Novice Builders Able To Get More Plane For Less Money
It's been nearly one year since Glasair Aviation announced its
Two Weeks to Taxi program...
and company representatives say they've been surprised by the
response. When the program started, company officials told ANN they
expected a rush of aircraft builders who were excited about
compressing the typical multi-year building time into just
weeks.
But to their surprise, the vast of majority of pilots who
enrolled in the Glasair program had never built an airplane in
their lives. They came not only for the building experience -- but
also because the program gave them more airplane, for a lot less
money.
"The Sportsman’s performance literally blows its certified
competitors away," says Two Weeks to Taxi graduate and first time
builder John Stroud. "I get the speed and performance of airplanes
that typically cost a whole lot more money. Now, every take off I
almost chuckle!"
Glasair’s Two Weeks to Taxi Program allows even a novice
builder to step into a high tech ‘operating room,’
designed and equipped with virtually everything required to turn
out a Sportsman aircraft in two weeks. Accompanying each builder is
a team of factory personnel specially trained to insure safety, a
timely completion, and full compliance with the FAA’s 51%
rule.
"The guys started me off slow and they didn’t get upset
when I screwed up. The quality and helpfulness of the Glasair
people was uniformly outstanding," says Montanan Tom Kuffel, also a
first time builder. He had looked at a variety of other aircraft to
purchase, but ultimately selected the Sportsman because of its Two
Weeks to Taxi Program. "This revolutionizes the industry!" Kuffel
says. He even took his wife Betty along to help him build his
Sportsman. "It was just as gratifying an experience for her as it
was for me. She’s much more excited about flying now."
Richard Eastman is a high time California pilot who began
shopping for an airplane. For business trips he was attracted to
the speed of the Cirrus, but for his fun trips to Baja, Mexico and
British Columbia, the Cessna 180 made more sense. Then he
discovered the Sportsman. Though he had never built an airplane in
his life, he enrolled in the Two Weeks to Taxi program. And like
almost all of the pilots who’ve completed the course, Eastman
came away with not only a great airplane, but a whole lot more than
he’d bargained for... something that only a fellow aircraft
builder might understand.
"The Two Weeks to Taxi experience was one of the highlights of
my life," Eastman now says. "I learned things about airplanes that
I’d never understood before even after 12,000 hours of
flying. Or even thought I needed to know. I learned enough to look
intelligently at airplanes. I now know what it is critical in an
airplane and what is not. I came away with that -- more than
that."
"The whole Two Weeks to Taxi process transformed me in many
ways," John Stroud says. "I would rank it up there with a birth of
a kid in terms of the power of the experience. I am absolutely
confident that I am a better aircraft owner and better pilot
because of the program." Stroud grins. "I know I got twice the
airplane. And by building it myself, I got it at half the
price!"