ANN Associate Editor, Earl Downs, Shares His Story About Attending The Zenith Aircraft Open Hangar Day 2015

Building your own aircraft is quite an adventure, and it combines both passion and pride. That’s the way I found it when I decided to climb in my Zenith Zodiac 601XL-B and head back to where my aircraft had started as a bunch of aluminum parts. It takes passion to complete an airplane homebuilt project, and this visit back to the factory on September 18 also allowed me to display a little unabashed pride.

Back in May of 2007, I had carefully planned that my project to build the Zodiac would take about two years. My zodiac is simple; it’s powered by a Jabiru 3300 engine and has basic VFR instruments. Finally, in September of 2011, I received my airworthiness certificate. As is common with airplane homebuilding projects, my two-year plan didn’t quite work out, but I did finish it within budget and I ended up with what I wanted.

My home base location is about 300 nautical miles from the Zenith factory which is located in Mexico, MO. While I have lots of experience and thousands of flight hours, this little 300 mile trip was particularly exciting because I was, after all, taking my aircraft back to where it all started. I’ll also admit that I spent more than a few hours cleaning and polishing my pride and joy before heading out.

My plan was to present two forums while at the event, one on loss of control prevention and the other on aircraft certification. The rest of the time was just spent hanging around with like-minded people. The Zenith Company really knows how to put on an affair, and their place was loaded with vendors ranging from engines to avionics and everything in between. The little Zodiac performs pretty well and I was tempted to enter the STOL competition. However, I got involved in other things and it didn’t work out.

Zenith held a banquet on the evening of the first day which gave all of us current Zenith drivers, and those who wanted to be Zenith drivers, a chance to get to know each other. It also provided the opportunity to feign a blush and say, “Ah gosh,” when I received a compliment on my airplane. It’s at times like this that pride is not a bad word, and it rekindles the passion that got it all started.

I perform transition training and first flight preparation in my Zodiac under an FAA LODA, and when I’m involved in training it’s hard to think about all the work that went into building my airplane. This little cross-country trip gave me a chance to sit there and enjoy the fruits of my labor. The folks at Zenith put on a wonderful event and gave their future customers, and successful builders, a chance to reflect on the wonders of flying in your own home built airplane.

(Images by Earl Downs and Zenith: Top image is me by my Zodiac. Middle: Leaving home at sunrise; a time for reflection. Below L: The factory and folks. Below R: Workshop in progress)

FMI: Open Hangar Day photos