By Lisa Turner, EAA Lifetime 509911
This piece originally ran in Lisa’s Airworthy column in the November 2024 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
If you were one of the lucky people wandering the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh grounds this year looking for a project, you know how magical the process is.
You open up your mind and your heart to all possibilities. You read the specifications on the kits. You picture yourself flying the aircraft. You walk from one end of the property to the other, looking at everything as you narrow your choices. You feel like a child in a park full of rides, adventure, and excitement. It’s overwhelming, and you wouldn’t trade it for anything less.
Now that you’re home and your feet are on the ground, it’s time to analyze what you’re actually going to do.
At this point, you may feel the choices are clear. Depending on your level of self-knowledge, they might be. But about 90 percent of us have lives that are complicated enough that a major project — plans or kit — will require lifestyle shifts and cash infusions.
How do you decide?
Why You Should Consider Building From Plans
Choices. Aircraft plans exist by the hundreds. Complexity ranges from straightforward to highly complex. You can find plans for everything from ultralights to fast composite aircraft.
Flexibility. Working from plans means you can do as much or as little as you like day to day. It also means that you can choose how to do each task and reorder jobs and techniques. You might end up with the best of both worlds. Some kit manufacturers offer a plans option, where you can do more fabrication and assembly yourself. You can order piecemeal parts or ready-to-bolt on components.
If you get weary of building from the plans, you can speed things up by switching to entire assemblies. The drawback is that there are not a lot of manufacturers who offer this alternative. Sonex and Zenith are two that come to mind.
Less expensive — maybe. Builders assume that building from plans will reduce the ultimate cost of the airplane. It doesn’t always turn out this way, but it can if you do your research. If you’re especially frugal and take the time to analyze prices and vendors, you can save a lot of money.
Lots of resources. Between EAA workshops, books, videos, builders groups, online information, and a technical counselor, there’s plenty of help for you to pull on for a plansbuilt project.
The joy of working a long-term project. Plansbuilding is like reading a thrilling series of books; you don’t want them to end. The joy of building becomes the focus over getting in the air. If you talk to a serial builder, you’ll discover that they love the building process as much as, or more than, flying. It’s therapeutic to enter the workshop for a few hours, or a few days, of building.
One EAA Sport Aviation reader wrote to me, asking for advice on what kind of project he should tackle next. After hearing about the projects he’s already completed, there was no question in my mind that he would be bored by a kit and energized by a scratchbuilt or plansbuilt aircraft.
You should be open to the observations that those around you make. Sometimes we are too close to ourselves to see the path of most enjoyment.
Why You Might Not Want to Build From Plans
Commitment. Building from plans can be a much longer-term commitment than building from a kit. If you have a habit of leaving extensive projects unfinished, you might not get into the air.
Complexity. There’s a balance between challenge and fear. Returning to your psychological profile, consider how much complexity is fun for you, versus knowing you can complete well-known procedures. If you give up early, you may not be happy with the plansbuilt experience. There’s nothing wrong with this. It boils down to comfort levels.
Workshop resources. Building from plans will usually require a more sophisticated workshop, with plenty of basic tools and a variety of specialized tools. An alternative is to find someone else with the expertise for the tough stuff. You may not be comfortable with this arrangement.
Skill set. Back to the self-analysis. How much are you willing to learn? If you’re not eager to learn and practice the skills you’re missing, it will be difficult to get in the air safely. Most of the workshops ignore this psychological component and tell you, “Of course you can do this; here are the workshops to attend and the videos to watch.” You may not be willing to take on this learning curve.
Why You Might Consider a Kit Instead of Plans
Ease of assembly. Modern kits are marvels of execution. If you choose a well-known kit with a manufacturer who’s been in business for a while, you’ll have clear directions, well-tested factory-produced parts, a helpful builders group, and a good estimate on completion hours that are less than a decade.
Workshop resources. You probably won’t need any specialized shop tools. It’s likely you will not need a sheet metal brake, a welding setup, or a table saw. Of course you can use any project to rationalize buying more tools, like I do. This is a side benefit.
Time. Excellent estimates of the time commitment. Plansbuilt aircraft may be unpredictable on completion time.
High-quality parts. The manufacturer of a kit has made hundreds of parts, refining them along the way. You’re the beneficiary.
Documentation that you don’t have to create. Kits usually include not only the assembly manual but also a set of plans, many checklists, and sometimes a pilot handbook.
Why You Shouldn’t Consider Plans or a Kit
There are reasons why you might want to save your time and money and purchase a flying airplane. If you love flying and dislike mechanical work and maintenance, a set of plans or a kit may never fly. There are many ways to get into the air affordably. See EAA Sport Aviation, May 2024 — “Flying Affordably: 10 Ready-to-Fly Aircraft That Are Cheaper Than a New Car.”
Learning curve. The learning curve might be too steep. Once you’ve done the self-analysis, you will likely know whether you want to invest the time and effort learning new things or not.
Time and money investment. Finding and outfitting a workshop may be too difficult, too expensive, or something you just don’t want to get involved in.
Traps for the plansbuilder and the kitbuilder:
- Not going through an honest self-analysis to determine the probability of success.
- Not willing to ask for help or address steep learning curves.
- Not assembling an expert team. You should have a few former builders and an A&P mechanic willing to answer your questions and give advice.
- Not engaging an EAA technical counselor. They’re free!
Keys to success:
- Making the right choice. Find others who have built and flown what you want. Most will be happy to share their experience with you and answer questions. The right choice includes mission, complexity, cost, and learning curves.
- Self-knowledge. You might have made all the right picks on the choice of plans, but if your skill set and determination don’t match the level of complexity, you’ll have trouble completing the airplane. Take the “Plans or Kit Quiz” in this article.
- Effective time planning. How do you handle day-to-day deliverables? If you always feel behind the curve, as many of us do, take that in stride and figure it into your expectations.
- Perseverance and handling adversity. Building an airplane from plans or a kit is a major achievement. To accomplish it, you’ll need to make adversity your friend and perseverance your personality hallmark.
- Comfortable with complexity. You’ll need to find comfort levels with two types of complexity — the complexity that life throws at you, and the complexity that the airplane throws at you.
Every minute you have in life and in aviation is precious. Make the most of your time. If you’re not a builder, recognize that. Understanding the psychology and the skills mix before launching into a project will save you from many anxious moments.
Whether you build from plans or from a kit, once you’ve figured out which one suits you, you’ll revel in the therapeutic shop time and in each accomplishment as you cross it off the list of tasks. Most builders will tell you that building and flying an aircraft is one of the most rewarding things they’ve ever done in life. In understanding yourself and what’s involved in each project, you’ll be wringing every single delight out of the undertaking.
Lisa Turner, EAA Lifetime 509911, is a manufacturing engineer, A&P mechanic, EAA technical counselor and flight advisor, and former designated airworthiness representative. She built a Pulsar XP, a Kolb Mark III, and half of a RotorWay Exec helicopter. Her book, Dream Take Flight, details her Pulsar flying adventures. Lisa loves hearing from readers. Write her at Lisa@DreamTakeFlight.com.