The plane is being built in the country and mainly on weekends. It will take doing it this way, around two to three years to build and will be around 400 hours +. I haven't built planes before nor of a mechanical or engineering background.
Expenses are in euros and include absolutely everything from before construction even began to any upgrades or additions made after it is finished. It also will give a breakdown of the running costs like insurance, maintenance and storage over the course of its first year of flight.
Introduction to Builder’s Log
Both my stepfather and stepmother were PPL holders although not keeping it up meant you couldn’t really say they were pilots. I have been up in small planes, large turbo-prop passenger aircraft and ‘jet airliners’ but if you asked me would I ever decide to build one I would have said ‘not a hope!’ I can’t even afford a car let alone a plane. However my inspiration came from a television series showing how just about anybody can put together a ‘kit aircraft’.
The plane I have chosen is a Zenair Zodiac CH601HDS. I chose this American plane because it is not just affordable but will fulfill the requirements I have of a touring-type aircraft that I can keep outdoors all year round. It is mostly aluminium alloy, will do up to 950s.m. on extended fuel and can cruise at 135mph. It can be built in limited space, a 10’ x 4’ workbench is all the space needed. It is built up in modules and I will buy as I build. I do not have space where I live myself so a friend’s house will be my base in return for some labour and a free flight or two when it's finished! Weekends will be my main building time.
Wednesday 22nd/6/2002
I bought the following tools yesterday (all new)
These are the basic tools along with the spanners, ratchet set and screwdrivers I already had. The following things I bought over the next month
Grand Total: 654.33
When you start from having basically no tools to this it sure adds up! Any additional tools built are mentioned later. A deburring tool I think is quite useful but not necessary.
Friday 21st/6/2002
More research! SAAC (Society for Amateur Aircraft Constructors) is the organisation in Ireland equivalent to the PFA and I will join them for 30 euro p.a. They have a website which is quite useful. The Subaru engine in the UK on the HDS has a potential snag. If I know Ireland then they will quite likely follow the same line as the UK on this. The problem is that the dual ignition switches are only routed through 1 plug per cylinder which is apparently OK with the HD (lower stall speed) but maybe not in the HDS. This information came to me via a site for Zenair builders in the UK and Europe which is called GEZUB I think. However my plan at the moment is to continue with this engine which is permitted on this type in the USA, Canada, New Zealand and probably Australia too.
My “workshop” is going to be a stable! (without the horse of course!) Must tell Zenair so they can add it to the list. I’m sure they keep all sorts of nutball places to build a plane! There is a picture on their website of someone building a Zodiac in their living room!
I have also managed to find another owner of a HDS in Dublin. Quite incredible really as there is maybe only 1-2,000 kit builders in the world for the whole Zodiac range! I’m sure I will keep in contact with him. There is another Irish builder who is current but he is plans-building which might be someone to contact when I make a mistake or twenty. Other topics I researched and found information on mostly on the web are – painting light aircraft yourself, trailer considerations, test flight procedures, estimate times for various destinations, range map of the aircraft based on Dublin (Great Circle Mapper site), insurance, flying in Ireland and flying abroad.
Friday 12th July 2002-Building Time: 15mins Total Time: 15 mins
The rudder finally arrived and about time too! I have also ordered a demo video from Zenair which will be useful to give people an idea of what it is that we are building and what they can expect to own! I picked up the rudder from my work and brought it home. Gee, they sure pack it well! I inventoried everything and laid it all out for a quick photo and overview. I removed the stickers with just a little hot water and some determined rubbing. I'm sure that there is an easier way but was in excited form, well that's my excuse!
Saturday 13th July 2002-Building Time: 90mins Total Time: 1hr 45mins
I spent the morning with Brendan searching for a suitable workbench. I have decided to do the rudder in the living room as it is a small piece and will only require a short amount of time to construct it. I have used 2 sawhorses and a rectangular wooden tabletop which is adequate for the job. I then read the manual that came with the rudder and another one that I got online. I marked up the centerlines and rib positions. Also I cut my first bit off the plane to allow room for the bottom of the rudder to pass through the bottom of the main spar doublers. So far so good...
Sunday 14th July 2002-Building time: 6hrs Total Time: 7hrs 45mins
What a day! Excitement mixed with a bit of a struggle. Should also've read the instructions a little more but to be fair I was working from two different manuals! The one that came with the rudder was detailed and good but the online one was a far more practical and easier of going about the order in which to build it seemed to me anyhow.
