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/418587
EAA Experimenter 13 "I was 22 years old when I saw my first homebuilt go- ing together, and that was a Lancair 235. I spotted it being built in a garage as I drove down a street. I parked and went up and introduced myself to Ray Modert. As I was to find out, homebuilders are eager to share what they're do- ing, so I got a tour of his airplane and the building process, which set my brain off in a new direction. That was in 1989, but unfortunately, I had neither the time nor the ga- rage nor the money to get into actually building anything. That didn't happen for another 10 or 12 years." William originally started his entrepreneurial adven- tures in Thousand Oaks, California, which by the new mil- lennium had resulted in him having the garage he needed to indulge in his homebuilding dreams. Inasmuch as a Lancair was his first choice, that chance visit to a neigh- borhood garage must have had a lasting effect. "In late January 2002, I picked up my dad in a rented Mooney M-20C, and we flew up to Redmond, Oregon, to visit Lancair," he said. "This was just as the Legacy was be- ing introduced. I fell in love with the smaller Lancairs, but the concept of having so much more motor and room really appealed to me. So about three days after returning home, I called Kim Lorentzen at Lancair and put a deposit down on a Legacy kit. That was ready to be picked up in October of 2002." Starting to build an airplane, especially one as sophis- ticated and high performing as a Legacy, takes a certain amount of confidence, which often is based on past experi- ence. This was not necessarily the case with William Ford. He said, "My confidence came from associating with other builders and bumming around hangars where other projects were underway. This goes back to way before I got involved with my own build project. I suppose confidence in my ability to see this project through to completion/ flight also came from my experiences as a teenager build- ing and flying radio-controlled sailplanes and powered models. I recall walking out of the hobby shop with a box and then eventually watching the finished project take to flight. This happened many times, so you can imagine the almost overwhelming emotions and feelings that came over me when this 11-year, life-sized, sit-in-it-and-go aircraft took to flight for the first time late last year. Ad- ditionally, I knew I could do it and would see it through because I've always been very good at reaching goals that I set for myself…not only in aviation but other areas of life as well. "Since I had little or no experience with composites, I opted to go through Lancair's Builder's Assist Program, which in retrospect was one of the smartest things I've done. I spent five days with Lancair tech Kerry Dowling looking over my shoulder as we bonded the major com- ponents together. This included bonding the wing center section to the fuselage, closing the horizontal stabilizer and bonding it in place, and closing the main wing panels. Lancair and Hartzell Propellers cooperated on development of the scimitar- style propeller. William's attention to detail extended to all mechanical systems. The tail number refers to the time it took Willaim to build the Lancair Legacy.