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/142883
"Those are pictures of planes I've owned," Steve responded. "Do you fly?" When Roy said he was not a pilot, his new boss asked, "Why not?" That day was the first day of a six-year journey taking Roy from believing that owning and flying planes was the domain of the wealthy to knowing that, with a lot of exploring, working, laughing, and crying, but not a lot of money, he too could take to the sky. For on that day, his new boss showed Roy the not-very-completed Quickie airplane kit he had for sale. After selling nearly all of his radio-controlled (RC) airplanes and equipment, Roy bought the kit for $1,200. The Quickie is a light, single-seat, low-cost homebuilt aircraft with a tandem wing layout that was designed by Burt Rutan and Gene Sheehan. One of dozens of unconventional aircraft conceived by Rutan for the general aviation market, the original Quickie is Model 54 in Rutan's design series. Starting with little knowledge of aircraft building and less about this strange-looking tiny plane, Roy started research in earnest and contacted Steve Bacom Jr., a friend that Roy often flew models with who also expressed a desire to one day build and fly his own plane. He agreed to help with the build. Steve introduced Roy to EAA Chapter 288 which, in those days, met in a classroom on the Embry-Riddle campus in Daytona Beach. "My name is Roy Shannon, and I have a Quickie kit that I plan to build and learn to fly," he told the small gathering of pilots and homebuilders. The Quickie is a light, single-seat, low-cost homebuilt aircraft with a tandem wing layout that was designed by Burt Rutan and Gene Sheehan. projects built Roy's confidence, and he was soon building his own plane in his garage. "Without the encouragement and know-how from the chapter members, this project would never have had a chance," Roy said. "When I met Steve Rahm, who guided me through the learning curve of composite construction, the process seemed much less daunting." Toward the end of the third year when an airplane began to take shape in the garage, Jackie Johnson, another EAA friend, suggested it was time for Roy to think about learning to fly. The Chevrolet dealership where he was now working was directly across the street from the New Smyrna Beach Airport, so Roy began flying lessons at Epic Aviation with instructor Don Grammer, who Roy speaks of highly. He had often gazed over at the planes flying in and out of the airport, but before the possibility of flying his Quickie became reality, he had always put the thought out of his mind; a Quickie is as similar to the Cessna 152 Roy was flying as a motorcycle is to a speedboat. So, soon after getting his private ticket, Roy was learning to be a taildragger pilot in a Champ. In July 2003, after six years of late nights and $5,000, the Quickie was rolled out of the garage on the custom Steve took Roy to the Sun 'n Fun International Fly-In & Expo a few weeks later where they saw a completed Quickie flown there by Terry Crouch, who was "less than encouraging" in the early discussions with Roy and Steve. (That is the only other Quickie that Roy has ever seen at Sun 'n Fun since that 1999 trip.) Thinking ahead, Roy took four rolls of photos of Terry's plane; these photos would serve later as visual guidance during the build. Attending the monthly EAA Chapter 288 chapter meetings and getting to know the members and their EAA Experimenter 27