Building

After Helping a Friend on the same plane for nearly 3 years I'm reasonably well prepared for tackling the extremely frustrating, tedious, expensive, time consuming and finally rewarding process of building a plane.

I buy a house on October 29, 2003 in Cheverly, MD. What better day to become a homeowner than the annerversary of the 1929 stock market crash. I feel real good about where my down payment is going... the overriding factor in selecting this house is that is has a garage large enough to build the airplane I want to build.

here is a quick rundown on the process:
Christmas 2003 FedEx Ground is kind enough to drop off boxes containing all the parts needed to build the tail feather or more professionally know as the "Empannage" this is the rudder, elevator, Horizontal and Vertical stabilizers. Around $1,400.

Tools:
Well you need tools for this. I spent around $1,500 right off the bat.

Time 2 years 6 months building at the house and then I get a hangar at Potomac airfield and have to take a Hiatus from building to sell my house. The DC real estate market is getting soft and I need to get out during the Summer. I end up getting out with a tidy profit, then buying another house in Arlington, VA. I closed on that house October 27, 2006. All this buying and selling of houses didn't leave much time to finish the plane...

October 2006 I was finally ready to have final inspection of the airplane by a FAA designated inspector. All went amazingly well and I received a certificate of airworthiness for my plane. At this point I should have been ready for my first flight. I had been flying the Citibria regularly and reading accident reports from RV-8 crashes. I was ready.