If you have built or are almost finished building a kit aircraft, you should stop and ponder the incredible position in life you have achieved. By this I mean that you have committed to an undertaking that demands a vast range of skills and talents to reach the final goal of flying an object through the sky—one that you built with your hands. There are two distinct avenues of skills being utilized here. The first are those needed for building a complex machine. And the second are those needed for learning to fly while earning a pilot certificate.
There are pilots and there are aircraft builders, and in many cases the same person achieves both goals. This means that these individuals have mastered an incredibly diverse set of skills that require a wide range of knowledge and training. For example, the list of required technical skills for building an aircraft could fill a book: metalworking, riveting, wiring, plumbing, aerodynamics, engine mechanics—the list goes on. In order to obtain the proficiency to fly we spend plenty of hours on book education as well as time piloting the aircraft until the mastery of flight is obtained. No small feat. Those who built and registered their homebuilt aircraft in addition to obtaining their flying credentials need to reflect on the enormous effort that they spent to achieve these goals.
Are we vain to reflect on what we have accomplished? The point of this reflection is to recognize and admit what large efforts are in fact needed to build and fly a homebuilt aircraft. That does make us special as we are now empowered to guide and help others to make the grade themselves. Current and future kit builders need our help. Not every builder who starts a kit finishes that kit. The for-sale ads witness this fact. Every time a kit project is abandoned, we should consider whether our assistance could have saved the failure. Our next step as successful kit builders is to mentor others, in kind. It is only natural that we complement our building talents with the desire to share the wealth of our successful strategies with other builders-in-progress.
Part of the Journey
Having struggles, challenges and doubts during building is natural and typical. Therefore, advice for current or would-be builders: Find a mentor who has built and flown an aircraft like the one you are building. When you get stuck or have a critical question during your building progress, contact that mentor for help. You need that help now, not later.
Arrange a system where you can text or email them when you have questions or obstacles that arise when building. As a requirement, your mentor must have a finished aircraft (like the one you are building) that you can look at in person to help you visualize your completed project. This means that you should be able to travel to their hangar on occasion to take pictures and ask questions. A builder with a mentor like this will not only overcome building challenges but will also enjoy and excel in finishing on time with minimal obstacles.
Advice for potential mentors: Be easily available to builders trying to find you! The key to the success of future kitbuilding (experimental aviation) is keeping the pipeline filled with successful builders and pilots. Share your blessings with those struggling to succeed that they might achieve things greater yet. You will find your acts of kindness and expenditures of time most rewarding when all is said and done. You will create a lifelong friend who genuinely appreciates you and your help.
The challenge is to make that connection, now, ahead of the need. Would-be mentors: Publish the fact that you are willing to help by posting on relevant internet newsgroups. Every kit manufacturer has several. Also, there are Facebook and similar social media groups. Simply post that you have completed a specific aircraft kit model and are willing to answer questions. You can lay the ground rules on how to communicate with you and filter out the “noise” of those not genuine. Become aware that there are lots of serious builders and wannabes looking to learn from you. Make it easy for them to find you.
Would-be builders and those now well underway: Reach out and find those who have gone before you and accept their offer to help. Respect their time and effort to help. They hold the key to your success because they have gone before you and succeeded in your task of building and flying. You may be pleasantly surprised at how happy they are to help. You will learn things about building and flying that you cannot learn from any assembly manual. These will be the things that you should know now, rather than later in your build. Priceless information!
For both seasoned builder/pilots—or those who are just getting started with a kit and flight lessons—you both have a mission to make that connection now and find one another. The opportunity to establish personal connections has never been easier now with our connected world, compared to years ago. No excuse for “getting stuck” while building. Both parties involved in this endeavor will reap personal benefits and add great value to the experimental kitbuilding community. Plane and simple.
