Once I decided I was going to build the aircraft I am to fly, then there was a matter of deciding just what to build. In today’s market, the choice seemed limitless. Kits available ranges from a simple powered paraglider to a turbine powered mini-bizjet. Prices can range from a few thousand dollars to nearly a quarter million. So, just how did I decide on a single design? I started from sitting down with a piece of paper one night. Then, I started making a list of what I wanted to do with my dream plane. The initial list looked something like this.
Then, I analyzed this list in terms of what each of these meant in terms of airplane’s capabilities.
This means that single-seaters are out. They typically are short-range sport-planes with little or no baggage capacity or cruise range. I also like to take vacations with other people. This means minimum two seats. More realistically, by the time you load it up with fuel and gear, you’d want a four-seater.
In order to take it on a vacation, I wanted at least 1000 miles range. This means I would be able to fly to the Bay Area, or most of the North-West with a single tank of fuel.
Range is not too important if it took forever to get there. Even if the plane could stay aloft for 8 hours, I (or my passengers) won’t. This meant cruise speed of about 200mph is desirable. Combined with 1000 miles range, it will translate into roughly 4 hours endurance with reserve. Effectively, this will allow me to cover about 1600 miles in one day of flying. Reasonable number for a single engine 4 seater.
Much of fun in flying is in seeing things. Forward and downward visibility is very important, especially from the front seats.
You won’t be having much fun if the plane is hard to fly. I need something that is straightforward to fly.
The cost of operation and maintenance should be reasonable. Also insurance premium should be reasonable as well.
In addition, I have added a few more items to the list.
Once all that is done, what I had was ‘Mission Requirements’. Of all the kits out there, only a handful met or came close to these requirements. The designs that made the final short list were the following.
Lancair IV
Glasstar
CoZ Mk IV
SQ2000
Velocity 173 / LW
KIS Express
At this point, I dropped all the design calling for over 200HP and retract gear. As a low-time pilot (then about 100hrs), it would be hard enough to get any insurance on homebuilt not to mention high performance, and complex. At this point, I noticed something very interesting. The contenders that were left at this point (CoZ, SQ2000, and Velocity) were all canard pusher designs based on the original design by Rutan.
After long thought, I decided on a Velocity LW. Fixed gear, 200HP, all the fast-build options. SQ2000 was still rather immature as a design. I also did not feel confident in the new company. It turned out that my fears were well founded. Glassic later filed for bankruptcy protection leaving builders with partial kits and uncertain future.
I dropped CoZ due to weaker factory support and relatively long build-time.
During 1997 Arlington EAA Fly-In, I had my first look at factory demo plane. I sprang for $150 demo-ride at that point. I was sold on the design at that point. The forward visibility was excellent even for a short person as I was. On Cessna 172 I usually fly, I have trouble looking over the nose on approach. No such issue on LW. Up to that point, I had some reservation about composite constructions. After flying it and knocking on the fuselage and wings, I was convinced that it was as solid as metal. In fact, the rental Cessnas I flew felt like tin foils after knocking on composite structure of Velocity.
I was convinced. This was my dream plane. I was ready to cut a check except for one thing... I did not have a place to build it. I lived in a town home with detached 1-car garage.