First Timer' Annoying Questions

[Far_Fox]

Wow, Thank you everyone so far who has shared a story. This has already been the biggest help in the decision making process.

I remember sitting in my Daytona Beach, FL apartment the day before my 18th birthday. I had no bed, no furniture and a pack of Ramon noodles in the microwave. It was the first week I arrived, and I thought to myself "wow I am going to become a pilot here, how cool is this". Little did I know how the world worked, and how hard it was to be that age and make any kind of money besides minimum wage. Paying for a phone bill and an apartment working two jobs (Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, and Abercrombie and Fitch) was next to impossible. That year I learned a lot about how important saving money was, how hard it is to earn it, and how easy it is to spend it on Bills. I met some amazing friends from Norway, Barbados, Germany and Sweden. After a year and just short of my private license, I decided the school was just sucking money out of my aviation loan account rather then actually trying to get me done quickly and for the least amount of money. I was tired of barely making rent, working two jobs and eating Ramon noodles. That is when I heard about this flight school in Bainbridge, GA called Ag-Flight. It had free housing, and they did not charge you per hour for the plane. It was one fixed amount, and you could fly as much as you want. To me this was real flying, no auto pilot, just stick n tail planes. It was also very southern and rural which I enjoyed. Each morning I would wake up, fly over lake Seminole to check out the gators, touch my wheels on the water, fly the river back, do touch and goes, short field landings, run one wheel down the runway and just simply had fun. It was a different way to spend 3 years of my life at that age when most of my friends were in college. I did not have a lot of friends, could not really relate to many others my age but the small young aviation community of people I met, I still talk to now. I have traveled to Norway, Sweden, Germany and many other places hanging out with the guys I learned to fly with. Even now, each summer I travel over seas to spend time with them. Only one of those friends still actually is flying today. I would like to try and bring back a fresh vibe to the aviation community, showing others they can build a new plane, with modern avionics for cheaper then you think. I want to film and promote Back-country flying adventures and explore new areas that most people don't get to. This all takes a steady job, and that is why I have been focused on career and college since then to set me up for something better in the future. I have worked in quality for 8 years now, working my way up to lead IATF 16949 auditor and Quality Engineer for small company while going to school for Chemical engineering.


Now its about the right time I think. I will start my LLC here in the next couple months and my first contract Job is suppose to start in July. This will allow me to have a flexible schedule, choose days to work etc. I think this will allow me some decent time to work on the plane each afternoon as well as weekends. The girl friend might get frustrated but if we can survive through this experience then perhaps shes marriage material right?


The down side is, the airport down the street is more of an executive airport and it is not really small plane friendly (from what I have heard). So the best place and home of our EAA chapter is a 30 minute drive. I do not have the garage space right now to work on a plane, and would have to rent a hanger for at least a year. Next year my girlfriend and I will be moving into a bigger place with a workshop. Once this happens it will makes things easier.

I have decided if it takes me 3 years, that is not so bad. I would rather have a new kit, then pick up the left overs of someone else (just me). I really wish someone would video document the build processes of a kitfox, I have not found anything besides a couple of time lapses on youtube. I will enjoy the build, take my time and not stress about build time (deep breaths).

I will list my house in the next week or two, once that sells I will pay off that aviation loan from 12 years ago (yay), and another student loan. I wont have much left but my monthly bills will now be reduced by thousands. Yes, those damn student loan payments. This will be the time slot between getting married and having kids where I feel it is right to start a build.

I wont be able to drop $20k on the first kit right away so I am hoping the aviation loan company can work something decent out for me with good credit. If I can get payments down to around 400$ a month or so then I will go ahead and drop in my order. If the payments are more like $600 that's not practical yet...then I will have to wait till next year to just pay cash. I will keep everyone posted, if I can make this happen I will start a vlog of the build.

I enjoy reading your stories, and thank you for sharing them with the new guy!

[aviator79]

At the risk of turning this thread into a bunch of stories about how we all came to be where we are, I'll share my story, as it parallels yours, at least to a point.

I started flying when I was 16. The Civil Air Patrol gave me a scholarship to get me through my first solo flight. After that, I took a job mopping hangar floors, scrubbing oily bellies, and pumping gas to fund my flight training. The place I worked had a couple super cubs, and the first thing I did after getting my Private cert was to get a tailwheel endorsement in those cubs (N57528 and N4101E, my first true loves in aviation.) There was a rich and vibrant homebuilt and aerobatics community at KCHD, and I dreamed of building a plane some day. When I graduated High School, I spent a semester at Embry-Riddle in Prescott, AZ. Unfortunately, tragedy in my family left me unable to afford Embry-Riddle, so I went back to Chandler, got my job at the airport back, and started school at Arizona State while working on my additional ratings. I earned my CFI and started working as an instructor while I finished my degree. I was so poor, but dang those were fun times. I graduated in May 2001, and in August 2001, at age 22, got hired with American Eagle. It turns out that August of 2001 was a really bad time to try to start an airline career...

So, I did some instructing again, but the industry was in pretty bad shape. I also had a brief glimpse into the life of an airline pilot, and decided that maybe it wasn't what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So I went back to school, got a whole pile of degrees while working various jobs and internships, getting married and sprouting a couple kids. Then, I finally got my first "real" job here in Los Alamos, NM just about 5 years ago. During those 5 years, I helped get a flying club started up here, and finally, at age 39, find myself in a position where I can afford the expenditure of both time and money to build a Kitfox.

It was not something I rushed into. It took a whole lot of planning on how it would fit into my every aspect of my life. It has to fit in my garage, but also into my finances, and into my relationships with my wife and my kids.

I do think that in terms of timing, getting an airplane built before you have kids will make managing your time a little easier, and you'll have an brand new airplane to fly for most of your life. Getting and early start is great. If you're moving in with your girlfriend, it's serious enough that you should not be too flippant about how this affects her and your relationship with her. You should make sure that building an airplane is something she is fully on board with, and that she understands the time and money that you intend to spend on it.

Also, even though it sounds like you are eager, it also sounds like one year from now, many unknown variables in your life will become known. You'll know where you stand with your student loans, your house will be sold, and you'll actually have a workable space in which to build. You'll never get that hangar rent back, and your progress will likely be slow if you have a 30 minute drive each way to get to your project. On the one hand, if you wait until the "perfect" time to start, you'll be outside the fence looking and dreaming forever. On the other hand, one year, in the grand scheme, is a trivially short amount of time to spend tying up loose ends and planning for a large expenditure of time and money.

Just my $0.02, and I'm a long way off from being able to claim that I have any special knowledge about how to successfully complete a build.

[Far_Fox]

Wow, so similar to my journey. Funny how things work out, Aviator79!

I wish we had some of your weather in Michigan. You will have many more beautiful days for flying when yours is complete. I for some reason cannot get the map forums to load (think its my internet blocker in my office) but would like to see if anyone else is from Michigan on here.

Thanks for sharing man-

[Ramos]

I hate to even mention this as I admire your dreams and aspirations. What happens if you and your girlfriend split the sheets a year from now? Would you still be able to make ends meet?

Not suggesting that you let a fear of 'what if' run your life. Just hoping that a parting of the ways would not be a deal killer for you.