By Jackie and Tobias Burch, EAA 1210089
This piece originally ran in the What Our Members are Building/Restoring section of the August 2020 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
The story begins in 2015 when Tobias Burch, EAA 1210089, went to Alaska and fell in love with bush flying. When he received a four-year job assignment relocating him from Lucerne, Switzerland, to San Diego, he considered it a perfect opportunity to realize his dream of building an airplane. He chose the CubCrafters Carbon Cub EX-2, the ultimate bush flying machine.
In July 2016, his first delivery to his new house in San Diego was the crate containing the wing kit, fuselage kit, firewall forward, engine, and avionics. While still working on the first wing, he met Jackie, who was intrigued to learn he was building an airplane in his garage. Being a civil engineer and mechanically inclined, she jumped at the opportunity to help.
After working together on the airplane a couple of times and after a few more dates, the seed was planted and he fell in love. However, Jackie had plans to travel for a year, during which Tobias spent another 1,500 hours completing the fuselage assembly, boot cowl, panel/avionics installation, covering, and painting. When she returned, he asked her to move in. There was only one problem: The airplane was still in his garage.
As she again became involved in the build, one of her first assignments was to search for parts — all those little nuts and bolts that have specific part numbers — and she soon learned it was a time-consuming part of building an airplane. The next step was to install the engine and landing gear so they could move it to a hangar. They worked together effortlessly. She’d read the manual out loud and give him a hand when needed. In four days, the airplane was ready for the 20-mile journey to the hangar.
On the big day, Tobias rented a 26-foot truck and arranged for a few friends to help load and unload. With a temporary ramp using two 2-by-12-foot boards and two sawhorses at the midspan, the fuselage was easily loaded into and out of the truck. Once safely in the hangar, the final assembly began.
Starting with the tail feather installation, they worked side by side every day. He learned the value of having a capable partner and thought of naming the airplane Jackie. She said, “No way! Who is going to be Jackie 1 and Jackie 2, me or the airplane?” Eventually, the name Pocahontas arose and stuck.
Next came the vortex generator installation, which was a challenge, as was installing the wings. Once Tobias bought aluminum rods to make bullets to streamline installation, as suggested in the manual, the wings were aligned and the bolts were ready for torquing.
Then came the wing rigging; instrument panel painting; installation of the jury struts, pitot tube, windscreen, windows, skylight, wing root, flaps, and ailerons; and all of the cable installations and rigging, which included burning holes in the fabric. Every step was completed as a team — acquiring the right tools, talking through the process, negotiating differences, and falling in love.
Finally, it was time to start fitting the engine cowl. It was a time-consuming process to get it to fit perfectly to Tobias’ Swiss standards. After trimming, sanding, drilling, and riveting, it was ready for paint. With the propeller and engine cowl installed, Pocahontas was ready for final weight, weighing in at 1,025 pounds.
After completing the build logs, Pocahontas was ready for its first engine start on June 8, 2019. It was a success, and EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2019 seemed possible. With six weeks to go, the instrumentation had to be finalized, designated airworthiness representative organized, and high-speed taxi test, first flight, and 40 hours of Phase I flight testing completed.
On July 12, 2019, Pocahontas and Tobias took off for the first time. To go to Oshkosh, they would have to leave in eight days, giving him just seven days to complete the required 40-hour fly-off, which included three required oil changes and various inspections. He successfully completed it all and took Jackie for her first flight the day before leaving for Oshkosh!
Jackie had gotten a job and couldn’t join Tobias for the three-day flight to Oshkosh, but she planned to meet him there for the weekend and the flight back to San Diego. So, his brother Mathias, who designed the paint scheme, came from Switzerland to join him for the journey to Oshkosh. After dodging thunderstorms, they successfully made it and got the rock your wings command before flying into Wittman Regional Airport.
After three years and 2,500 hours, Tobias had successfully completed Pocahontas. But wait, there’s more!
Pocahontas, parked in homebuilt aircraft camping, was set to be judged. Tobias got to meet one of the judges, who asked to see photos of the build. Tobias showed him the CubTrekking Instagram page that Jackie had started. The judge saw that Jackie was in most of the photos and said, “If that girl really helped you that much with this airplane build, if you haven’t yet, you have to marry her!”
On the Saturday of AirVenture, Tobias found a note on his seat to join the EAA awards ceremony that afternoon, by which time Jackie had arrived. Tobias was thrilled to receive a coveted Lindy, the kitbuilt champion award.
For more about Jackie and Tobias and their adventures in Pocahontas, see their website, CubTrekking.com.
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