SonexBuilders.net

Hello Everyone,

I still consider myself an aviation novice with only 170 hous flight time on our (wife is also a pilot) Grumman Tiger. We live just off Cape Fear Regional Airport (KSUT). By this I mean walking distance to our hangar. I also happen to work at KILM, so flying to work has become a real possibility. Flying to work made even more desirable due to lack of a major highway between the two airports and flooding of the roads that connects the two airports several times a year.

After initial research, it appears that the Sonex or Waiex may be an economical commuter plane for this mission. I was actually considering building one until this job opportunity was presented to me several weeks ago. Now, buying one makes more sense due to my time constraints.

In the perfect world, I would like to find a well built aircraft with tri-gear (not tail wheel endorsed), aerovee (economy) and minimal instrumentation (prefer to decide my own). Weather allowing, the plane would be flown 30 minutes each way to work. This is NC, so we have four seasons during which the plane would fly.

Over the next several days, I am hopping you can all assist me with finding a qualified mechanic for a pre-buy and any suggestions for the purchase process. For now, however, I would appreciate any thoughts on the use of a Sonex or Waiex for the mission I have described. If there is wide agreement on the this aircraft being suitable for this mission, I would then start looking to buy.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

Greetings and welcome to the forum boards! I'm glad to hear of your interest in the Sonex line and I'm sure you'll get a lot of good information from this group about the aircraft design and its capabilities.

Overall, I'd say you're looking at a good airplane to suit your needs. The flight from KSUT to KILM should be a quick and easy one and I'm sure it will make your commute much faster!

I'm sure a nice tri gear, AeroVee powered airplane will fit your needs fine. The only concern I would have is with possible weather conditions; do you get much fog from living on the coast? These airplanes aren't IFR platforms so there will still be days you'll have to drive!

If you're interested, the Sonex Builders and Pilots Foundation created an article describing things you will want to look at if you decide to purchase an already flying airplane. If you go to http://www.sonexfoundation.com and then click the 'Safety & Education' tab, you will be then be able to select a 'Pre-Purchase Inspection' guide that discusses the Sonex in more detail, as well as things you'll want to look for. Overall you'll find the airplanes are very simple, reliable, and rugged, but care should be taken to find a nice one.

You can also do a local builder/owner search by going to http://www.sonexaircraft.com and looking at the 'Builder Network' tab.

And I can't help but ask, but where do you work at ILM? I travel to FlightSafety there at least once per year for recurrent training, so I know the area a little bit. I normally stay over by the mall on the west side of the airport.

If you need a place to perform a general search for flying airplanes for sale, try www.barnstormers.com and you'll normally find a few Sonexes on there.

Again, welcome to the forums!

Hello Mike, and thanks for the detailed reply! At this point, I am not yet IFR rated, so I realize there will be must drive days. Fog in this area is sporadic and usually has burned off by the time I would be departing. So, flying will be my primary way to commute, but driving will always be the back-up.

I work at AviatMall, a new FBO start-up at KILM. Fueling is up and running, maintenance starts this week and a flight school by the end of September. I manage the administrative end of the business. While I do not have specific FBO experience, I owned,operated and sold several retail businesses over the last 25 years. So, they have brought me in for this experience. A second career in my hobby - life is good! Hope to see you there and thanks again.