Deciding
on a FFP 303
From July 19th to the First
of September 98 I only flew the MX on 5 flights. It was a rather
windy summer and fall. I would go out to the airport in the evening
and pull it out of the hanger and do a PRE-flight and the wind
wouldn't die down to where I felt I should fly. I will have to
say that I never really felt 100% confident because my flights
were so far apart. When I did get into the air I had a lot of
fun!
The first of September I
got to thinking " is this really what I wanted? " The
MX was a great flyer according to other people who flew it and
it had a nice strong engine, but I finally decided it was not
what I wanted. I was spoiled in the Rans. I wasn't thrilled with
the 2 axis controls. I didn't like being out in the open looking
down between my legs 700 ft. I had put quite a bit of money into
this old UL and the sails needed to be replaced and they were
going to cost $800. If I did replace the sails you have to keep
them in a hangar during the day so the sun wont damage the Dacron.
To me it wasn't worth spending the money when I wanted something
else so it was sold in mid September 97.
Fisher Flying
Products 303. Check it out.
After selling the MX I decided
I would wait until after the first of the year to see about buying
something else but I couldn't do that. I started looking right
away.
Before I bought the MX I
was considering building an airplane and I had spent quite a bit
of time at the FFP website. I like the design on a number of there
aircraft but I kept going back to the 303. I liked the low wing
and It could be built as an ultralight. Also in the text (to me)
it says ANY IDIOT could build one.
I next spent about a month
trying to find individgules who had built,or fly the 303. I found
five different people through the internet who had experience
with the 303. Every last one of then were thrilled with the way
it flew. They were very stable in the air and did not have a tendency
in any way to ground loop. I was sold.
R 80 Tiger Moth
In my travels on the internet
to find 303 builders and flyers someone sent me the name and phone
number of Mike Makepeace and stated that he was Fishers test pilot.
When I contacted Mike I also found out that he was a Fisher dealer.
After a number of phone conversations with Mike asking the general
questions such as how the 303 flies and a number of construction
questions I was again sold.
I now had to question myself.
Do I really want to do this. First - my completion rate of hobby
projects is very poor. Second - Wood and I do not get along. I
can't cut a peace of wood straight with a table saw. Another example,
I can't drill a round hole with a drill press. I spent about a
week really putting some thought into doing this project. I decided
yes. I've always wanted to build an airplane and decided I better
do it now or I possibly never would. I called Mike one last time
with a couple more questions and I sent him a bank check the next
day for the 303 kit. That was November 3, 1998.
Bringing
my 303 kit home
The day
I sent my check to Make Makepeace I started thinking, what kind
of paint job and started looking at different engines. While waiting
for the kit to arrive I also built the table I needed for construction.
I picked
up the 303 kit from a freight lines company in Kansas City on
December 16, 1998. The kit came in 2 wooden boxes. I thought at
the time "is that all there is?"
When I arrived
home the first thing I did was to take a complete inventory. Doing
this took about 7 hours. I measured every limier foot of wood,
and aluminum tune and bar. I also counted every bolt - nut - and
washer. I was missing 4 AN3 nuts out of the complete inventory
and I had plenty of them laying around. There were 2 items on
back order, and it wasn't very long before I received them from
Fisher.
The above
photo shows all of the wood and aluminum that came in the kit.
There are a lot of items not shown in the above photo. I thought
at the time " I'm going to build an airplane out of this
amount of wood."
FFP Avenger
Back To Main Page