Ohio Pilot Has Been Building The Plane In His Garage

Thirty years is a long time to park your car in the driveway when you have a perfectly serviceable garage at your house, but Kyle Brumfield of Perry Township in Ohio near Akron was happy to do so. The garage was home to a Falco airplane he has been building for that length of time.

Now, according to a report appearing on CantonRep.com, Brumfield may soon have room in that garage for the car, because the airplane has been finished but for final checks and flight tests. It has been transported by flatbed truck to Wadsworth Municipal Airport (3G3), where he hopes it will soon see its first flight.

Brumfield reportedly fell in love with the Falco F8L when he first saw it. The airplane, a Stelio Frati design, is built of plywood, meaning that Brumfield had to heat and soak wood parts and bend them into shape to create his airplane. But more than that, he worked from plans, not a kit with pre-cut and pre-drilled parts, handcrafting every piece of the airplane. His wife upholstered the seats, and he placed every number and placard on the instrument panel by hand.

Brumfield's friend and fellow EAA member Pete Klapp, a former Goodyear Aerospace engineer, said everything about the airplane is "impeccable." "You look at his project and you want to go home and burn yours. He's done a stunning job," he said.

Brumfield started his project in 1983. On the nose of the Falco, he's stenciled "My Dream Machine."

(Falco F8L pictured in public domain file image)

FMI: www.eaa.org