If I was going to build, and was serious about back country, short, unimproved strips...... I'd have a Slepchev Storch!!! As far as it being slow cruise... isn't the whole idea to spend more time flying???? That aircraft on Bushwheels would be the next best thing to a helicopter!
JH

Take a better look at your Heintz designs- they are notorious for nosewheel failure. Bush pilots in Africa hold the nosewheel up on landing because of this. Buddy in my EAA chapter has a 601HD with a Soob and he loves it. Good planes; you just have to take everything you hear about them with 2 grains of salt (like everything in aviation!).

zane wrote:Taildraggers are just more fun. Greater risk of ending up pointed the wrong direction, but more fun, and just more elegant looking IMO... Even a tailwheel low wing like an Extra 300.

I do have a soft spot for the CH701 and CH801 though. I think they look like neat little slow flying machines.

Ya know. I kinda like that Zane guy.... I have had nothing but great times with my Zenith 801 here in Jackson Hole, Altho the V-8 Ford in it really helps in the WOW department....

Ben

Maybe you could incorporate into the build kit you choose, if its a tri-gear, the negative flap system used in the Maules. At touch down you can immediately unload the flaps and load them on top thus raising the nosewheel, placeing the tail down, put lots of braking weight on the mains and land short while protecting the for'ard end. A tailskid can be fltted at the tail wheel point to protect the rudder.
Jeremy

CI - aren't you supposed to be spending all your time harassing Iranian diesel boats rather than building a 601 for the back country? Get back out there and pin them down in their stupid littoral redoubts...

Seriously, at least go the Rans S-7S or C route. But look at an experimental Cub of some sort (be it Wag or Smith etc. etc...) or Producer / Bushmaster (stretched and moded Pacer/TriPacer). I think that will satisfy the build itch and you'll also get a very capable machine to use afterwords.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull!!?? That's when Bach got rather Gnostic and ancient Greeky, should have stopped with his classic "Stranger to the Ground".

Brad

Harassing Iranian subs is my other hobby

There are so many quality kits out there now due to the new Light Sport Aircraft rule it's hard to choose, but I'm narrowing the field. I'll take another look at the Bushmaster.

Mr J. L. Seagull is a cool as they come. He never bought the Seagull Corporate Party Line. Of course he did auger in.

jmtgt wrote:Ben you gonna be at the fly-in this summer? I would like to check out your ride.

I am trying to get there for sure. It is the month from hell for me trying to get ready for Oshkosh, fly in the local young eagles day event, maybe Arlinton, yada yada yada... I am not sure Johnson Creek allows Fords in there. <G>

The shortest built times of any homebuilder I know is 12-18 months. Some are measured in decades. Right now, a guy I know is building a Glastar 2+2. He "considered the time to build" & figured he could beat the factory builder-assist program's timetable. Well, he's reassessing that conclusion now-- been working on it for maybe 6-8 months now, literally full time (8 hours a day,5-6 days a week) and is nowhere near being done. That very thing is what keeps me from building the ultimate (to me) backcountry flyer, I'd fizzle out long before completion.
I eyeballed the Highlander pretty hard at an aviation show last February, really liked what I saw. But I overheard the sales rep (I believe it was the outfit from eastern Oregon) tell a potential builder that he should be able to knock one off in about 500 hours, if he was handy with tools. Maybe he's right, IF you'd built a couple tube & fabric airplanes before. Judging from what I've seen heard, I'd guess it'd take something more like a thousand-plus hours.Maybe as much a two thousand, depending on how flat your learning curve turned out to be, and how deluxe you wanted the airplane to be.
If youd like to get out into the back country anytime soon, you might want to consider buying one (certiified or experimental) ready-to-fly. Maybe also buy the kit/parts for your dream airplane, and split your available time between flying one & building the other.


Eric