By Emme Hornung

David Forster, EAA 481383, has been recognized as one of EAA’s 2026 Volunteers of the Year. His work is often not the visible kind, but his support of homebuilders and advocacy for safety and accessibility in general aviation is essential to the community.

Both of David’s parents were pilots, and his dad put him to work holding the bucking bar at just 8 years old while he was restoring a 1946 Luscombe — the same aircraft David would learn to fly in. That was just the start of homebuilding for him, as he’s now built four distinctly different aircraft. “I covered the range. Fast and slow, land and water, vertical takeoff and [fixed wing],” he said.

He first rebuilt a 1966 Falconar AMF-S14 Maranda that had been previously damaged, and then, after his wife requested something a bit faster to keep up with their lunch fly-out group, he built an F1 Rocket. He’s also built a RotorWay Exec 162F helicopter and a Progressive Aerodyne SeaRey.

In 2013, he decided to apply his skills and knowledge by becoming an EAA technical counselor, visiting fellow homebuilders to help identify possible safety issues with their aircraft before taking to the sky. “There have been occasions where together we have identified issues that could have been a safety issue for the builder down the road, and whenever we do that, it feels good to help somebody identify something that could really make a difference in their enjoyment of that aircraft,” he said.

In 2019 he joined EAA’s Homebuilt Aircraft Council in hopes of making a broader impact for homebuilders, and he just completed a four-year term as chairman in 2025. Now that his term is up, he focuses much of his volunteer efforts on supporting EAA’s government advocacy team, participating in weekly meetings with the team and the FAA throughout the year and during AirVenture to move forward regulatory initiatives, such as the unleaded fuel transition initiative and improving access to safety-enhancing equipment and cost-effective parts.

“The regulations and the way they’re working is driving up the cost of replacement parts, modern instrumentation, and safety-enhancing equipment to the degree where people can’t afford it,” he said.

After attempting to go through the STC process himself, he’s using those lessons learned to hopefully make things better for other pilots and owners. “We’re kind of leveraging that knowledge and experience that I gained going through the STC process to try to identify some changes within policies, procedures, and potentially regulations that would enable people to be able to afford lower-cost safety equipment in their aircraft, and would encourage manufacturers to come in and provide competition in the provision of those products and services,” he said.

“We still have a long road ahead of us in terms of accomplishing what we want to accomplish, but if we’re successful, then I’m hoping that what we’re going to do would be a benefit to pilots everywhere and ultimately improve safety and participation in aviation,” he added.

Thank you, David, for all you do for EAA, homebuilders, and the greater general aviation community!