I know it's a pretty ambitious endeavor but it's been the dream since I was eight or nine years old. I spent my twenties learning metal smithing, metallurgy, machining, and building small vehicle engines with a lot of the spare time and capital I was able to scrape together. I also have a pretty good understanding of the FAR's and type certification process(es).
If I'm understanding what I'm seeing from the FAA, I think there may be a pretty interesting opening in the market coming up. I'm not at the point of having a full business plan together but i do have a historically proven design, and it's on my to-do list tomorrow to start work in CAD, which will inform a lot of the business plan particularly in terms of cost.
I guess I'm just looking for any kind of feedback ya'll might have. Again, I know how crazy it sounds but somebody has to make airplanes and Boeing and Lockheed can't hog all the fun just because they got started 110 years ago.
Does anyone have experience in building small volume small vehicles or aircraft?
byu/PermanentRoundFile inEntrepreneur
Posted by PermanentRoundFile
1 Comment
That’s the kind of crazy shit lots of people try and fail at for various reasons. I think it really has to be your passion. If you’re that passionate and able you’ll always be able to find investors. When I lived in Topanga Canyon, CA I met a neighbor who showed me the engine he had invented in SolidWorks. It was totally his thing and he believed in its potential completely. It had never been built though.
There is a small but passionate market of ultralight aircraft enthusiasts. Singer John Denver died flying one.
One of my family claims to fame is that a grandfather of some degree worked in the Wright Bros. bike shop and invented the coaster brake. Probably BS because he lived like 30 miles away.