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/90184
Homebui lder's Corner How Many Staffers Does It Take? Building EAA' s CH 750 By Chad Jensen In an effort to answer that question as it relates to building an airplane, I decided many months ago the EAA staff needed to build another airplane. Actually, that question never really came up, but I did wonder how many staffers I could get interested in building, especially those who have never done something like this before. Building an airplane at EAA by staff is not a new idea. It has been done in the past successfully, most recently two years ago with the completion of a Sonex, but that was a private staff endeavor with private owners at the end. This time around, we are building a Zenith CH 750 STOL airplane under experimental light-sport aircraft rules that will belong to EAA in the end. So how many people signed up? Almost 40 EAA staffers have signed up to help; as of this writing, we are only a few weeks into the build, and more than half of them have already come by to cleco, drill, deburr, and rivet parts together. The kit industry is prospering, and the prepunched, match-drilled hole kits are on top of the heap. The Zenith 750 kit is touted as having a 400-hour build time. I know we won't get close to that number, but it is still going to be a very fast build compared to many others available today. So when will it be done? That's the age-old question that everyone is On the cover: Mike Finney peeks out from underneath the wing of his award-winning Clipped Wing Wag-Aero Cub. Photo by Russ Munson. 2 NO. 3/NOVEMBER 2012 asked when a project is getting started. On my own projects, I don't set hard goals. But because this is a group project, and with a strong effort to keep our staff interested, the goal is Memorial Day weekend 2013. That's ambitious for sure, but with the talent being developed early in the build, I am confident we'll succeed. When the airplane is done, it will be added the EAA Employee Flying Club as a light-sport qualified trainer and all-around fun flying airplane for us all to enjoy. Check out www.Zenith750Project.com for all the details as they develop. I will be "blogging the build" using that website. See you there!