Future builder in South Florida

[wickedpurple]

Hi guys! I'm a previous lurker who decided to come out from the shadows.

A little about me: I'm a longtime aviation enthusiast that had a 1/3 life crisis a couple of years back who is switching careers to somehow be around airplanes all day. I just finished avionics school and will be starting A&P in January. Classes and a good chunk of my EAA 133 guys are out of KHWO and we have chapter meetings at KFLL. I also show up at KPMP every month for the BBQ/seminar and sometimes get to KFXE/KBCT if something fun is going on.

Many of my guys camp and volunteer in the workshops at Sun N Fun. In 2013 they brought me for the show itself. I built a wing rib, did some fabric and found the Women Build forum and bothered the radio station guys; instead of just wanting to fly, now I wanted to build! The bug hit hard, way bigger then when I was little. I then started plans for school so that maybe I can make some money with the knowledge I wanted to get. In 2014 I volunteered with them in the workshop - avionics/electrical area so I can meld my class knowledge and help out with current best practices.

After much thinking I've pretty much settled on the BH QB as my dream plane. It seems to fit nicely with camping out, getting into grass strips for get togethers and going sort-of fast when my husband is there to get to places (he doesn't really care one way or the other about planes, but if it saves driving time and is useful it's a plus).

Even though money is an issue I don't want to spend decades working on 6WP, so I heard QB is the way to go. Since I will be in school 2ish years, need to learn to fly after, and then save money for the kit this is pretty far out timewise.

I know I am probably overthinking everything, but I am trying to decide if I should buy plans now, (just to have them to look over, fantasize, draw hearts on, etc) or just wait and get them closer to build time in order to get the most updated version. Does it really matter?

Anyways, thanks for reading this and indulging a relative newbie.

-Tiff

[mswain]

I personally think staring at the plans will help you in the long run. As a scratchbuilder with no prior building experience, it took me almost a year to really get comfortable with the plans. The Bearhawk plans are not as explicit as some, ie. RV plans, so much more is left up to the builder to interpret. The more questions you generate now, and find answers....the less time you will spend pondering when you actually get to building. If you've got the $$, buy the plans.

[marcusofcotton]

Welcome Tiff,
If you buy the plans now, Bob will sell a set of "shop plans" (which I recommend anyway) later that have all the updates but not the sheet #7 mylar wing drawing. Recent pricing was $35 - $40 delivered. Note this is only available to plans holders.

Mark J

[Jflyer]

WicketPutple , Where in South FLA?

[bestbearhawk1231]

Tiff, you could always buy the plans if you have the money right now and start working on the wing ribs and spars while you are in school. A couple hours per night, some time on the weekend, and you will be amazed how much you can get done...especially if you plan on being in A&P school. It would be good experience when it comes time for getting a good job. After you get your job, learn to fly, deal with other life events that will come up you can always buy the sub kits to speed up the process. A few hundred bucks and a few hours/week will make for a big jump start on your project....or you could sit and start at your plans and dream. A&P school would be an ideal time to bend up your spars since the school will have an 8' brake and give you real world experience.

I am scratch building because I felt that my time would be better spent in the shop bending metal than working years of overtime to save up for a qb kit. I have been at it for a couple years now and have my ribs built, spars bent, both ailerons and one flap complete (minus trailing edge and hinge brackets), the other flap clecoed up and ready to rivet together, all attach and rib stiffeners built. I am hoping to have all of the wing steel parts done by spring. My spars were bent on a home made angle iron brake and turned out great.

What do you plan on doing with your avionics/A&P license after you complete school? I worked on corporate jets for several years after college doing avionics work, primarily on Learjets and Falconjets... I also dabbled a bit on the other popular corporate airframes.

[wickedpurple]

Using school equipment would be great as I only have a one car garage and not much in the way of large tools/workbench yet. Avionics class was easy, just going 2x a week and the rest was online. A&P is not... I will be very busy come January. (M-F 8am-4pm work, 6pm-12:45am class and no missing hours, FAA mandated). My only concern is if I will have time to do any BH work in between projects and studying. I imagine that I could easily use a BH part for a project in the metalwork and the welding week of class. Ifrom what I have seen they handle class differently than we did.

At first I only did avionics because there was a very long wait for the mechanic program. If I took the avionics class, I would automatically jump the line and have first dibs on the next General A&P class and time-wise it would be about the same or sooner if I did it that way. I have always built/upgraded my own computer so it would deepen my knowledge and he extra certifications wouldn't hurt. Now I am a sparkchaser and like it better than wrenching so far.

Many teachers/students there are transport guys and I'm the only GA/Experimental person there. They say the more money is in the big stuff, but I want to stay little. I will retain all the piston knowledge and gain skill in small planes so I can use it on my small plane later. I am strongly leaning towards an avionics shop. I can figure out my panel and design some really sexy diagrams. ADS-B is going to keep those shops busy.

I could go in the avionics workforce now as I have my GROL (I'll be doing the +RADAR and NCATT test soon) but my current job is pretty flexible with hours. Depending on sleep and traffic at that hour I may have to move it to 9am-5pm or go down to 7 hours/day and make some up on Saturdays. I doubt that I can tell a new job under no circumstances can the scheduling interfere with class. It seems they won't take kindly to it. Once you miss a certain amount of class minutes you get 'timed out' and have to retake it. More money, more time and I DO NOT want that to happen.

Thank you all for the ideas! Since I'm new scratch seems a bit overwhelming but maybe I *can* work it out. Lots to think on.

Jflyer, I live in far west Boca Raton, on the east coast.

[Jflyer]

Tiff , Cool beans. I have a sister in Boynton Beach.

I think Joe's idea of purchasing plans for now and working on some parts is a good idea. As he said you can always buy the various kit assemblies later. In the mean time reviewing the plans and Eric's building manuals are both great education for all things Bearhawk.
Also, if you have the plans to review, it's a lot easier to follow the conversations on this forum.

I fly gliders in LaBelle if you'd like up come out and try the quieter side of flying this season. We're in the process of restoring the clubs Schweizer 2-33. It should be flying in October if we can get all the painting finished by then.

[wickedpurple]

Ok... you guys really twisted my arm here (not that it took much). I am now owner of plans #1353! I already ordered Russ' CD and in a few months I'll get Eric's books too. I'll be bringing all this to my EAA meeting on Thursday so I can start poking my guys for shop ideas.

I can look and drool but before anything serious happens, I want my FCC radar and NCATT certs done, preferably by Oct. Then I can make sure school is set to go in Jan, send in scholarships, and THEN I can start cleaning garage/flooring/paint and maybe making benches. Having real plans on my table is making me giddy but I have to be an Adult first.

[Jflyer]

Congrats! You'll enjoy the research