Guess I'll say hello!

[tfulwider]

I've been a Rutan enthusiast since I was a child and saw the 3-2-1 Contact episode about the Voyager.  Aviation has been one of my biggest passions throughout life and I was able to earn my PPL in 2008.  I have built cars since I was young and naturally decided that I needed to build my own airplane.  I had myself convinced that the RV-7 was going to be the one.  (please don't ban me!)  I figured since it was newer, I was comfortable with metal, etc.  My son and I went to Oshkosh in '10 and caught one of Burt Rutan's forums.  Then we caught Dick Rutan's forum.  At that point I decided they were the two coolest guys on earth and I had to build a Long-EZ!  We went back the following year for Burt's tribute and attended everything EZ we could get our hands on.  I attended Rough River a couple of years but always managed to be there when everyone was somewhere else, lol.  

Life has a way of kicking you in the gut at times and I still haven't been able to actually start making airplane parts.  I am working my way through the composite practice handbook though.  I've read the CP's beginning to end at least four times and have of course scoured YouTube for all of the Rutan and Mike Melvill videos I can.  Mike has perched himself at the top of my coolest pilots in the world rankings.  I've put together my plans from the OpenEZ project and marked all of the changes in the CP's.  My wife and I just moved into our new house in Alabama with a shop this year.  I'm starting to put my workspace together and get rid of a bunch of extra junk.  Hopefully within the next year I can start to slowly work my way through the build.  

[Kent Ashton]

I see there is an EAA chapter in Guntersville.  My old Central States roster shows 10-12 canard owners in Alabama but my roster is out of date.  You know about the Central States Association, right?

http://eaa683.org

https://www.eaa.org/apps/chapters/chaptermap.aspx

Edited August 30, 2018 by Kent Ashton

[tfulwider]

Good ol' Guntersville airport!  I helped out the EAA chapter with their pancake breakfast when I was the CAP.  I definitely need to join the local chapter since I still spend a fair amount of time out there.  My wife and I even got married in the vintage aircraft museum.  Had a Waco and a Stearman as our backdrop! 

There are definitely a few RV's out there.  The fact that they're so common was probably the biggest turn off for me.  I like ramp appeal, and you don't get that by looking like everyone else!