On the verge...

[Beast]

Long time fan of the Bearhawk 4 place. I've been trying to convince myself to just go for it. I have a young family that keeps me active and that's why I hesitate. I tell myself in ten years I could still be trying to decide or I could be ten years into a build.

I have no shop, no active EAA group nearby (within 3 hour drive), and no pilots or builders in my circle. Friends and family think it's a crazy idea, because they've never heard of someone building their own airplane. I realize from reading this forum it's about building parts, not an airplane. Education and enjoyment of creation over perceived cost savings.

I love aviation. I'm pretty good with my hand tools and weld as a hobby. I have a private certificate with instrument rating, but do not fly often. Currently studying for the commercial written.

I would love to build a Bearhawk. My dreams of the Bearhawk revolve around a distant future. I see my six year old son all grown up, heading off to college. We make an adventure of it by packing our aircraft with his belongings and taking turns flying the 248.1 nm trip to his new campus. Visits and rides home for the holidays would follow. Of course, flying Mom all over the state to antique shop is high on the mission list. Our family is scattered all over Texas, so visiting becomes an adventure as well. I find flying much more peaceful than 5 o'clock traffic, which begins at 2p and ends at 7p (San Antonio). But who needs a mission to just explore. Plus, it's nice knowing that the BH can handle just about whatever mission might come up.

I'm not trying to fool myself. I expect that if I do begin the build it will take me much longer than most. Scratch build is the only way I'd afford to do it. (Paying myself per hour for the engine and instruments, of course.) It's scary, but what a feeling it would be to know that I started an aviation legacy for my family. That my great-grandchildren could say that everyone in their family flies and builds airplanes.

I give myself the next two months to come to a conclusion. I'm either going to start this project with no experience and try my best, or regret that I did nothing while driving my son to college when 2026 rolls around.

Happy to be here,

Abraham

[whee]

Welcome Abe! Thought I'd share my perspective but realize there are many others here that have a much different view than me.

The BH is a great airplane. It is fun to fly, reasonably fast, hauls a good load and can be built at a reasonable cost. I thoroughly enjoyed the 40hrs I put on a friends 4-place. I have a young family that I hope to take on many adventures in the plane when it is done and in 18years when the youngest leaves the house the BH should be a great vehicle for adventures with my wife.

However, I did it wrong. I want the plane flying ASAP so every spare moment I have I doing something to progress the build. Lately I've been feeling like I'm missing too much of my kids life while they were little; maybe I should have waited till they were teenagers and didn't want to do anything with dad. Like you I couldn't afford buying a kit but now if I could start over I don't think I could afford to not buy a kit. I've been working for almost a year and I honestly think if I had bought a kit I'd be about 6months from completion (18months total). To me it would have been worth the extra cost so I didn't miss out on other things in life. If I was the kind of person that can peck away at a project for 10 years then things would be different. I'm not wired that way, I can't push things to the side without getting frustrated.

I'm blabbing so let me cut this short. If I were you I'd save some $$ and enjoy you kids while they are young. During that time watch for a kit that someone has given up on and buy it. By that time your kids might be old enough to help with easy tasks and enjoy spending time in the shop with dad. That way your not missing out on your kids, your getting a quality airframe that you don't worry about, your completion time is is close to the same and you spend about the same amount of money.

[Bcone1381]

Abraham,

There are a lot of folks that have dreams but never take a step to make it a reality. You weld as a hobby. You are good with hand tools. It tells me that You get enjoyment out of the kinds of activity that scratch building demands.

I have made some good decisions in my life. They include faith, family, occupation, education. Deciding to scratch build may be difficult to handle and a bad decision if these other key decisions in my life don't get the proper attention. Maintaining and cultivating relationships is always more important than any object or thing. Always put Faith, Family and Friends ahead of the Bearhawk. It's not intuitive, and even now, I have to remind myself of that.

So, I am diligent. T.V. Is not on my list. I would rather build than watch U of M win or watch the Lions loose. I Build instead, check in at various times, and watch the last two minutes of the game if it's close. I seek out opportunities to build a part at the counter top while my wife works in the Kitchen. I stop building at 9pm, so I can have a glass of wine with my wife before bed.

