Hi,
My name is Greg. I'm a 23 year old engineer soon to be living in central Ohio. I don't have my pilots license or even one hour of flight time. I hope to rectify that once I get to my new home. I'm very interested in building a biplane and all of the two place designs really interest me. Why am I interested in building a biplane you may ask? There are several reasons.
1.Biplanes are really cool
2.I don't want to build a conventional travel airplane. I've read about the RVs etc. It seems to me, that if you want a travel airplane it's best just to buy the darned thing. You can spend as much or more than a very good used Piper Cherokee to build an RV-10 or CH640 and still not have as nice of an airplane. In addition, many of the conventional plane type homebuilts are two place (I know, I know pilots usually buy two seats more than they need) and the full up weight leaves a lot to be desired for bigger people (I'm 6'1" and 210 lbs) once you add even a little baggage and fuel and a second person. The biplane on the other hand is like a sports car. It's a toy. It doesn't matter if it's only two place. I'd really like two place as if I do get this thing built I'd like to take my current girlfriend (though she'll probably have a different title by the time this thing gets flying) along for the ride.
3. I'm very intrigued by the wood truss structure in biplanes. If I start to build and decide this isn't for me, I have some cool wall art (in the form of a couple of ribs) and some education in how old planes work that you just can't get from a museum.
4. I can build the ribs and other small parts and not spend a huge amount of money while I learn to fly (I understand that this won't be a quick process to learn to fly or build and many more planes are started than are ever finished). I don't have the space for a whole plane right now, but I'm sure by the time I'm far enough along to start building big chunks I will.
I have a few questions. How do the two place designs rank in terms of build time for the airframe itself? Is what I'm considering even reasonable? Give me your honest thoughts you won't hurt my feelings.
My name is Greg. I'm a 23 year old engineer soon to be living in central Ohio. I don't have my pilots license or even one hour of flight time. I hope to rectify that once I get to my new home. I'm very interested in building a biplane and all of the two place designs really interest me. Why am I interested in building a biplane you may ask? There are several reasons.
1.Biplanes are really cool
2.I don't want to build a conventional travel airplane. I've read about the RVs etc. It seems to me, that if you want a travel airplane it's best just to buy the darned thing. You can spend as much or more than a very good used Piper Cherokee to build an RV-10 or CH640 and still not have as nice of an airplane. In addition, many of the conventional plane type homebuilts are two place (I know, I know pilots usually buy two seats more than they need) and the full up weight leaves a lot to be desired for bigger people (I'm 6'1" and 210 lbs) once you add even a little baggage and fuel and a second person. The biplane on the other hand is like a sports car. It's a toy. It doesn't matter if it's only two place. I'd really like two place as if I do get this thing built I'd like to take my current girlfriend (though she'll probably have a different title by the time this thing gets flying) along for the ride.
3. I'm very intrigued by the wood truss structure in biplanes. If I start to build and decide this isn't for me, I have some cool wall art (in the form of a couple of ribs) and some education in how old planes work that you just can't get from a museum.
4. I can build the ribs and other small parts and not spend a huge amount of money while I learn to fly (I understand that this won't be a quick process to learn to fly or build and many more planes are started than are ever finished). I don't have the space for a whole plane right now, but I'm sure by the time I'm far enough along to start building big chunks I will.
I have a few questions. How do the two place designs rank in terms of build time for the airframe itself? Is what I'm considering even reasonable? Give me your honest thoughts you won't hurt my feelings.
