SonexBuilders.net

Hello,

When Sonex started taking High Wing reservation slot deposits this past Tuesday I jumped on it. I now hold slot #9. I visited the factory this past friday and Mark was very gracious with his time. The High Wing is such a big step in cabin space, ease of ingress/egress, range and load carrying capability without losing any real appreciable performance to the B model, its a pretty exciting thing. I'm thinking a ULPower 350is with a single 10" Dynon will be how I proceed. I spent today reading the UL install manual. Its daunting to think of all the wiring between the UL and the Dynon, the rest looks like a lot of fun to build.

Anyway, I'm from Brownsburg, Indiana. My previous build experience is mostly plans built wooden boats and r/c airplane kits. I am a corporate pilot and flight instructor and currently own a share of a Cherokee 180. Looking forward to the journey.

-Chris

Welcome to the forum Chris! Looking forward to your build. The highwing has a lot to offer.

Hi all,

Congrats to all who are going to build a HW. Something new and fresh from sonex, lots of interest.
A couple of suggestions. When they build the two prototypes TD and Tri gear, do a video build series,
like the homebuilt help videos, would be great for builders to review before assembly and give lots of visual confidence and
instruction. Second , how about offering one more mount for the cont. O-200, with the taller gear be able
to swing a bigger prop. Use a liteweight starter, alt, electronic mags, tbi carb or sds ignition and fuel injection. Parts easy to come by ebay , fly markets , acs, build up your own motor. all up weight near 200 lbs.


One word of caution. ANYTHiNG off of facebook to buy, make sure you vet them thourghly. i would guess
75% of ads on facebook are scams. reposts, using info and pics, and private profiles hijacked.
Everyday receive texts, ph calls, emails, whats app, with bs posts to be scammed, from unpaid bridge tolls,
packages cant be delivered send more info, computer locked up, ph locked up, etc etc
delete delete delete. Dont click on an links, may allow malware to invade your device. turn off your device
and restart.
AI can now replicate your voice , extortion scams. any scam call you answer, they try to ask questions to record you saying yes.Be very careful. its interesting they never leave a voicemail.
usually a crazy emailaddress. phone number is bogus over the internet with VOIP.

Ive always had good luck on ebay. there have been scammers on this site. the zenith site, and vans airforce site. Protect yourself. Most scams are from overseas. bad english, say good morning when its late afternoon.
Only take apple pay, yet when i check the apple address, their account has been locked. Prices too good to be
true are a big first tip off, They send multiple payment ways, yet all are blocked. So its obvious earlier people who got scammed reported them


Enjoy the SB
game, hoping for a peacefull safe event.


michael.

Hello Chris,
I am position 16 for a quick build High Wing (age 71, so I dont have much time left), inst. rated private pilot since '99, restored a wrecked Cessna 172 H "SuperHawk 180" that became a bronze "Lindy" winner @ AirVenture '13. I am flying out of 05C, Griffith, IN and have flown into Brownsburg many times as I used to race @ Indianapolis Raceway Park in the '80-90s.
Looking forward to possibly sharing building experiences.

Chris

Nice restoration Chris! We are going to need a new forum section for the High Wing.

I was always going to install a "Whiskey" compass & an analog ASI, as back up instruments to my Dynon Skyview. Laughed at and told I had sufficient redundancy with all the other electronic gizmos (GPS etc)on board.

Dynon SV-ADAHRS-200 module (Compass/ASI/GSI/VSI/OAT/Alt/AH) decided to go on strike. Worked perfectly one day, next morning dead??? Good thing I was still on the ground.

A failure of this nature, away from "home", might be difficult to manage.

Have now fitted Compass & 2 1/4" ASI, as back ups - feel much better.

I find an ipad or even android phone with gps to be a reasonable backup especially since map data can't be loaded onto a whisky compass. (iFly-EFB, FlyQ, foreflight, etc)

Analog ASI is another story. Installed that after my first sonex flight with a rebooting wiz-bang EFIS (mfr software bug). Was my first ever sonex flight on a restored plane thus I didn't yet have a feel for it. Nice that the Sonex is so easy to land.

Hey Chris from Griffith, nice Cessna! Good to see some more HW reservation folks here. Mark said during our factory visit on 2/7/25 that they had more than 40 reservations in that first week! It was interesting too that he explained that things like the HW and two place jet are research and development projects and since they are non-billable they basically only get worked on after hours. It was interesting that most of the employee's there were plugging away assembling quick build kits all day. I just kinda assumed they would stamping out kit parts all day but that must not take as much time as I assumed as they have a pretty good inventory on the shelves for current products. I would have guessed someone was working on the HW all day but makes sense now that you gotta keep all the employees on jobs that bring in revenue and that Mark's spare time and volunteer hours are what goes into the HW development. I hope the current timeline can be kept. Sounds like Dynon is coming in to do the avionics in it and I would guess most all the wiring for the engine and avionics will be done from that visit. The outer wing panels were going together so it really does look like it could be ready to fly by March/April like the HW update video said. I'm really hoping for a kit this time next year. I originally thought Id just start on a tail kit and see how it goes before taking the full kit but the more I think about how fast the tail kit should go together I'm thinking I'll just take delivery of the full kit as soon as available.

Welcome to the forum! For the wiring as long as you have a electrical diagram as a plan and work in steps it shouldn't be so daunting. As a starting point I'd recommend reading the Aeroelectric Connection.

When you decide what to install you'll also want to make sure you don't overload the alternator since the UL Power ECU and fuel pumps require about half of it (https://ulpower.com/en/engines/faq/alternator-performance). With a single display and LED lights you should be fine. If you were to add another display, bright landing lights or heated seats you may need to consider the 50A alternator option.

If the High Wing schedule stays near the projected timeline and I were to go with the UL Power engine, the 50A alternator would have to be a must. I don't like the thought of a marginal charging system. I'm used to mag. ign., ADS-B in-out, cert.GPS, Tru-Trak autopilot w/GPSS, dual taxi-land lights etc. etc. What would you estimate the load for all digital panel and auto-pilot with the intent of night IFR capabilities ...?