From: Ryan Wilkins <ryan@deadfrog.net>
Subject: [FlyRotary] New to the list
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 5:36 PM
Hello All.

I'm new to this list and wanted to take a (hopefully) brief
moment to introduce myself.  I'm Ryan Wilkins and I
presently live in the burbs of Chicago (near Schaumburg)
with my wife and two young kids.  Flying has always
been an interest of mine since very early in life.  My
father flew Lear Jets, my mother obtained her private, and
my step-father is currently a Captain on the 757 / 767 for
Continental Airlines.  I followed in the family foot
steps by starting my flight training in 1999 and working
gradually through my Commercial Single.  I came within
a hair of getting my Multi but the airplane broke on my last
ride before the check ride, and it broke hard.  I ended
up moving to Chicago from the West side of Cleveland, OH
before the airplane came back online and haven't flown
since.  That was almost 3 years ago.  A flying
career was my goal but gradually fell out of love with that
line of work.  How someone can start at the bottom of
the pilot seniority list and expect to be able to live is
beyond me.

What brings me to the homebuilt aircraft industry are my
parent's and my wife's parent's plans to move away from the
Cleveland area and my desire to get back into flying. 
Somehow I have this delusion that flying SouthWest will be
really expensive for all of us to go visit relatives and
that it'd be better to fly ourselves.  I was also
intrigued by the ability to build an airplane the way I want
it and with what I want in it without incurring a
prohibitive cost.  Being a reasonably mechanically
inclined person, I also really like the idea of being able
to work on my own airplane without investing in an A&P
license.  I feel that building and flying my own plane
opens unique opportunities to me and my family that the
majority of the public do not have available to them. 
In addition, I'm always yearning to learn something new and
I feel that undertaking a large project like this will
afford me knowledge and experience that I otherwise would
not attain.  Of course, the sense of accomplishment and
personal satisfaction that will come once the kit flies
can't go without mention.

The criteria that I used to find a kit started with cruise
around 200 MPH (I've had enough of flying a 172 around the
pattern.. not a bad airplane.. just want to go somewhere
else and faster. <g> ), ability to take 5 people (2
adults + 3 kids), ~1000 mi range (the kids will never last
that long), total cost around or under $100k excluding
labor, and the ability to certify for IFR flight (mainly
looking to punch through low cloud decks and not kill a day
at an airport waiting for clouds to open up).  The 5
seats seemed to really limit my search.  After finding
a number of airplanes, I've settled on the Velocity
XL5.  Will probably do the fixed gear model because of
insurance reasons.  Also interested in not spending all
of my budget on an engine so that's why I'm here.  As
it turns out, I've got a business meeting in Orlando on
4-Nov so it offered the perfect opportunity for me to hit
the AOPA Aviation Summit in Tampa and also take a demo
flight and tour the factory at Velocity in Sebastian,
FL.  Having spent a lot of time researching the
Velocity, it seems that a lot of people are happy with the
plane.  My guess is that's what I'll end up buying and
building.  I'm also in the unique position to have an
office located on DuPage County Airport Property (KDPA) at a
former heliport.  The previous tenants operated an air
ambulance service and did some or all of their maintenance
at the facility.  While we don't have direct runway
access, the building has an abundance of climate controlled
space where I can build the airplane and not get in the way
of other work related projects.  I've read from
numerous people that just the travel time between home,
work, and building area if not at home or work takes a big
toll on the project.

Well anyway this has turned out to be longer than I really
want it to be so I apologize for monopolizing your
time.  I look forward to interacting with all of you on
the list.

Cheers,

Ryan Wilkins


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