• Welcome aboard HomebuiltAirplanes.com, your destination for connecting with a thriving community of more than 10,000 active members, all passionate about home-built aviation. Dive into our comprehensive repository of knowledge, exchange technical insights, arrange get-togethers, and trade aircrafts/parts with like-minded enthusiasts. Unearth a wide-ranging collection of general and kit plane aviation subjects, enriched with engaging imagery, in-depth technical manuals, and rare archives.

    For a nominal fee of $99.99/year or $12.99/month, you can immerse yourself in this dynamic community and unparalleled treasure-trove of aviation knowledge.

    Embark on your journey now!

    Click Here to Become a Premium Member and Experience Homebuilt Airplanes to the Fullest!

Any other plans I should be looking at?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

skybound

Active Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2015
Messages
30
Location
Columbus, OH
Hello all, allow me to give you the 30 second intro to me:


I've always loved flying. Did young eagles and I've been hooked since. Started lessons for my PPL freshman year of college when I was home for the summer. Found out I probably wasn't gonna be able to get my medical (insulin dependant diabetic), so instead of getting denied I decided to not try for the medical and stop flying for the time being. So now I've graduated college, gotten a job, and I'm ready to start on my sport pilot certificate. I've got a few sport instructors around me (as opposed to before when I had none, just a regular ole flight school full of 172s). Well, almost ready. I slipped on ice and managed to break 3 bones in my ankle, so I'm casted for a few weeks, then in a boot, and all that fun stuff. So before I can start flying I've got time to do some reading and learning. And one of those things i wanna learn about is the plane I wanna build (another lifelong dream)


So here are what I'm looking for in a plane:
  • LSA compliant (I have no interest in trying to get a medical)
  • Low operating cost (and build cost)
  • 2 seats
  • ~100mph cruise (give or take, I'm flexible) I wanna be able to go low and slow and see stuff, but I also want to be able to fly some (short) distances.
  • open cockpit
  • got a bit of room for some baggage. Maybe like a night or 2 worth of clothes. Room for a tent and 2 sleeping bags would be cool, but thats not a deal breaker at all
  • biplanes are cool, but I'm open to anything
  • Wood construction
What I've found is the Fisher R-80 Tiger Moth. It seems to fit the bill pretty well, though I personally much prefer the looks of the Fisher Celebrity. The Celebrity looks to have no baggage compartment? Am i seeing that correctly? In reading through some threads here, I also came across the Ragwing RW26 Special II. I'm a little confused by the performance specs listed for this. Would it even meet LSA requirements?

Does anyone here had any more information on these, such as how accurate the performance numbers are, or anything like that? In addition, looking at the fisher kits, how much would the cost difference be if I were to buy the wood and cut and form it to size myself rather than buy the fisher kit? I have a good woodworking background, so the additional work doesn't phase me at all. I'm trying to get a rough idea of costs before I got a set of plans to study.
 
Back
Top