Day 1 - Getting Started

The realization really sunk in on the drive from my hotel to the Lightning hangar, about 20 miles away: I'm building an airplane! Not someday, not eventually, but today! In fact, 7:00am this morning but I underestimated the traffic and arrived 1 minute late. :)

Mark welcomed me to the office, and in less than 5 minutes I was out in the hangar, looking at the fuselage for my Lightning. Apparently Lightning subscribed to the theory that the best way to prevent self-doubt it to not leave any time to consider it, because within another minute Mark had introduced me to Mike, and Mike immediately started showing me how the wing root template would be attached to beging drilling holes and making cutouts for the wing spars to pass through the fuselage.

At that point a more or less continous effort began:
The cutouts for the wing spars were made on the fuselage
Spar box was mounted in the fuselage
Mounting brackes for horizontal stabilizer were attached
Horizontal stabilizer was attached
Wings were mounted
Stainless steel firewall was cut out based on template and fitted to front of fuselage
Hinge brackes for rudder were mounted
And the rudder pedals had just been assembled with Mark let me know it was closing time.


Wow! 9 hours of work, with an hour break for lunch. 10 hours passed in what felt like 3 or 4, but at the end of the day there isn't just a fuselage on the floor with nothing attached. At the end of day one it already looks suspicously like an airplane!

I can only imagine what tomorrow will be like, but continuing at this pace should produce an airframe in a week. My new rule on how to build an airplane: Start...and just don't stop.

Bill