Stephanie Builds An Airplane

Yesterday was a big day. I started the day as a student pilot. I ended the day as a certificated private pilot. Which means that I started today as an instrument student. I flew myself to Goodland, Kansas, on Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful day. In case you are not familiar with the geography…

By day, I am a trial attorney representing people in felony criminal matters. At least for now. As a woman in a very male dominated field, I have been called lots of things. Some related to other, more ladylike professions – secretary, paralegal, interpreter, clerk, stenographer. Some profane – I won’t list those. If you…

I have ordered two of the four parts of this kit – empennage and wings. The empennage has about a 6 month lead time. The wings, a year. But I want it now! Oh, wait, my rivet gun is on backorder, too. Figures I would decide to start a project like this during a global…

So the safety officer of my flying club asked me to drop off our Archer at an airport about 35 miles away after my flight tomorrow. I would have been happy to do so under any circumstance. But here’s the kicker … he’s giving me a ride back to our home airport in his RV!…

My day job is not an easy one. I find myself drawn to distractions to handle the overwhelming stress of having people’s futures and lives in my hands. And this project has already been a wonderful thing for that even though I don’t even have confirmation of my builder number. Yesterday, I got my first…

You cannot even consider a project like this unless you are a tool junkie. If you are wondering if you have the obsession with tools it takes, you don’t. You would know. I just got a tool catalog in the mail and I feel like a child pouring over the Sears Wish Book before Christmas…

Today, I placed an order for the empennage/tail cone kit. It’s the first part you build. It should arrive in about 5 months. That gives me plenty of time to stress and plan and stress again and buy tools and build several toolboxes until I get one right. Most of my family is convinced I…

Not sure what prompted me to decide to build an airplane, but here we are. I guess as a super busy trial lawyer, I just decided I did not have enough to do. I mean, my kids are out of the house, so why not. I have built plenty of IKEA furniture. Surely this can’t…