Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/271000
4 Vol.3 No.3 / March 2014 "IT IS NOT THE CRITIC who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends him- self in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." This is an excerpt from Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt's speech "Citizenship in a Republic," delivered at the Sor- bonne, in Paris, France, on April 23, 1910. I wanted to share this quote with you because I believe we homebuilders are the "man in the arena." We are the ones pushing our limits. We are doing something meaningful. The challenge of a difficult project is part of the appeal. You can't build an aircraft sitting in front of the TV. People lacking ambition do not decide to build aircraft. And yet, some of us who choose to build will not complete our project. We will try and we will fail. But, as Teddy said, at least we are "daring greatly." I would argue that even an uncompleted project is not a failure. You will have expanded your knowledge of aviation. You learned to use your "hands and mind" together to create. A valuable lesson in today's society of premade everything. We who have chosen to take on the task of building an aircraft are trying to accomplish something that probably less than 100,000 people in the history of the world have ever accomplished. Even with today's quick-build kits, it still takes a serious effort to overcome the series of problems that confront us during the building process. By choosing to build you are choosing to fight, to battle, to overcome. You will make mistakes and you will persevere. The beauty of EAA is we are not alone in the arena. We are part of a community of people who are all in the arena together pursuing a higher goal. So we do not have to solve every problem on our own. We can turn to other members in time of need. By being a part of EAA, we are greatly increas- ing our chance of victory. If you are not yet in the arena, come join us. Be a doer. Thanks to William Wynne, aka "The Corvair Authority," who first made me aware of this quote. And thanks to fellow builder John Egan for inspiring this article. Be a Doer BY CHARLIE BECKER HOMEBUILDER'S CORNER You can't build an aircraf sitting in front of the TV. People lacking ambition do not decide to build aircraf . Charlie Becker (left) and Jerry Paveglio working on the EAA staff-build Zenith CH-750. Keep up to date on the progress of the EAA employees' Zenith project on this blog. Photography by Jennifer Bowen E A A E X P _ M a r 1 4 . i n d d 4 EAAEXP_Mar14.indd 4 3 / 3 / 1 4 1 0 : 2 8 A M 3/3/14 10:28 AM