By deciding to scratch build in March 2015, I moved from wishing and dreaming to acting. I am in a different club now. Those who have joined the "club" know that Their family and friends look at them differently...with a higher admiration, for we took action- we have a determination and commitment towards a huge long term goal that is rare in society today.

And they are watching, and they look to see how we will handle the most important for mentioned items.

It does not matter how long it takes. I Have decided it is a ten year project. I look forward to flanging my next lightening hole on the ribs that are sitting 700 miles away at home (I am on the road right now) but I take all actions I can to cultivate relationships with my friends, my family, and Almighty God in heaven.

Furthermore, it's not a huge financial commitment to scratch build for me. I had the basic woodworking tools. I enjoy acquiring the new tools that I don't have, and all the aluminum I bought to build for at least the next year is costing me about $60 a month.

Brooks Cone
Bearhawk Patrol #303

[Beast]

Great advice. Thank you, gentlemen.

[Battson]

I guess this would be my advice (and my opinion, so take it as nothing more):

1. It's a big job to build an aeroplane. As a kitset, the job is big enough to wear you down unless you take pleasure in every step along the way.
2. From scratch, I think build is a true marathon. Having done a kit myself, I guess people can only finish a scratch build if they enjoy the process thoroughly and have some support, stability, and no end of persistence along the way. Either way, it's easier if you enjoy each step.
3. You don't need to have local help, though it's nice to have technical experts you can telephone. You can do it all yourself if you are prepared to do research, ask questions of the support network, and trial (and err).
4. Family time with growing children and time in general is limited these days, a build take a lot of time - if you work slowly or sporadically then it takes even longer, than if you work steadily and non-stop - at least a little each day.
5. So, ideally you need a workshop at your home, or within 5 minutes drive at most. Otherwise you can't easily do a little each day.
6. It is stressful at times.
7. It does require a lot of thinking, and some planning.
8. The scratch build is only cheaper if you don't consider the value if your personal time (or low-ball the value). If you do value your personal time, and think your personal time is worth $14/hr, then I suggest kitset and scratch are cost neutral. You simply trade in time in the workshop for time elsewhere (like family, work, etc) by purchasing a kit. Or perhaps you don't like to think about opportunity-cost that way, maybe because you enjoy the act of building so much that it's worth the cost!
9. For me personally, while I couldn't afford the kit immediately with my cash situation, a wise man convinced me I couldn't afford not to get the kit. For example, perhaps start by saving money for three years and enjoy personal time with the family, then build a kit in two years (five years total). It may be better than starting building now and committing for ten years of slow progress, while the family grows up. Or maybe not! Just saying... very personal choice.
10. It is great to fly when you get to the end of the build. Just know your hemorrhaging cashflow doesn't stop with the build - it gets worse because you want to fly the thing...
11. You will probably fly a whole lot more if you own a plane you built yourself, compared to renting. This is a fantastic result for a passionate pilots, but see number 10. above...

[tailwind]

I'm going to throw this out there. I enjoy every second of time in my plane. Fools rush in where wise men fear to tread as I have built or restored six and working on another now. Having said that there are some fixed costs to owner ship that we often hide under the rug when owning a plane: hanger rent 165.00 and insurance 3100.00. That is 5080 in expenses before I leave the hanger. I could rent for less if there was something around but I choose to live out in a remote area and besides I enjoy owning my own plane.

[Beast]

Battson and tailwind, I hear you loud and clear. Big commitment, big job, big rewards.

It was a posting on Bearhawkin.com, titled "One Piece at a Time", by Budd Davisson, that gave me the courage to give this a try. I can't guarantee that I'll be as successful as some builders, but I won't be the 90 year old man in his rocker wishing I would have tried, and wondering if I would have succeeded.

I'm looking forward to the challenges.


I couldn't get the link to take you straight to the article. It is under the "Why build" tab on the left, then scroll to the bottom.

