At Glaisair Aviation in Arlington, VA., even an amateur can build and fly an actual airplane.

Building a Dream

Most people have never had much of a desire to fly in an airplane of their own making, mainly because it'd mean trying to pilot from atop a folded piece of typing paper, or else figuring out how to shrink to fit into a mini cockpit.

"This is not like building a go-cart."

You don't have to be Stuart Little-sized or featherweight, however, to fly the plane you'll make at Glasair Aviation, an Arlington, WA, airplane manufacturer that is offering a new "2 Weeks to Taxi" program where anyone can learn to build, repair, and fly a life-sized Sportsman kitplane in under a month.

"This is not like building a go-cart or a hutch for your daughter," says Marc Cook, 42, editor-in-chief of Kitplanes magazine and the first flyer to complete the program since it began earlier this year. "You need to think, 'I am building a vessel to put myself into the sky at an altitude that I'm not comfortable falling from.'"

It took a mere 22 days from the time Cook picked up a welding torch to the time he was cruising at 170 mph in the Sportsman aircraft he had built. Not bad, considering it had been a decade since he'd last tried his hand at making a life-sized plane (and that time, it took him three years to do).

"I just really want to understand how things work. These are marvelous machines, and it's extremely rewarding," Cook says of his kitplane obsession.

Kitplane builders receive support and training according to Federal Aviation Administration rules and regulations, learning on the job from Glasair staff during their 10-hour workdays. The instructors are half Einsteins, half shoemaker-elves - they're either a step behind in keeping the workshop spotless or a step ahead in laying out the necessary parts and preventing mistakes before they happen.

All this might get you thinking, "why buy a car when you can make your own vehicle?" Pop open the Car Builder's Manual and you'll learn to assemble a hot rod from scratch. If the idea of this kind of project appeals to you more than the reality of it, there's always Chop Shop 2.0, a motorcycle construction simulation site that will let you piece together your ideal chopper without having to suffer the back pain and oil stains.

For Cook, the experience of flying in a homemade rig never ceases to bring back the memory of his first flight some 30 years ago. "I could see the runway fall away from the wheels," he says, "and I was completely hooked."

Posted on May 08, 2006