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How Did You All Gain Your Mechanical Knowledge?

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That's a pretty broad question so please allow me to narrow it a bit. I intend to purchase a Pitts S1-S (or similar) sometime this year. I am not a builder and frankly have minimal mechanical aptitude. I simply wish to own and fly the only toy I've ever dreamed about since I soled at 16 nearly thirty years ago. The prospect of owning and practicing in this airplane doesn't deter me nearly so much as the thought of keeping it mechanically sound with so little mechanical experience. Of course the obvious first step is to find a good mechanic. I feel I have done well in that respect. My Pitts instructor is an AI with an astounding wealth of knowledge. But he is also 500 miles away. I'll try to establish some local relationships as well. But I have to say that browsing this forum has been, well, humbling. I see terms and parts and structures discussed so casually by builders who see them as obvious fundamental things. Half the time I haven't a clue what you guys are talking about. Then I read about cracks or failures in one of these mysterious parts or that some builders may put it here and others there, and quickly become -- I want to say "demoralized" but that's not the right word. I am motivated but increasingly cautious with each thread browsed.

This is a builders forum. So it's no surprise that the builders here know their stuff. How does someone like me who is not, and probably never will be, a builder gain some of that knowledge without close access to people who work on Pitts' frequently? The obvious answer might be the forum itself. But this forum is a bit to advanced for someone trying to get there head around the seemingly countless variations of parts and configurations among builds. I'm looking for books, plans, sites, etc that I can study in a more focused manner than is possible with a forum. I at least want to be knowledgable enough to be able to ask the right questions and fully understand the answer. Thanks for reading and thanks for any help.
 

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