The plane, at each end of the process.

Airplane Builder

Main Page    Empennage (Jan 06)    Wings (Mar-Oct 06)    Fuselage (Nov 06-?)

Yes, I'm building an airplane. In our garage. No, I'm not crazy, or any crazier than usual. Yes, I'm going to fly it. What follows is mostly for those thinking about, or actually doing, the same.

It's a Van's RV-7. This was my first decision, and was based mostly on the fact that we (Jennifer and I, let's be honest, she's a key factor in this entire equation) want to go fast (about 200mph, instead of 120mph like our current plane) with 2 people, side-by-side (instead of front/back like our current plane), and we wanted to do it at a reasonable cost (about $85,000 to build and about 25 mpg to fly). It's also based on the popularity of the kit and design (nearly 5,000 from Van's are flying) and the relative ease of construction. Aluminum airplane technology is very mature.

I'm doing the "standard" build meaning that it'll take me a bit longer than those who have the factory partly assemble the wings and fuselage. I'm starting with parts. Easier than those kit-builders that start with plans and material, but not as easy as those that start with pre-constructed stuff. From the get go I've decided on a "perfect is the enemy of good enough" mentality, meaning it'll be safe and attractive, but I'm not building a showplane. I want to fly it, not stare at it.

Education / Resources / Tools & Workshop / Budget (so far)

I'm not tracking my hour-by-hour progress, nor documenting with photos every step of the process. Frankly, it's done by so many builders and a lot better than I'd do it. One of the best of the breed, and one of my major resources and a major inspiration is Dan Checkoway.

I did take the EAA SportAir builder class in December 2005 in Corona, CA, here is a review I wrote of that weekend. I also took another builder class in January in Eugene, Oregon as a prerequisite to building the empennage at Synergy Air. Here is a review I wrote of that class. See the empennage page for more on the week that followed.

Perhaps the best ongoing resource for the project are the forums at Van's Airforce. There are links, posts, articles, photos, and opinions about all thing RV. Some suggestions regarding online resources and the forums in particular:

  1. There's lots of opinions and expertise levels, you'll want to sample a lot of data to really find some sort of broad consensus. Like any big gathering of people, some are great, others not so much, some dominate, some lurk, most people have good days and bad.
  2. If you are a "perfect is the enemy of good enough" type person, the level of anal-retentiveness displayed by many builders who take time to post info on the Internet will be somewhat daunting. From a resource perspective, though, this is much better than the alternative. Pick your sources carefully in any case, there's lots's of ways to approach building an airplane and not everyone on the 'net is over-the-top obsessive compulsive.
  3. Remember anything you type will be archived forever.
  4. Please don't ask questions that can be easily answered by...

One of the most useful resources you'll want is the full parts list in Excel format. It is really useful to search and sort to find stuff.

As to tools & budget, see this spreadsheet.

Finally, when will it be done? Friday. Please don't ask which Friday.

Seriously, I'm trying to work about 3-4 hours per day on average, and would like it done by Jan 08. Some weeks I put in 30 hours, some no time at all. My main concern is that I enjoy every step of the process as much as possible.

Major Decision Summary

If I could ask one thing of other builder sites, it would be to detail and discuss all decisions made during construction in a user-friendly format that is organized separately from the diary of building.

I try to make these as I go, and not commit to anything until I absolutely have to. Here are the biggies for the entire project so far. The smaller ones, with more detail and discussion, can be found on each of the appropriate individual phase pages:

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