badly, but the hurdles of workspace and tools are not easy to overcome in a city like SF. However, i hope for the best. My wife is quite handy with tools, and i can count on her to help me often.
I realize that in all of the above, i have pretty much described a Kitfox/Highlander. However there remains the question of Build method. This is something i simply have not been able to understand about the kitfox at all. Niether on the kitfox website nor elsewhere do i see any choice of QuickBuild centers.
While there are 5000 kitfoxes flying, i don't know if they were all built by the owner in his/her own garage or if alternate arrangements exist. What i mean is, the Zenith series seems to have as huge a following as the kitfoxes, however they seem to have a really really solid network of assembly/build centers where a prospective owner can order a full quickbuild kit and engine and then spend an intense amount of time (3-4 weeks) putting his plane together under the supervision of experts. See FlightCrafters or Quality Sport Plane build centers. I really think that would be the only way i could build a plane. The combination of availability of ALL tools, workspaces, experts, and fellow builders can make a project speed up by a factor or 2 or 3 imho, cutting out a lot of frustration and blank hours and runs to the hardware store. I can take a vacation for that duration of time or more and would love to just have an almost ready to fly airplane at the end of it. The $ cost of such a program, i would write off as a wonderful, intense education.
Does the kitfox have such build options?
Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this and for your advise. I'll be checking back in here eagerly.
Shridhar
I am a 36yrd old paramotor pilot with dreams of one day building and flying my own little plane. For now, am researching and soaking in as much as i can to narrow down the daydreaming possibilities.
My personal background:
Originally from India, very comfortable in the US with an american wife :)
No Sport pilot license yet, but definitely getting started in a year or s0
Budget of upto $35k on my own and more if i can convince a friend to join me in the build+ownership process
Intent to build/own is about 2-3 years from now
Wife does not fly, but could be coaxed into a cockpit with demonstration of expertise. 2 seater is a must. side-by-side is necessary.
I live in San Francisco (anyone else around here?), and therefore no place to work on a plane, let alone park one ;-). more on that later.
No mechanical knowledge amounting to much. I can change oil and filters on my motorcycles, but have recently started to build stuff around and am really enjoying the process. + wife is very handy :)
Putting aside the minor technicalities listed above :D, I was heavily interested in the Sonex for a while- and was invited up to a demo flight by a kindly owner. It was terrific and i loved it all the qualities its designers espouse - honesty with materials, build times, well engineered with simplicity and reliability the prime drivers, and a very sensible price point.
However, after a few days of research, i am refining my mission:
1. Needs to be tolerably fast for cross-country. I hope to fly from the bay area and get to say nevada in a few hours. 120mph cruise would be great, 100 is acceptable, 90mph and below is not. Above 120 is also fine, but not at the expense of high stall speeds. As a motorcyclist, i have ridden all the way to panama and back over a leisurely few months and i hope to make a similar pilgrimages in the plane to Alaska and the bahamas.
2. Back-country operations are necessary. by back country i mean fly to grass strips, abandoned airfields in NV, ID, OR to camp, hike and fly back. So, some kind of ruggedness and STOL characteristics is critical. I wont be flying "bush" right away, and will take my time getting to that goal slowly. Decent STOL is sufficient, i dont need to wheelie myself into the air like i see the zeniths do.
3. Carrying capacity: my wife is 6' and about 160, and i am 6' as well and 165. Being able to haul a small camping setup and maybe even a folding bicycle would be terrific. Flying in to Burning man would be a treat :-)
4. Folding wings are critical. The bayarea is expensive to begin with and i have other sports that i dont want to give up to pay for avoidables like hanger fees. I would share hangar space in an existing setup. Trailerability is also necessary for a 'just in case' scenario.
5. Engine: I would highly prefer my motor to NOT be a Rotax. I just dont like their pricing and what that does to our sport. I simply cannot accept that a modern motor can cost upward of $20k and still not have FI or liquid cooling. I club the Jabirus into the same class as the Rotaxes. Continentals do not interest me that much.
I highly love the Aerovee/Sonex price point of $7k and assemble-it-yourself simplicity. I do realize that because of the RPM issues, an aerovee cannot be fit into a kitfox, else i'd be happy with the 80hp frugality it offered.
But i hope you understand the philosophy. That is the big reason why the Viking Honda conversion has me eagerly awaiting news. It seems everything i want a motor to be - easily maintained, modern and sensibly priced. I am glad that by the time i roll up my sleeves for a purchase, there will be enough numbers and reviews around the Viking motor. The HKS motor, however, interests me a lot in a good way, however i dont seem to hear much about them on here.
6. Build effort: I am admittedly slightly unsure if building a plane is the right thing for me to do - given my career and the prospect of being a new father by then. If i cannot find a build partner by then, i'll probably just buy used. In my 40th year, I will want to build pretty badly, but the hurdles of workspace and tools are not easy to overcome in a city like SF. However, i hope for the best. My wife is quite handy with tools, and i can count on her to help me often.
I realize that in all of the above, i have pretty much described a Kitfox/Highlander. However there remains the question of Build method. This is something i simply have not been able to understand about the kitfox at all. Niether on the kitfox website nor elsewhere do i see any choice of QuickBuild centers.
While there are 5000 kitfoxes flying, i don't know if they were all built by the owner in his/her own garage or if alternate arrangements exist. What i mean is, the Zenith series seems to have as huge a following as the kitfoxes, however they seem to have a really really solid network of assembly/build centers where a prospective owner can order a full quickbuild kit and engine and then spend an intense amount of time (3-4 weeks) putting his plane together under the supervision of experts. See FlightCrafters or Quality Sport Plane build centers. I really think that would be the only way i could build a plane. The combination of availability of ALL tools, workspaces, experts, and fellow builders can make a project speed up by a factor or 2 or 3 imho, cutting out a lot of frustration and blank hours and runs to the hardware store. I can take a vacation for that duration of time or more and would love to just have an almost ready to fly airplane at the end of it. The $ cost of such a program, i would write off as a wonderful, intense education.
Does the kitfox have such build options?
Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this and for your advise. I'll be checking back in here eagerly.
Shridhar