I want to do a kit. I am just in the planning stages, and have never done anything like this before. I am not sure what kit I want. I know that the mission needs to be defined, and I have a rough definition and some thoughts on kits. Any suggestions or information is greatly appreciated. I also apologize in advance as this is a bit of stream of consciousness thinking and not highly organized, but I am just starting.

First, I fly for a living, and don’t need to get in the air. I don’t care if this project takes ten years. My main goal is to learn and have a fun project. My young children are interested as well. Honestly, I would not care if I did not finish, provided I did not have a ton of money invested. In that sense, plans only kits might be a decent option. It looks to me like there the likelihood of finishing would be low, but the money invested upfront is smaller. (Though I could see it becoming more expensive over the lifetime of a finished project...) there are many kits that look great, but with the cost of those mostly between 20-30k sans engine, if I saved up for one and bought it, it would be a must finish. (However, just with my beginning assessment, it looks like most standard build kits would be fairly easy provided they had good instructions.) I don’t feel intimidated by anything in a kit but cost, while the plans option is a bit intimidating, but I could see it being a cool learning experience.

So so the first mission for this aircraft is the experience of the build. The next items are preferences. I want cheap to store and cheap to operate (probably folding wings would be best). I think I would prefer tube and fabric construction. I also want something I could teach my son to fly in one day. I also would like some off airport ability, but not looking for a hard core bush plane (though I wouldn’t mind one.) My wife says four seats would be nice, but I think that would take it outside my budget for the build and future operating costs.

it it seems to me that the Kitfox, just Aircraft Highlander and the Ran’s S20 may fit my bill the best. I also like the vans rv7 and 9. They don’t fit my bill as well, but it seems that their support, manuals and kits are incredible and I like the pricing structure on the kits where you can do a piece at a time so one could save up for the next bit while working on another. I also saw a Bearhawk, and while the kit is out of my price range, it has a plans only option which could make for a good learning experience, and it has the advantage of a lower upfront investment if I feel that it is not going to work out. However, it has higher operating costs etc. later in the build and when finished.

I would be working out of my small 2 car garage. I am good at working on cars, but don’t have any welding or fabrication skills (as of right now anyway). This might be a negative toward the plans route.

thanks for any thoughts.