At the beginning of 2017, I decided I needed a long-term project to keep myself from being absorbed totally by work at the funeral home.
I thought, "Don't just build another model airplane to hang on the wall. Build an airplane!
Then, I happened to see this video, posted only a few days before having that thought:
The idea of a wooden airplane intrigued me, since it would basically require the same kind of building techniques as a large model; lay out the sticks on top of a full scale drawing, glue them into place to match the drawing, done.
I wanted to be as involved as possible, and this meant building the engine. I searched online for engines suitable for the Pietenpol. Quickly I found converted aircraft engines made from old Chevrolet Corvairs. The Corvair is a sporty little car made from 1960-69. It has an air-cooled six-cylinder engine in a flat configuration, nearly perfect for fitting inside the nose of a plane. A few modified parts make one into a perfectly airworthy homebuilt flyer.
The singular authority on Corvair flight engines is William Wynne, who operates his own business supporting fellow builders in their pursuit of a quality homebuilt engine.
Not only his technical expertise has benefitted me. He is outspoken on the larger philosophical implications of taking the journey to build one's own flying machine, including important risk management. His blog and other communications have given me some real food for thought as I've embarked on this enormous project.
Here is his website:
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This video really shows the beauty of a finely crafted Pietenpol Air Camper:
Work began with an old Corvair engine I bought sight-unseen from an auto salvage in Ohio. It happened to be the right type of Corvair, suitable for flight conversion. William's engine manual later showed me I was lucky to have gotten the right kind of engine.
I disassembled it and cleaned some of the parts. Later that year, I attended a "Corvair College," a technical engine building event in Mineola, Texas. This was in September, in the midst of the uncertainty of my daughter's still undiagnosed heart failure. I had calmed down somewhat from Kristen's cardiac arrest, and took this trip alone.
Most memorable to me was the supportive atmosphere among builders of airplanes, everyone interested in each other and their progress. I was hooked.
The Pietenpol Air Camper is not meant to be comfortable. It is made to be simple to build and easy to fly. It is only two feet wide (61 cm) at the pilot's shoulders. I compare it to a motorcycle, instead of a car. It is not designed for efficient long-distance excursions into the wild blue yonder. It is for riding around the countryside for a couple of hours on a nice day.
My aviation pursuits are not really striving for going anywhere in this airplane. Rather, this journey is about getting somewhere. The excitement of a worthwhile destination is less about location, and more about mentality.
The enormity of the project does a lot to encourage slow, methodical progress over time, instead of instant gratification. The idea is to see how a person can be built gradually, as the airplane takes shape. I've been asked why I don't just buy an airplane, such as an old Cessna 150. "That'd be a lot easier," I've been told. They're missing the point entirely.
My perspective, built on that of William Wynne, is to reject the consumerist frenzied push for artificial happiness born of having the latest, greatest, fastest, shiniest, magazine coveri-est spectacle for others to envy. It's about knowing myself, and building real skill little by little, instead of trying to buy happiness.
I knew going in that I ought to start while young, and not wait until I had everything all together before beginning to build. I knew it would be a long, difficult road. From the beginning, the project has suffered from a lack of resources, mostly a shortage of space in which to build. The current building location marks the seventh time this project has been picked up and moved, in and out of storage, and among different shop sites.
This most recent move in March 2023, into a house with a big basement suitable for a shop, means I will really start getting somewhere soon!
My progress is all being documented in technical detail on my online builder's log, hosted by the Experimental Aircraft Association, or EAA. I have to prove to the government that I am the one completing the work of building. This online log is where I post photos and descriptions of my accomplishments. You can check in from time to time and follow me along at this link:
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I love sharing ideas and projects with other creative minds.
What are you working on?
