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Dreaming about building my own plane
I have been without a plane for a few years. I’m considering building my own experimental airplane. I have narrowed it down to Van’s RV14A. A fast cross-country two-seater with good useful load and capable of gentleman aerobatics (+6.0G, -3.0G) – see below.
The RV14A would be at least as fast as my old 1987 Bonanza F33A and has an about 20% better power/weight ratio (1,800+ fpm climb at sea level). All in, it would probably be around $150K including paint, new engine and complete modern avionics (dual EFIS, WAAS navigator). About what a tired 40-year old F33A with old avionics and run-out engine goes for. Interestingly Bonanza asking prices have gone up about $50k in 5 years since I sold my plane.
Building a plane is obviously a lot of work. About 2,000 hours, 22,000 rivets alone and that is just the beginning. Wiring your own avionics and doing your own engine install add to the challenge. Would probably take 2 – 3 years min. It is a long-term commitment….
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7 Replies
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20,000 rivets. Can you do them yourself? Or will you need a helper?
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That would be like restoring an old car. When you are done you have something the market values at a whole lot less than what it cost.
Grab your Trade-A-Plane and buy one for half what the builder has in it.
A second concern I personally have is if the FAA did not certify it, I would never have gotten in it.
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I don’t think I’ve ever met a pilot who was unhappy with their homebuilt, and most have been Van’s RV-something. When I bought my first Bonanza, it was a choice between that and an RV-8A. I went with an older V-Tail for cost and (larger) pilot comfort. The RV would have fit my mission better, and the fun factor! I’d probably buy a flying model vs. building one, but I’ll bet you’re looking forward to the challenge.
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I have many friends that have built their own RV airplane. All were happy w/the results. Airframe construction kits, materials, and tools are inexpensive. It starts getting a little pricey when you get to the engine, prop, and avionics.
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Find one that someone has lost interest in, then you save money and possibly use your amount of interest to finish it and not run out as the previous owner.
I had the opportunity to ride in an RV7 and do a little aerobatics, much better than riding in a Cessna lawn mower.
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Lots of good points. Experimental aircraft do have to go through a mandatory airworthiness inspection before they can be test flown. But the mandatory sticker that “This aircraft does not comply with FAA regulations for standard aircraft” does raise passenger eyebrows I’m sure.
As I understand, you become your own test pilot for the first 40 hours. No passengers and there are limitation on where you can go. Only fair I guess. You build it, you fly it first.
The advantage of building an experimental vs buying one is that you can do your own repairs and condition inspections.
Most of the newer avionics do a much better job of identifying issues than the old analog hardware. My KFC150 autopilot kept randomly disconnecting and there was no way to find out why. I had all servos rebuilt but it still happened. It turned out the King attitude indicator was the culprit. The analog signal to the autopilot was not always stable. The avionics shop was useless in diagnosing that situation.
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On the rear bulkhead of my “amateur” built Glasair1 TD.
Translation = High Performance Fun Machine.
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