Date:	1-12-2009
Number of Hours:	0.00
Brief Description:	Why a Sonex?
Why a Sonex? Completing a frame-off restoration/transformation of a 1936 Chevrolet rust-bucket into a hotrod was the best project I ever attempted, and easily the most fun. I thought the only thing more fun than building and driving a hotrod would be building and flying a plane! I didn’t tell my wife, but the day I learned that building an airplane was not out of my price range was the day I decided to do it. I immediately joined EAA and had my first flying lesson about a month later. Why did I choose to go with Sonex? From that initial decision, I have tried to look at and evaluate all the different home built aircraft I could find on the Internet. I tried to compare and contrast the attributes of each model and I talked to a few pilots I know, and just tried to make the best decision of what was right for me. There were a few things that just made the Sonex the best choice for me: First of all, the Sonex manufacturing plant is only about 60 miles from where I live, which is very convenient. Plus, I was able to meet and talk to the designer of the Sonex and others who have built their own and took a tour of their facility before I made my decision. Second, I thought the on-site builders class to be a fantastic idea. Sonex gives a two-day course on the construction of the airplane at their facility on a Saturday and Sunday, which is held 2-3 times a year. This is an outstanding idea. Of course, being only 60 miles from home made it very convenient. When I was comparing the prices for the various models, Sonex consistently was the lowest priced, and in some cases, by a wide margin. Of course there were some ‘ultra lights’ that were cheaper, but these were all open-cockpit aircraft and living in Wisconsin, I want to have an enclosed cockpit. I took a ride in a powered parachute during August and was cold.