By Randy Brooks, EAA Lifetime 165320
This piece originally ran in the March 2025 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
It all started with my dad taking me for my first airplane ride when I was 5, in a Cessna 120 with my brother. I can still remember the huge throttle right in front of me and the neat, curved yokes with the Cessna logo. Couldn’t really see anything over the instrument panel, but that didn’t matter. I could feel it. That started a lifelong passion for aviation. I was lucky that my father was a private pilot and loved to fly — taildraggers. He learned to fly on the GI Bill after WWII in a Taylorcraft. He rented various airplanes at our local airport in Ohio but always came back to the taildraggers. Have you ever flown a J-3 on skis in a foot of powder? Heaven.
Of course, I got a job working at that airport during high school as a line boy. When I was 16, I started my “official” lessons in a PA-18. My dad had joined EAA in the early days and always fantasized about building his own airplane. We looked at a bunch of different designs but ended up buying plans for an EAA Biplane — a taildragger. That never got built, but the dream was always there. After teaching flying in college and entering the Air Force after graduation, I was able to continue my private flying in my spare time. In 1979, my first airplane purchase with an Air Force buddy was a stock J-3 Cub. Shocking, a taildragger. My second airplane was a Bellanca Citabria that I bought to learn aerobatics. Taildragger. Do you see a pattern here?
I never gave up the dream to build my own airplane that started way back with my dad. After a 20-year Air Force career, 13 years of airline flying, and 13 years as an FAA avionics technician, I finally had the time and means to build an experimental airplane. I finished a six-year restoration on the Cub in 2019, so the time was right. Notwithstanding the fact that I had an N-number reserved for 15 years — it had to go on something! After researching many different designs like the RANS S-20/S-21, Kitfox, RV-8, and Murphy — to name a few — I kept coming back to the RANS S-21. It had to be a complete kit, all metal, and “fast build.” I wanted to get into shorter grass strips and be able to carry a bunch of stuff and still have a decent cruise speed to go cross-country when needed. And of course, it had to be a taildragger. I was impressed by the performance numbers and the positive build experiences related by those already building the kit. The RANS S-21 fit all those criteria, so I ordered the kit in 2020 and took delivery in April 2021.
For those of you who have had the joy of watching the big truck pull up and unload your kit after all that waiting, you know that it was one of the coolest days in your life. And one of the scariest days — asking yourself, what have I done as you unpack and inventory the kit. The enormity of the task ahead is laid out in front of you, and it seems impossible that a real airplane will come out of all of this. Fortunately, I was able to attend a rudder build workshop at the RANS factory a month before my kit was delivered. Building the rudder in one afternoon, under the expert guidance of factory builder Eddie Gil, EAA 1445763, put my mind at ease — I can do this. Aircraft structural pull rivets that you can do on your own, all parts CNC matched, many parts preformed, and a complete kit to work with. No searching for hardware or raw materials — it was all organized and labeled to help with the assembly. Add to that, great support from the RANS family and a great design by Randy Schlitter, EAA 223759.
The kit was a joy to build — everything matched up beautifully. No special jigs or fixtures to build. After three years and almost 2,000 hours, my dream taildragger was finished. The airplane is powered by a Titan Continental IOX-340 with dual electronic ignition and has an 82-inch Whirlwind ground-adjustable prop. The avionics are all Garmin, expertly built by SteinAir. I received my airworthiness certificate on May 8, 2024, and finished the Phase I testing in late June, using the EAA Flight Test Manual and the task-based test card program. The airplane flies like a dream — very docile low-speed handling and performance very close to the factory specs. I couldn’t be happier with the design.
A huge shoutout to my designated airworthiness representative (DAR) Matt Tomsheck, EAA 999557, my building buddy Dave Manning, EAA 168821, my technical counselor and EAA flight testing guru Gary Baker, EAA Lifetime 251472, and all the EAA Chapter 846 members who gave guidance and support during the build process. This is EAA at its best.
So, you see, in the end, I didn’t really find the airplane — it found me. I was always destined to build and fly a taildragger. Thanks, Dad.
Attention — Aircraft Builders and Restorers
We would love to share your story with your fellow EAA members in the pages of EAA Sport Aviation magazine, even if it’s a project that’s been completed for a while. Readers consistently rate the “What Our Members are Building/Restoring” section of the magazine as one of their favorites, so don’t miss the chance to show off your handiwork and inspire your peers to start or complete projects of their own. Learn more ->