By Madeline Wooten
While 2020 disrupted nearly everyone’s lives, it gave Bill Batten, EAA Lifetime 781915, the opportunity to finally pursue a longtime dream: building an aircraft.
After retiring and selling his beloved Velocity, Bill spent 18 months researching potential projects before choosing a Sonex Waiex. His decision became easy once he discovered that several members of his local EAA chapter had already built or were in the process of building a Sonex aircraft.
Twenty-six months and 1,065 hours later, N67WX was complete.
For Bill, his first aircraft build became much more than a homebuilt project. It was a journey of patience, friendship, and growing confidence, supported by EAA’s many resources for homebuilders.
For more than 25 years, EAA has provided SportAir Workshops across the country year-round to help homebuilders enhance their skills and confidence. Skilled instructors with years of experience cover technical skills such as Sheet Metal Basics, Fabric Covering, Electrical Systems and Avionics, TIG Welding, Fiberglass Techniques for RV Aircraft, and Gas Welding.
Bill took an EAA SportAir Workshop that focused on fiberglass to assist him in building his Sonex. Although he had spent his career as an engineer, he had never worked with fiberglass, making the Sonex’s cowl and wingtips one of the more intimidating parts of the project. However, the workshops, led by professional instructors and offering projects for participants to work on, gave him the confidence to take those skills to his passion project.
“I had never touched fiberglass before I took the SportAir workshop, and taking that workshop just gave me the confidence that I could kind of dive in and start doing some of the work,” Bill said.
He also took the Electrical Systems and Avionics EAA SportAir Workshop alongside other members of his local EAA chapter who were also building Sonexes. The group, affectionately nicknamed the “Indiana Sonex Mafia,” saw it pay off taking the workshop together and were able to help bounce ideas and solve problems together after the workshop ended.
One thing that made the workshops useful to Bill was the instructors and their years of knowledge. He described the Fiberglass workshop instructors as “masters at their craft,” with over 40 years of experience. They told the participants tips and tricks and introduced them to different products to help their projects at home.
“We were able to benefit from his years of knowledge, and he just was an excellent instructor in being able to show us techniques. We practiced stripping wire and soldering. We practiced laying fiberglass in the fiberglass class. They were kind of watching us doing it, kind of coaching us through the whole process,” he said.
With the support of friends, mentors, and the confidence he gained through EAA SportAir Workshops and other EAA resources, Bill successfully completed his first aircraft and watched N67WX take to the sky.
Looking back on the experience, he encourages anyone considering building an experimental aircraft to not be afraid to try it.
“Building an experimental airplane is 1,000 small projects, and that’s how you have to approach it. Every day you do something a little bit different, a little bit new, you’ll learn along the way. You will make some mistakes, and when you do, you throw the part away, and you start over again.”
Ready to start your own building journey? Visit EAA.org/SportAir to find a workshop near you and begin building the skills and confidence to complete your aircraft.
