SonexBuilders.net

Figured it was about time I quit lurking and introduce myself.

My name is Ben and I hail from northwest Wyoming. Our family owns a bar/restaurant and I am going to be building a Sonex-B after our new house is finished. This will be my first solo build, which technically won't be solo as I will be employing the help of my wife and two children. My father was an A&P and we built the better part of an RV-6A together from plans and restored an old metallized 108-2 before he passed in early 2015 from mesothelioma. I am currently working on my PPL and am beyond excited to share my love of aviation with my children like my father did with me. My acrophobic wife, however, lacks my enthusiasm.

I have a clear view of my goals in this build after endless hours of research and daydreaming over a long time. Reader's digest goals:

Sonex-B
Tri-gear
Rotax 912 ULS with three blade cruise prop.
Dual stick
I even have a paint scheme designed already (I'll post pics when I can), which will almost certainly be a wrap due to complexity, weight and cost.
Missions to Monument Valley/Grand Canyon with the kiddos, yearly Vegas trips with the wife and of course Oshkosh.

Anyways, I've gotta sign off head to work and I look forward to getting to know everyone here in our journey.

Welcome to the forums Ben!

Howdy Ben,
Welcome to the Sonex site. The airframes are solid and a lot of fun to fly an I think you made a good powerplant choice. Living in Wyoming you will need a little more than an AeroVee would provide-I know as I flew out of KCPR,KDGW, KGCC, and KLAR(7,200 elevation). Hoping to draw an Elk tag over by Meeteetsee next year. Remember to have fun building and if it is not fun for a bit, walk away for a while. Good luck!!

Loren, we actually live in Meeteetse! If you draw a tag, are you flying your Onex in?

Definitely going to upgrade from the 85hp AeroVee. I don't plan on doing anything really high performance, so I figured the 912 ULS was a nice middle ground between performance and fuel economy. KCOD will be my FBO and it's sitting right about 5k and plenty of surrounding terrain well above that, including those little hills just to our west.

If you haven't been here yet, elk are everywhere here during the winter. I've had many close calls driving to Cody and Thermopolis. Excellent area for speed goats as well.

Ben,
Won't be flying in-Onex can't haul much gear. Will be driving to Laurel, MT where my hunting partner lives and then drive down from there. WE hunt up Grass Creek road over on Cottonwood Creek. Will stop by to see your project when I am in the area. Link below is from an interview at Airventure.

https://www.eaa.org/en/airventure/eaa-a ... airventure
Loren