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New member from IN

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digitaldrifter

New Member
Joined
May 7, 2010
Messages
3
Location
Hobbieville, IN
HI everyone. My name is Joel and I just recently got the bite! Well, not recently I guess. I've always been into aviation, starting with the WWII planes. Somehow I ended up with a degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Illinois, which doesn't help anything.

I moved to IN back in October for my job, working for the Navy at their Crane facility. I've been trying to find a way to get into flying, but since I still have my student loans, car payments, a baby on the way, and soon a new house, I thought I was out of luck. I found out that there was an EAA chapter near me, in Bloomington, so I inquired about membership and got all sorts of responses. Just yesterday someone who happens to work at the base, and is a member of the EAA group, offered to take me for a quick ride in his plane. Believe it or not, I've only been flying maybe a half dozen times in my life, every time being on an airliner, the smallest being an Embraer 145.

The gentleman has two aircraft, a Zenith 701 he built from scratch, and a Socata TB9 Tampico. The field he's based out of is a small grass strip which got caught in the floods back in '08, and so his 701 is out of commission until he goes through the engine again. When I pulled up, he was giving it a quick rub down and I got to get up close and personal to the TB9. After hearing about the immense (lack of) room in the typical general aviation craft, such as the 150/172's, I was mighty impressed with the room and comfort of the TB9.

After some small talk and his pre-flight inspection, I hopped in and donned the headset. A shout of "clear" and the engine roars to life. I wasn't prepared for the torque of the engine, an O-320 I believe. I guess several hundred cubic engines in an airplane weighing less than 2000lbs would kind of shake things up a bit! So he calls over the radio his intent to taxi (to the attendant in a tractor mowing the field), gives some throttle, and we thunder down the runway. It was well graded, but bumpy none the less, although not in a scary way. A little less than halfway down he starts the rotation, and a few seconds later I realize we are up in the air! Woo Hoo! He does a quick turnaround, heading S, and climbs to about 2000ft agl.

He gives me some suggestions of places to fly over, and then asks me to take over the controls. Oh crap, this isn't anything like one of my flight sims! I never had rudder control for those, and I had a joystick to boot, not a yoke! I grip the yoke tightly, knuckles turning white, to counteract the turbulence we were encountering at that altitude. I was pretty surprised at how much there was, considering it was a gorgeous 70 degrees, barely any wind at ground level, and hardly any clouds out. After a few minutes, though, I relax a bit and take her for a few turns, showing my now co-pilot where my new house was, then he pointed out where he worked at, and where he lived. We spent about 45 minutes in the air, and I did the majority of the flying. Fuel was running a bit low, so I set him up for approach and he took over the controls. He said he came in a bit hot, but I thought the landing was fine considering it was a grass strip, and it's not like we were flirting with the end of the runway or anything.

I don't think it really hit me how exhilarating it was to fly in a small plane until my car ride home. I had to drive about 45 minutes through the winding back roads of rural IN, and my car, an '07 Kia Rio, takes the turns pretty good. But it just wasn't the same. Everything felt so... close. I don't know, I'm sure you all know that intangible feeling one has after a flight, I don't need to try to explain it. It definitely has whetted my appetite for flying!

I've been looking at a few particular airplanes for a while, but it will be a little while until I even have the money to purchase one, and even then, it won't be a very expensive one. That's one of the reasons I'm attracted to the home built airplanes. It will allow me to build at my own pace, and I won't necessarily have to put everything down up front. At first I was considering buying a kit, the Zenith Zodiac being my plane of choice. However, the gentleman that took me on the flight said the he built his 701 from scratch, and had less than $6k in it to boot, albeit it took him 7 years to finish it. I can swing that!

Right now (meaning, I have a short attention span, so this may change in, like, 23.564 seconds) I think I'd like to try to build a small, simple, single seat first to hone my skills, then to advance to something more flexible. I've been thinking either a Teenie Two or Hummelbird, but I recently found out about the Ercoupe, and LOVE the design. Well, I can't afford a real one, but the sister plane to the Two is the Mini Coupe. It looks like there have been several built. Does anyone have any feedback on how comprehensive the plans are? Will this be a good choice for a first time builder?

Once I finish my first one, I'd like to try to build something I can take my growing family in. The Zenith CH640 looks like it would fit the bill. I know some people don't like the way it looks, but I love simple, reliable, utilitarian things, so that's one of the reasons I like that design.

Sorry to ramble. I've been reading through a few of the topics here and it looks like you're a great, helpful bunch of folks. Hopefully I can meet a few of you at some distant airport somewhere.
 
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