Article Reprint
Plane in a
Box
With kit
aircraft, many people can fulfill their dreams of flight
- Written by Stephanie
Eastwood
Photographed by Bryan Blumer of the Missourian staff
Columbia Missourian
Monday, June 23, 1997, Page 5A
 |
| Zenith Aircraft President Sebastien Heintz stands on the prototype of their newest twin-engine aircraft, the Gemini CH 620, outside their factory in Mexico. |
Its 650 pieces of sheet metal and hardware come in box four feet high, four feet wide and eight feet long. It weighs 800 pounds and takes an average of 400 hours to build. This is not the material from which your average hobby craft is made.
But for those who have the time, money, patience and ambition, Zenith Aircraft Co. in Mexico, Mo., provides all the pieces necessary to build a light aircraft.
"Building a kit aircraft is not just a crazy thing your neighbor does," said Sebastien Heintz, Zenith's 29-year old president. "I'd say it's something your average person can do."
A kit aircraft is defined by the Federal Aviation Administration as an experimental aircraft used or the personal education or recreation of the builder. The major portion of the .aircraft must be built by an amateur. Kit planes cannot be used for commercial purposes.
Zenith makes two models of kit planes. A third model is in the final stages of development.
Heintz said the most popular model, the Zodiac CH 60l, is an aircraft that meets the needs of a large segment of the market with a conventional design suited for cross country flying
The more specialized Stol CH 701 is a high-wing model for short takeoffs and landings. The Gemini CH 620, a twin engine version of the Zodiac, will be available later this summer.
The all-metal planes are about 20 feet long, with wing spans of about 30 feet. They can travel 400 to 500 miles, or about three hours without refueling. A customer needs a private pilot's license to legally fly any Zenith aircraft.
Because each person assembles the kit and is responsible for the quality of the finished product, it is difficult to define Zenith's safety record. "We've never had a structural problem," Heintz said. "But people will have accidents. Any time activity requires movement, just like a car, people will drive too fast or not pay attention."
Heintz said airplanes people build are as safe as those produced at a factory.
"People take the time and put the effort into it that a nine-to-five employee wouldn't be willing or have the time to do," Heintz said. "If you build something yourself, you're not going to cut any corners."
Seventeen-year-old Bart Engemann, Zenith's youngest customer on record, agrees with this theory.
"Since I know it's going to be me flying it, I'm going to put a lot of effort into doing it right," said Bart, who lives in Rhineland.
Because they are considered experimental aircraft, the FAA does not require certification for kit designs. As such Zenith is able to avoid the stringent and expensive process. Still each customer must get his or her finished aircraft approved by the FAA before flying it.
The FAA spent four hours inspecting Bart's plane before awarding him an Airworthiness Certificate. In the six hours he has spent flying it so far, he said he has felt comfortable.
The key to kit-plane safety, Heintz said, is making sure that the customer has everything he or she needs to properly complete the project.
With detailed blueprints, a basic assembly process to follow, and already cut and bent sheet-metal pieces, Zenith tries to make its kits as simple as possible. The assembly doesn't even require special tools.
"We try to provide everything a customer needs to finish a kit," Heintz said. "It's important that we supply as much of a turn-key kit as possible. We don't want our customers to have to go to the local hardware store to pick up pieces for their aircraft."
It is especially important for Zenith to provide customers with a complete kit, because most of them do not have easy access to specialized parts and hardware. Sixty percent of the company's business comes from outside the United States, and a majority of customers live in remote areas.
"Our market is more dispersed," Heintz said. " We tend to sell more in rural or remote areas. We have more customers in rural Missouri than in St. Louis and Kansas City combined."
Kit planes are popular in rural-areas because of the abundance of small airports. These planes also make traveling long distances over rough terrain unnecessary.
Most Zenith customers are pilots looking for a new challenge, Heintz said. He also said a large majority of his clients are retired men who have the time and money to spend on a kit.
Bart is one exception to that rule. At 15, he began assembling the wing section of his Stol CH 701. This month, at 17, he took his first flight in the finished product.
Bart worked an average of an hour a day on the plane for two years. He said the construction became monotonous at times, especially when he was hand-riveting the 9,000 rivets in his plane. Overall, he said, it was a rewarding experience.
"I just flew it for the first time last Tuesday, and that definitely made it worth the whole two years I spent building it." Bart said.
Bart, who plans to major in aviation at Central Missouri State University this fall, spent $20,000 of his own money on the project.
The kits, which include every part necessary to complete the airframe, cost about $15,000. This does not include the engine, propeller, muffler system, radios, seat upholstery or paint. Most of Zenith's customers invest about $30,000 in a project by the time it is completed.
Heintz said the price is competitive, for an aircraft.
"You can't buy many cars for that price," he said. "One of the reasons people get into kit aircraft is to minimize the cost of aviation."
Dennis Gordon of Gordon Aircraft in Iowa City, Iowa, said Micc Aircraft offers a manufactured two-seat light aircraft comparable to Zenith planes. It costs about $135,000.
If the base price of a Zenith kit plane is still too high, customers can minimize the cost of flying by purchasing blueprints from Zenith for about $300 and building an entire airplane from scratch. Heintz said this is an increasingly unpopular option for his clients.
"In terms of cost, it's the cheapest way to go." he said. "In terms of doing it, you're obviously taking a much bigger project on."
Terry Keeney of Jefferson City was ready to take on that big project when he started building the Zodiac CH 601 in his garage more than two years . ago. He likes the challenge, but said if he wanted to build a plane quickly he definitely would have bought a kit.
"After looking at the materials it took to build it, I thought I could do it," Keeney said. "But I would really advise, unless a person's got a lot of patience, to buy the kit."
Keeney's plane, which is almost complete, cost more than $8,000 to build. Keeney said the project has been fun and Zenith's detailed blueprints were adequate.
Zenith has manufactured kit airplanes in its 12,0000 square-foot production facility at Mexico Memorial Airport since 1992.
Written by
Stephanie Eastwood, Photographed by Bryan Blumer
© Columbia Missourian, Monday, June 23, 1997, Page 5A
