Thu, May 04, 2023
The concept of building your own airplane can be daunting for a lot of people. Most wouldn't consider building their own car, much less an airplane.
In an effort to demystify the process, Zenith Aircraft held a four-day workshop at the Sebring Sport Aircraft Expo in January to introduce beginners to the process of building their own airplanes.
Zenith Aircraft owner Sebastian Heintz told ANN news editor Tom Patton that there were 17 rudders built over the course of the four-day workshop. He said the workshop is designed to give the first-time builder a hands-on experience and learn as much about building an airplane as possible in a short time. It takes about a day and a half to go through all the steps to build the rudder, and they end up with a finished product, which gives them a sense of accomplishment. The process gives the participant an opportunity to use many of the skills needed to build the entire airplane.
Heintz said that of the 17 rudders that were built at Sebring, 4 were fabricated by complete non-pilots, and almost none of the participants had any sheet metal experience. He said those are the company's preferred builders, as they are more willing to learn the techniques specific to building a Zenith airplane.
Aero-TV is a production of the Internationally syndicated Aero-News Network. Seen worldwide by hundreds of thousands of aviators and aviation adherents, ANN's Aero-TV has produced over 3000 aviation and feature programs, including over 1000 episodes of our daily aviation news program, AIRBORNE UNLIMITED, hosted by Bri Cross, Laura Hutson, and Christopher C. Odom. Just starting its third decade, parent company Aero-News Network, has the most aggressive and intensive editorial profile of any aviation news organization and has published over 350,000 news and feature stories since its inception -- having pioneered the online 24/7 aviation new-media model that so many have emulated.
©2017 Aero-News Network, Inc., ALL Rights Reserved
More News
Cooperative Surveillance Any surveillance system, such as secondary surveillance radar (SSR), wide-area multilateration (WAM), or ADS-B, that is dependent upon the presence of cert>[...]
Aero Linx: OX5 Aviation Pioneers Incorporated in 1955 as a Pa 501 (c)(3) Not for Profit Corporation, the OX5 Aviation Pioneers is dedicated to bringing before the public the accomp>[...]
The Pilot Appeared To Regain Control After Six Rotations And Attempted To “Fly Out” Inverted But Had Insufficient Altitude On November 8, 2025, at 1038 eastern standard>[...]
From 2018 (YouTube Edition): Aero-News Talks With The Airplane's Builder One of the many unique airplanes at AirVenture 2018 was a 1/3-scale B-17 bomber built by Jack Bally, who ta>[...]
Aero Linx: Society of U.S. Army Flight Surgeons (SoUSAFS) The Society of US Army Flight Surgeons (SoUSAFS) serves to advance the science and art of Aerospace Medicine and its allie>[...]
ANN's Daily Aero-Term (12.04.25): Cooperative Surveillance
See All