Attached the rear ribs and clecoed them in place I made a bit of a mess of rear rib #1 but it is all within tolerances and should pass inspection. Also made the simplest of mistakes. I quote now from the holy rudder bible (as that is how I will now treat it) "Read the instructions. It's much easier." It was the first rib after the bottom one and critically was adjacent the nose rib. It means that the nose rib will have to be positioned higher by around 10mm in order to be level(as it should be) with the rear rib. As this is outside the tolerances I'll have to contact CZAW for advice. It's too late now to ring them today so will wait till tomorrow. I should point out that this section should only have taken 3 hours for but was getting a bit edgy and losing patience. Decided to stop for the day.
Monday 15th July 2002-Building Time: 45minsTotal Time: 8hrs 30mins
Well I rang CZAW and explained my mistake. They told me that if it didn't change the shape of the rudder then it was OK to move the noserib up to be level with the rib on the other side. So as I feel that this will be the case it was all go. I attached the tip rib to the spar and had to re-drill two holes. Also when I tested an A4 rivet on my 3mm holes it wouldn't fit. This is understandable as the drill size is supposed to be in inches and is equivalent to 3.2mm and even then is sometimes too tight so I will try and buy 3.5mm bits tomorrow. With everything attached now and the 'skeleton' complete bar drilling the doublers I took a photo of the assembly. When the final drilling is done it will need to be de-burred and then riveted together so that it is rigid for the skins to be applied. There is a slight hold-up here as I have to get the right type of riveter heads. I am going to go to a SAAC meeting tomorrow and will hopefully get to meet another Zodiac builder so will again hopefully get to ask him if I can buy or borrow his riveter.
Work will kind of stop on the rudder for the next week as my girlfriend is coming over from Scotland to visit me and I am taking her down to Kerry for a couple of days. The demo video arrived which I watched with glee and then tempered glee as I realised that I have a long journey ahead.
Tuesday 16th July, 2002- Building Time: 0hrs Total Time: 8hrs 30mins
Had meeting with SAAC(Society of Amateur Aircraft Constructors) who meet in a workshop every third Tuesday of the month in Sandycove. There was around 20 people there and it was very good to get to meet fellow zenith builders of which there were two present and at least another four in SAAC. Three of these are 601 builders (2 from plans) and three 701 builders (2 from plans). One of them has even offered to make me machine-ground custom riveter heads which I will need for the 601. I was definitely the youngest there and only one other was anywhere near my age anyway.
I asked a few questions. 1. Ball-park figure for insurance? Eamonn(his workshop and President) has a Piper Cub and was insured with a UK company for firstly half a million at 250IEP p.a. and then one million 500IEP p.a. last year. The Cub is a home-built plane and this would then seem to bode well for my insurance too. I still don’t know what multiple-ownership would entail and how much insurance I can expect to pay there but it is less than I had expected anyway. 2. Project registration? You are given a form to fill in and are provided with a builder’s inspection manual, project number and builder’s log. You then contact a SAAC inspector in your area and with the right construction experience who establishes with you how often he needs to inspect your work according to your experience and workmanship. He will, most likely want to see the piece you are working on before closeout. Closeout is when you cover the piece so that you can no longer see inside it, usually when you rivet the skin onto the frame. 3. Subaru engine? This was an interesting response. I had as you know said that it may not be possible to put this engine into this plane because of it only having one plug per cylinder which had stopped approval in the UK but not in the USA, Canada and other countries. When I asked who influenced them more FAA or CAA the reply was “We’re rather more Catholic than that.” They told me that the experimental nature of kitplanes meant that so long as the designer had approved the engine for the plane then it was OK. Ok, then, that’s that problem solved. I may still get some opinions on the Jabiru 3300 engine and see how it compares. No hurry, anyhow.
They are having a fly-in down in Wellington Bridge, Wexford on August 31st- September 1st. They have a field down there and members fly their plane down from all over Ireland and then spend the night there and have a barbecue. I also learnt of an interesting development with Weston where they are going to hangar all aircraft there soon. This may mean it will no longer have the space to park a plane and tie it down which will be a shame as I had wanted to perhaps tie it down there. Did you know that it has more plane movements there than Dublin and all this with very limited Radio and ATC facilities! Well, I shall fill out the form, get registered, meet my inspector and see the place where I am going to build it. Also, I’ll go down to SAAC’s fly-in and get those riveter heads. Good news all-round then!