[tailwind]

Okay, sounds like you're committed, great. Now that you are going into this with your eyes open (not glazed over) try to approach it with the idea that you will receive satisfaction from completing one part well notice I said "well" not perfect. The parts do have to meet a standard but they don't need to be perfect perfect. Don't look at the total project, it will discourage you. If you can get satisfaction from making one part well then you will be encouraged to make another. Soon you can get satisfaction from your completed assemblies. The hard part will come when you have what looks like a completed airplane to the average person. You will spend many hours during this time working on internal systems that seem to take as much time as building the plane. During this time there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. You do not see any reward for your time or effort during this time. Stick it out one bite at a time during this time and the reward will be great. Take time to come back here often to see others enjoying the fruits of the construction process. If you can get some reward from looking at a completed part, flying the plane will be an even bigger reward.

[dedgemon]

Beast,
Having built (and completed and flown) a few airplanes I feel compelled to share a few things I've noticed. I'm not necessarily going to offer advice since every persons situation is different. These are comments I make to folks all the time about building airplanes.

1. Deciding to build or not is huge. To be successful, you must want the project more than the actual aircraft. If its about having the airplane so that you can just go fly, stop now and go take out a loan and buy an airplane. Trust me! To actually finish and transition from builder to builder/pilot you MUST enjoy and look forward to the process more than the product. And for a scratch builder the process is LOOONNNNNGGGG.

2. Having decided that you really are going to build, the most important decision is which airplane Here we tend to get bogged down by emotion, lust, etc... for the airplane that grabs us. You need some of that, but you also need to temper it with a little judgment. Do you really have 3 other folks that will regularly fly with you. If so you are RARE. Do you really need a hard core back country airplane if you never go anywhere but hard surface? Do I need a 200 knot airplane if I never fly more than 200 miles from home? All of these mind games take time to play out. Building an airplane is hard, building one that turns out to be not quite what you really need is REALLY discouraging. Try you upmost to go see these airplanes and hopefully get a ride BEFORE you commit. Often times the reality is different than the marketing or the expectation.

Another part of this is what is your flying experience. Its at least an ancillary issue. You can certainly build an airplane that you don't know how to fly yet (taildragger perhaps), but you need to plan for how to deal with that. Also you need to have the experience to decide whether you'll like flying the airplane you build. (get more rides if you can)

3. Keep flying while you build. Most people just plain stop. That makes getting your proficiency back hard. Its not at all uncommon to build an airplane that you have no business trying to fly (for a while at least). Plan for transition. Do you need taildragger time? How are you going to get it?

4. Do you have a shop? I know some folks build in the spare bedroom, etc... This is mostly urban legend, especially if you have a family. In order to be able to fit it into your family life you need a place that you can build in and walk away from at a moments notice. A place where you can leave things exactly where they are and not have to clean up or worry about being there when you come back. This needs to be at home. If you have to get in a car and drive ANYWHERE to work on the airplane you won't. You just won't. You need to be able to avail yourself of the little chunks of time that crop up. 30 minutes here, an hour there.

5. Money. If god had meant for us to fly he'd have given us more money. This actually is one place where I suggest that you get started before you have enough. If you wait until you can "afford" it, it'll never happen. I've lost count of friends that waited until they retired, built the airplane, then lost their medical. Don't be blind to the cost, just realize that these things generally work themselves out as you go. If you really, really want it, you'll find the money.

6 Kit/Scratch. Buy a kit. I know it cost more. Its worth it. Full disclosure, I'm scratch building a Patrol. But I've built 3 kits! The learning process is steep enough on the first kit. The curve on a scratch build is much steeper. Money well spent.

Given all of that, I hope it helps you think through your situation and figure out what works for you. Enjoy!!

[whee]

Glad you decided to go for it Beast! Looking forward to some build pics from you.

[Phil]

Beast,

1. Deciding to build or not is huge. To be successful, you must want the project more than the actual aircraft. If its about having the airplane so that you can just go fly, stop now and go take out a loan and buy an airplane. Trust me! To actually finish and transition from builder to builder/pilot you MUST enjoy and look forward to the process more than the product. And for a scratch builder the process is LOOONNNNNGGGG.

I'm probably a poor example as I've been building in fits and spurts in between life's other distractions, but I love David's statement. People constantly tell me I should just buy a plane, or even a quick build kit. I always explain to them that my goal isn't to have a plane, but to build a plane.