A quick and easy way to be flying in a few weeks, building a Sky Ranger in Warwickshire.

After much thought and growing waist line Terry decided that a sky ranger was to be his new toy. He then asked a few of us with promises of food, booze and other pleasures in to helping him to build it. He kept all his promises and we thank him.

He has delivered much booze food and hours of flying fun.

If you are considering this type of project there are some things to consider before attempting it. You need to plan and plan again. Space money time and other people will all conspire to mess things up for you.

You have to be flexible.

Much depends on others the factory, importers, the distributor often you will need bits and bob’s from others and they may not be as reliable so expect things to be ground to a halt because of one little part.

The list is endless of what can go wrong. So speak to builders get as much in place before you even get a delivery date. Talk to the BMA get someone on your side it will make things much easer.

If you are already a pilot then use your skills. Plan get a diversion sorted out expect things to cock up and have escape routs in place be patent yet have the most furious resolve to get this thing built and flying.

Terry decided on another sky ranger.

So the second thing we had do was to build a new hanger and workshop for the new project. It took us a few weeks which was good as the microlight was not yet in the country. This would be our second and this one would be better with a much improved design and a larger area for the workshop and tools that we needed.

A friend lent Terry a van and we traveled down picked up the boxes and drove back to Coventry, unpacked and started to build. All on the same day. It was cold very cold.

It makes thing a lot easer if you have the area to lay what you need out. If you are planning to do this think ahead and get a scedule in place it will save you hours of problems There are hundreds of parts in an aircraft and as you are building it your self, you need to know where bits are and what is missing.

The fun begins when you start to build.

The manual for this plane is very good and the importers are excellent in the back up they give you. They are only a phone call away and very helpful Of course it also helps if you have done one before.

As we both had.

This shot shows the basic fuselage with the Rotax mounted and the wings.

After much fun and games what you end up with is a place were you can fly, no longer a dream.

One of the joys of flying is that . Well. It is just amazing.

If you have dreamed of flying. Do it.

If you have ever wanted to build your own airplane. Do it.

Few things are as rewarding.