Experimental Aircraft / Homebuilts

The flight home began early on the last day of AirVenture. Andy Werback took the active runway, advanced the throttle and headed west. In the eight+ hours of flying it would take to get back to his home in Sebastopol, one has to wonder how many times he glanced at the Gold Lindy trophy near […]

Ron Alexander was born in 1942 in Bloomington, Indiana. At the age of 14, he took his first airplane ride in a military C-119 as a member of the Civil Air Patrol. Shortly after that flight he began flying with other CAP members in a PA.-18. When Ron was 16 years old, he soloed an […]

One of Tom Hamilton’s last designs before moving into commercial aviation was the GlaStar. After selling the company to the employees they made some significant changes to the design and relabeled it the Sportsman 2 + 2. When the company was sold to Tom Wathen and placed in the hands of Mikael Via, the decision […]

While he was in high school, Alan Klapmeier told his friends that he wanted to design and build airplanes. Determined and tenacious, he never wavered in his commitment. In the summer of 1976, after graduating from high school, Alan went to Oshkosh to look at homebuilts. That fall he went to Ripon College in Wisconsin […]

Few people outside of the Poberezny family had as much influence on the early homebuilt aircraft movement as Ray Stits. Today, at the age of 90, he’s still going strong as a pilot, mentor, and founding member of EAA Chapter One at historic Flabob Airport. Ray has had a sterling career as an aircraft designer, […]

The Sonex is a two-seat aluminum aircraft designed by John Monnett and sold in kit form by Sonex Aircraft. Like most of John’s designs, the aircraft is aerobatic, easy to build and fun to fly. Today a complete Sonex kit costs $27,670. That includes an 80 hp Aero Vee engine kit. There are two other […]

There have been over 500 designs for homebuilt aircraft over the past six decades, the majority being for single- and two-place aircraft. It’s unlikely that there have been 15 four-seat designs, and not many have enjoyed any kind of success as kits. Very few have shown up at Oshkosh. Of those in production, the RV-10 […]

The Breezy looks like an airplane that had a happy encounter with a radio tower. After 45 years, it’s still one of those “Oh-my-gosh” airplanes that inspire awe, giggles and the desire to go flying…all at once. Indeed, Carl Unger has taken thousands of smiling attendees up for the flight of a lifetime since he […]

Today there are over 30,000 homebuilt aircraft on the FAA’s registry. It’s estimated there may be another 30,000 under construction. When it comes to the question of how to build an airplane, there are a number of different routes individual builders can take. Some builders opt to just buy a set of plans and then […]

Those who know John Monnett would say he has an acerbic wit and sometimes acts like a relative of Don Rickles. But he’s also a genius, passionate about flying and far cleverer than a room full of Boeing engineers. John Monnett has had a fascinating career in aviation…without any formal training. He’s more of an […]