Building a Waiex

[Arnieb]

Hello everyone my name is Arnie and I have decided to build a Waiex just picked up the tail section kit from the factory.

[samiam]

Welcome aboard Arnie. I think you will find the tail kit to be great. I built a Sonex tail last fall and the excellent quality of the kit sold me on Sonex.

[Bryan Cotton]

Welcome to the group Arnie!

[fastj22]

Hello everyone my name is Arnie and I have decided to build a Waiex just picked up the tail section kit from the factory.

You have chosen wisely.

[EineBeBoP]

You'll be doing the Waiex-B right?
I'm about 30-40% of the way through my tail kit. Feel free to message me with any questions and I'll see what I can come up with. A lot of great knowledge here!

[dbdevkc]

Welcome!

I too am building a Waiex. Once you get into it, we should compare notes.

[LarryEWaiex121]

Guys,

Larry here with Waiex121YX, Serial 0121.
Five years flying now with 500 hrs TT on airframe and about 33hrs on new Camit 3300.
Keep building guys. Don't loose sight of the end game. There will be days when you want to toss it in the dust bin. Drilling holes in wrong spot, measuring 3 times and still get it wrong!
Bottom line is the plane flys great, It handles great. My airframe is deceptively smooth as I would assume others are also? Pointing it slightly downhill on descents often puts the airspeed into the 165-170 mph range in smooth air. Obviously, one doesn't let it get into that range if the air is rough. When its smooth you can approach the 3 mile per minute rate and if your used to flying something like a 150, you soon find out that getting set up in the pattern requires a bit of advance planning. Ten miles out, goes by in a hurry.
I fly about 80% of the time single place. I just don't have anyone ready to go flying on short notice and most of my flights are such.
I keep the plane ready to go and preflighted as I'm cleaning the plane and wiping it down at the end of the last flight.
I'm not the least bit deterred to fly it on smooth grass or dirt. I just don't like beating up my wheel pants is all. I have flown my Waiex into several back country strips here in Idaho. Its really no big deal. As far as short field performance goes; it will jump off the ground and fly over a 50' obstacle very quickly. One needs to transition quickly to climb speed as slow speed climbs at max power will take the head temps up in a very big hurry.
Anyone that has flown tail draggers will immediately notice this thing is a pussy cat to land in calm conditions. In crosswinds it will keep you on your toes as any light weight tail dragger will. All things being equal, I like to put pure crosswinds off the right wing. It makes a go around much easier if needed. Keeps a guy from running out of rudder with P-Factor.
All in all a very enjoyable aircraft to fly. Scoots around the country on 5.5 gph at Cessna 182 speed. Won't carry 4 people but also doesn't cost $175 per hour to operate. I love it.

Larry