Hello Everyone!
I am heavily considering buying a mostly completed Long EZ kit that I hope to put finish and fly myself. so to set the scene a little bit, I just got my private pilots licence a few weeks ago and I've been looking at the long EZ or vari EZ for cross country flying and something i can take people on flights. I like the Long EZ for its looks, speed and efficiency and this project i found seems like a sweet deal. I dont have much experience working on kit planes but i am in no rush and am excited to learn about the process. Also I am apart of my local EAA chapter and there are a lot of experienced guys who can help me out.
A little more on the kit, the aircraft was worked on by a guy named Bob Holliston who i understand has built two Long EZ's previously and is pretty involved in the community. The kit is about 95% completed and is estimated to need less than a months work to get up in the air. the engine is an O-320-d3G at 160 hp, and the whole kit thing is being sold for a pretty great price. I am looking forsomething i can start working on during my free time while i go to school so theres no rush to get this thing up in the air.
Some of the questions that i have are,
- What kind of spin characteristics can i expect from this kind of airframe? Ive looked around a lot online but i dont find much about spins.
- How much might i expect to pay in an annual?
- what kind of insurance options are there? I have less than 100 hours and no time in the long ez
- Do i need to get transition training to fly this? if so how would i go about getting that?
- The max weight for the long EZ is 1350lbs, this thing empty is coming in at about 1080lbs. is there a way i can increase the max weight so that i can take passengers and fuel on longer trips?
- once it is built, what can i expect with the process of testing and registration.
Anyway I am sure i will have a lot more questions as time goes on. Thanks in advance for any help!