Making a Splash
RANDY WILDER, EAA 692629; FLEMING ISLAND, FLORIDA, TECHNICAL COUNSELOR: TORELLO TACCHI
AFTER FOUR AND A half years of on-again, off-again construction, I
flew my SeaRey, Splash, for its maiden flight in August 2007. Wow,
what a ride that first flight is in an aircraft you built yourself! I
decided to build an experimental airplane after researching many
used planes and kits from manufacturers. The selection process
eluded me until I sat down and made a list of what I wanted in a
plane and how I would use it. One of the major factors in helping me
decide to build rather than buy was the added benefit of knowing
how the plane is made, how it works, and how to fix it.
When the kit first arrived, the excitement and reality of building
a plane hit home. I found the initial construction was simple, the
instructions were easy to follow, and within days, the parts began
forming recognizable shapes. Working weekends and some nights,
the fuselage and landing gear were assembled, and I was soon able to
get the obligatory photo of me sitting in my incomplete airplane.
That’s when the process seemed to slow
to a snail’s pace. All those wires…miles of
wiring it seemed, and flight controls, and
testing and checking. And the body contortions required when installing some of those
parts. But finally, the fuselage was complete
and the Rotax 912S engine was installed. Oh,
how I wanted to take it for a quick taxi
around the subdivision I live in, but my
wife’s objections prevailed.
Next came the wings and tail feathers. I
was quickly running out of room in my two-car garage. Each building day was an
exercise of backing my wife’s car out of the
garage, arranging the parts I would work on,
