On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:08:45 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Jul 27, 4:52 am, Stealth Pilot
wrote:

I wouldnt worry about them Bob.
cheap has never been a criteria I've even considered in relation to
aviation.
----------------------------------------------------------------

That simply means you are wealthy.

The MEDIAN income in the United States is about $28,000 per year.

When the President of the EAA refers to one of Van's kits as
'inexpensive' and the Lycoming to power it as 'affordable' he's
saying homebuilt aviation is only for the wealthy. It's not, but the
bureaucracy that controls the EAA has moved so far from our roots that
they now treat an affordable homebuilt as a special case, something to
be singled-out and pointed to: See? Even poor people can build
airplanes.

About half of my mail comes from those 'poor people.' 'Cheap' is a
valid factor in their homebuilt equation because they have no other
choice.

Being poor does not mean being dumb, any more than flying on the cheap
means an unsafe airframe or an unreliable engine. For the most part,
what it means is that you don't have the option of BUYING solutions to
the problems you encounter; you will have to figure them out for
yourself, perhaps with a bit of help from your friends.

So they solve the problems and go flying. But don't expect to see
these people at Oshkosh or other EAA-sponsored fly-in's. They have
been priced out of the market. Fortunately, there are no traffic cops
in the sky and despite our growing population, America remains mostly
empty space.

-R.S.Hoover

Bob I stuffed up.
the design I actually meant was Izon's Airbike. it looks to me to be a
suberb minimalist aircraft.
the one I quoted in my brain fart looks a little less engineered to
me.

the texas parasol has known structural problems so why people overlook
that just because the plans are free is a mystery to me.

for the poor people you have the Turbulent files I sent. that aircraft
has a 40 year history of safe use. you can give away copies of the
stuff whenever you think it will help someone.

A set of Corby Starlet plans in Australia is $250 form John Corby
himself. for that you get an aircraft that didnt win a design contest
(it was a runner up) was flown to second place in a national
australian aerobatic contest and has a 30 year history of safe use all
over Australia. it was designed by an aeronautical engineer( John
Corby) who did a full stress evaluation on it.

if guys want wooden aircraft which can use alternative timbers the
Druine Turbulent is a good choice. it has a cantilever wing that is
light years ahead of a Bowers Flybaby in aeronautical sophistication.
The Corby Starlet may be less build effort.

$250 in the entire cost of an aircraft is something that I see as an
investment if the plans I'm buying are backed by full structural
analysis.

An engineer is someone who can build for $10 what any idiot can for
$100.
I'm a $10 aviator. I'm not poor. I'm an engineer. oddly I build the
same way the poor people do by choice. theirs is a far more
interesting path and they have nothing to be ashamed of for treading
it. they should tread the path as an engineer though with head held
high.

keep up the good work.
Stealth Pilot