Wed, Jul 12, 2017
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
Pilot Also Reported That Due To A Fuel Leak, The Auxiliary Fuel Tanks Were Not Used On June 4, 2025, at 13:41 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-23, N2109P, was substantially damage>[...]
From 2023 (YouTube Edition): Reflections on War’s Collective Lessons and Cyclical Nature The exigencies of war ought be colorblind. Inane social-constructs the likes of racis>[...]
Pilot Reported That He Was Unfamiliar With The Single Seat Amateur-Built Airplane And His Intent Was To Perform High-Speed Taxi Testing Analysis: The pilot reported that he was unf>[...]
From 2023 (YouTube Edition): First Kits to Ship October 2023 Having formerly resurrected the storied shape of the Ryan ST—in effigy, anyway—Montrose, Colorado-based Tim>[...]
Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) [ICAO] Area navigation based on performance requirements for aircraft operating along an ATS route, on an instrument approach procedure or in a d>[...]
NTSB Prelim: Piper PA-23
See All