Isaac Shultz's Sonex Project

We flew for a few hours southeastwards to Florida, but when we reached Tallahassee, it became clear we were not getting through. An entire line of thunderstorms had cut of the state! we ducked into a little airport and the locals let us tie down in an open T-hanger. We NEEDED to get the Sun'n'Fun so we got a ride into town and rented a car. We drove 4 hours to get to Lakeland, home of Sun'n'Fun We arrived on the grounds, the night before my presentation, at 8:01... ...The ticket shack closes at 8:00, and they were very strict, we were not able to get our passes for tomorrow or pay for camping on the grounds. We ended up pitching our tents in the parking lot. the ticket shack opened at 0800 and we were the first in line, my panel started at 0900! The ticketing staff were very inflexible and because we were driving in rather than flying they tried to charge us for an entire week long wristband and camping totaling almost $400! We were only go

The past week or so I've ben working on installing the hydraulic brakes and wheels. Fabricating the wheel pant attach plate, Testing the stackup, attach plate, brake housing, wheel, Thoroughly greasing the wheel bearings Complete! This year at Oshkosh I will be giving a presentation about the challenges I face as a teen building my own plane. Come see me there Wednesday July 25th at the Homebuilt Hangar at 2:30! https://www.eaa.org/eaa/event/ Building_a_Homebuilt_as_a_ Teenager?id= B1BD23DB42114738AE0A73605A6639 4C

I am building a homebuilt airplane called a Sonex. I have been working extremely hard to finance this project since August 2016. In April 2017, I purchased a partially completed Sonex. In February of 2018 I bought a Aerovee 80hp engine. I will still need to buy avionics and am such, working a million odd jobs to earn enough money. What is a Sonex? Well first we have to ask, are you talking about Sonex the company, or the Sonex Airplane? Sonex is an aviation company, based out of wisconsin, that produces airplane kits for builders to make at home. A kit from Sonex includes the plans for making every single part in the plane and how they fit together, most of the hardware you will need (nuts screws bolts) , and a great deal of the material needed. With a kit, you can build realistically build a Sonex airplane in under 2 years in your garage. You are then left needing to buy certain customization items, instrument's, upholstery, and your choice of an engine.

 This Year's Midwest Sonex Fly in was a smashing success, great weather, fantastic food, and 30+ Sonex Builders and Pilots showed up! My dad and I flew in from our home airport in Mississippi. The flight to Fayetteville only took about 3 hours, with a fuel stop meaning we rolled in just in time for lunch. We signed in and got our raffle tickets for the door prizes. This year there were Sonex T-shirts, 2' sensenich propeller clocks, a 50% off a Sport EX EFIS from GRT avionics certificate, and a certificate for a free elliptical Prince Prop. After catching up with old friends over tacos and brownies, we began the raffle. It was tense as the higher and higher prizes were awarded. One woman won a T-shirt but no one wanted to ask her size for fear of offending her! After the drawing there was a line of storms moving in so we took one final group picture and those who were flying southeast (away from the storm) took off. My dad and I rolled the plane into a hanger and sat back in