EAA Sport Aviation - August 2010

RICHARD VANGRUNSVEN

COMMENTARY / GUEST EDITORIAL

Homebuilt Pride

The impact of homebuilt aircraft in GA

MY EAA MEMBERSHIP NUMBER is 3204, issued when I was 17 years old. I’ve seen the homebuilt movement grow from a novelty to a position of prominence in general aviation. It’s evolved from single-seat, open-cockpit homebuilts to 300- mph turbocharged speedsters and, perhaps more importantly, everything in between. It’s been a fascinating journey, and it’s not over. More than 31,000 airplanes are currently registered under the experimental amateur-built classification in the United States. In a world of increasingly mechanized and automated production of almost all commodities, this is a most interesting phenomenon.

Why? I think the primary reasons for the popularity of homebuilts are performance, affordability, and design freedom.

“Affordability” has been synonymous with homebuilt aircraft since the early 1930s. While new homebuilts are now more expensive than older used aircraft, they are new aircraft, without the need for expensive replacement parts and service. They can also be affordably maintained by their builders. But the term “affordability” must be qualified. Homebuilts are almost always more affordable than comparable factory-built aircraft because builders do not charge themselves for labor. In many instances, truly comparable factory aircraft just don’t exist!

The word “experimental” in our licensing category embodies the philosophy and appeal of homebuilt aircraft. The experimental category is a nursery for innovation and original thinking. Pilots and designers express their creativity and ingenuity by designing and building airplanes suited to their individual tastes. The result is the current fleet of diverse personal aircraft including some advanced high-performance and high-efficiency designs. It’s no accident that the majority of

new production aircraft introduced over the past 15 years can trace their lineage to homebuilt designs and companies.

However, most contemporary homebuilts continue to follow tried and true aerodynamic and structural themes. After more than a century of worldwide experimentation, science and conventional wisdom have pretty well straightened the pathway to success. The homebuilder/designer draws from this repository of knowledge and experience to optimize aircraft designed for specialized personal-use goals, not constrained by economies of scale that force production aircraft to be more utilitarian and meet the needs of a broader user base. As a result, homebuilt aircraft have evolved to satisfy specialized niche markets. Fast two-seat airplanes and aerobatic aircraft are perhaps the most common examples of homebuilts filling voids left by light aircraft manufacturers.

Homebuilts have served admirably as a testing ground for new ideas and technology. For instance, composite construction was widely used in homebuilt aircraft long before it showed up in factory-made airplanes. Electronic advances have far outpaced mechanical advances in recent years, and amateur-built experimentals serve as a proving ground for the new generation of avionics, autopilots, engine monitoring systems, and flight displays. Developers have the opportunity to field test their wares in the experimental world without expensive and cumbersome certification requirements. The result is the ability to more economically equip both amateur-built and production aircraft with the latest technological gadgets.

Perhaps the most import role played by homebuilt aircraft is the invigoration of all of general aviation. Homebuilts provide a hope for a brighter future, even for those not directly involved. Certainly, a large number of people have been motivated to learn to fly, renew their flying, or become more active in aviation as a result of the excitement generated by the “sporty” homebuilts they have seen.

The common interest bond that develops among homebuilt aircraft builders and owners is an underlying strength not always considered. Many builders have confided to me that the close and valuable friendships formed while building are more precious to them than the aircraft they built. This bond flows from the strong feelings of accomplishment and pride of craftsmanship and can only be fully shared with other builders.

The enduring legacy of the homebuilt/experimental aircraft movement includes a growing fleet of wonderful personal-use airplanes, a hospitable environment for innovators and dreamers, and a worldwide network of enthusiastic builder/pilots.