Aviation is a virus!

Infection

Ask most boys what they want to be when they grow up and you will invariably hear ... Police Officer, Fireman or Pilot.

http://www.swapmeet-models.co.uk/images/armour/b571-huey-la-fire-red-white.jpg

Strange enough, although I made a career in the IT industry, I ended up becoming a Police Officer, Coast Guard volunteer and a Pilot. Not exactly a Fireman, but close enough.

My passion for aviation was ignited by my father and my uncle, kindly referred to as uncle Spooky.

My first real memory of aviation was of a white plastic Bell Huey, which uncle Spooky brought back from a trip to the USA. It had lights and was very scale like. It had a metal rod in the tail that controlled the speed of a small motor which powered the main rotor.

It was amazing!  It would basically trash itself to death, as the blades weren't particularly balanced. I loved every second staring at the model imaging myself flying it all around the room.

Symptoms

The aviation virus lay dormant in me. Sometimes some symptoms would emerge. I would spend a week focused on designing my latest aviation wonder. From jets that could become submarines to huge flying aircraft carriers. ( This was long before the Avengers had one!)

As if it was a planned, a few television shows got my attention and fanned the virus into a full frenzy.

Airwolf, Magnum PI and Robotech utterly convinced me that I was going to a pilot. I did not stop drawing and designing aircraft for at least few years after that. Especially airplanes that could become robots! Yea, the Transformers are cool, but only the bad guys turn into things that can fly.

My first inoculation

I turned 16 and decided that I needed to research my options in earnest. I contacted the Air Force.

My first experience with an government agency was not that pleasant. Apparently I was too tall, and you needed eyes that could see the flea on the bottom of a cat running on a hill 5 miles away. Wearing classes were deemed to be a significant barrier to finding employment in the aviation sector.

The virus went dormant....

It would still entice me to go to the odd airshow, but life happened.

I joined the police service, as conscription was still in force. That lead to a meaningful career in IT which in the end was the reason for the secondary infection.

Virus turns incurable

Without giving away too many of my stories: The IT career ensured sufficient money in the back pocket.  With a mild interest in Microlights I went to a Microlight fly-inn.

BIG MISTAKE!

The comradery and amazing flying machines immediately turned the aviation virus it a life long disease. 

www.quicksilveraircraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/mxsport.jpg

I went on to own a very dodgy microlight, which was essentially a highly modified Quicksilver Ultralight. It was an amazing little aircraft, 50mph takeoff, 50mph approach, 55 mph cruise. 

My fondest memory of the airplane was a mock dogfight with a fokker bi-plane, but that is a story for another day.

Before immigrating to New Zealand I owned a Savannah 912s STOL aircraft. Tricky to land, easy to fly, character galore. I sold it, to enable my family to immigrate.

After a year of living in New Zealand, I decided to get my act together, and purchase a kit to build.

The money from the aircraft sale was not enough to buy another airplane in New Zealand, hence the decision to build one instead.

I did all the research and decided on the Zenith 601 XL as my kit of choice.

I am still building my aircraft. My son was born two years ago which has put a hold on the build process for a while.

The rest of the blog will share some of the experiences I have had along the way and the challenges I have faced. I hope to share some of my flying stories as well.

I use an iPad based build log to do the formal documentation, but I will post my progress on this blog as well.

Here are some resources to get you started. Feel free to suggest other meaningful links.