By What Our Members Are Building/Restoring — Arkansas Lockwood AirCam
This piece originally ran in the August 2026 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
In 2021 as I approached retirement, I ordered the basic AirCam 2 kit from Lockwood Aviation. At that point my mechanical experience was marginal, and though a 900-hour pilot, I had no experience building airplanes.
EAA to the rescue! A variety of weekend courses are offered in its SportAir Workshops program. I needed tutoring in sheet metal and fabric work, as well as electronics/avionics installation. In addition, there are many courses offered at AirVenture that cover all phases of building an aircraft. Building an airplane completely changed and enhanced my experience and enjoyment of AirVenture every year. I had courses to attend, people to meet, notes to compare, and other AirCams to study.
While building, I also had to reestablish currency of my private pilot certificate and instrument rating, and also needed a tailwheel endorsement and a multiengine rating. That kept me busy and energized during the build. In anticipation of receiving the kit, I built an 8-by-4 foot workbench and covered it with thick pile carpet. It had storage for soon-to-be-needed parts under the main table, and the top could be removed for supporting items that had to be worked on from underneath.
The first chore involved fiberglass application to the butt rib of the right wing. I lucked out when the epoxy resin I had purchased for the task had hardened in the container and was unusable. With that work postponed, I had time to lay out all components included in the kit and get them stored in an organized way. All metal sheets, spars, longerons, and dividers were arranged in order along the back wall of the hangar, and all nuts, bolts, washers, rivets, and other small parts were arranged in alphanumeric order and placed in small organizing drawers. The day spent organizing proved to be of inestimable value, saving me untold hours of frustrating search time.
Once I was organized, I resumed assembling the right wing. I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a ton quickly. Building the first wing took a month of weekends and days off, but it came out well. With that experience under my belt, I was able to build the second wing in one day.
From there I moved through stabilizers and control surfaces and finished the partially preassembled fuselage. AirCam wings and control surfaces are fabric-covered, and that process was a new skill, entirely different from anything I had done before. Once again EAA came to the rescue with its intense weekend fabric course. I acquired the skills slowly, but gained confidence as I worked, and the EAA instructors, Lockwood engineers, and Poly Fiber reps were always available to answer questions and advise as problems came up. In addition, the North Little Rock Municipal Airport where I was building the airplane is inhabited by many homebuilders with some interesting aircraft.
I did primer and base paint myself using the skills learned at the EAA course. But the finish coat was a different animal. The AirCam is a mix of metal and fabric construction, so it is preferable to paint the parts individually, before final assembly. I was prepared to load all the pieces on a truck and deliver them to a paint shop several hours away, but I lucked out when a painter joined the staff of our airport FBO and agreed to do the finishing paint at my home airport. Over the next 10 months the dull, primed parts became beautiful, polished parts ready for assembly.
The airframe assembly went well. The assembled parts were large and often required several helpers to get right, but by this time I had an intimate knowledge of the components and how they were going to go together. All the parts were complete and painted by this time so I picked up a few extra packing blankets to preserve the finish, and within a few days it started looking like an airplane.
With the building project I not only had to learn how to use new instruments (with abbreviations like EFIS, MFD, AHRS, ADS-B, etc.), but now I had to install them, along with the two Rotax engines powering my airplane. And they all had to “talk” to each other! For this job I enlisted the help of a certified Rotax mechanic, and I also traveled to Sebring, Florida, for a week and got my Level I and II Rotax mechanic certifications.
Having two engines allowed me to observe my experienced mechanic friend rig the left engine, and then I tried to duplicate his work myself on the right engine. What he made look easy I made hard, but I learned a ton. I would not have been able to finish the work without help, and anyone building an airplane should learn to recognize early when help is needed and go about the business of getting it.
Four years and six months after I started the project, I suddenly realized it was pretty much “finished.” I promised my wife and daughters that I would get an experienced pilot to take the plane up for the first trip around the pattern, and I am keeping that promise. I need a cool and impartial assessment of how well she flies or why she shouldn’t be flying. I have spent a lot of time reviewing and studying Flight Testing Homebuilt Aircraft and the EAA Flight Test Manual and have a pretty good plan. Once that first flight is done and the aircraft is thoroughly checked out, Phase I testing will get fully underway (including several hours of engine break-in). I am so excited.
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 ->