Twenty five years ago when we were “Riddle Rats”, a lot of people talked about composites. Everyone spoke about how complex it all was, how much there was to learn, and how the engineering was super hard, and how complicated it all was. Scared most people off.
.
A certain type of person, that included Arnold and myself and others who didn’t shy from a challenge or were specifically attracted by the fact that others found composites intimidating, decided that composites were being done by people who looked like regular mortals, and therefore we could probably do it also. This opened the door to many of the things each of us has accomplished in the last 25 years.
.
This is the core mind set that being a homebuilder and an aviator is supposed to give you. This is the real valuable thing you can get out of all the hours in the shop, the one thing that you will not loose even if a tornado wrecks your plane or it burns to the ground. Homebuilding is about how it changes your mindset.
.
Film critic Gene Shalit said “A street car named desire wasn’t a move about public transportation.” Homebuilding isn’t about having a different form of transportation or owning a different toy. It is about developing and exploring your own skills, attitudes, capabilities and philosophy. In the best of all out comes, the plane is just a visible and useful byproduct of the change in how you view the world and your place in it. -ww.
.
—————————————
.
Read more about Arnold’s perspective on Homebuilding at this link:
Guest Editorial, Arnold Holmes On Affordable Aircraft…
.
—————————————–
.
In a 2006 photo, Arnold Holmes and I stand behind the engine installation on a V-8 powered Lancair IV-P. This is an EngineAir package that I helped develop from 1993 to ’98. It’s 450hp, geared, injected, intercooled and turboed, and featured air conditioning and pressurization. Yes, I have had short hair many times in my life.
.
I just saw a commercial for Advance Auto Parts that sends this same message about mindset. There are no words spoken, just text at the end that says “you’re not fixing it, it’s fixing you”. I immediately thought of you when I saw this. Folks that view all activities as merely a means to an end are missing the most rewarding part of the journey.