I Threw Away Half My Airplane: Building a Zenith Kit Plane with Carson Stilson

Carson Stilson built his own Zenith Super Duty kit plane in two and a half years and about 1,200 hours, then flew it to Oshkosh. He shares what building an experimental aircraft really takes.

Carson never planned to build an airplane in his thirties. He did it anyway, while working full time and raising two young kids. He explains why he chose a Zenith over a tailwheel kit, why he did most of the build himself, and how he kept going through the slow stretches. One of those stretches came a few weeks in, when he accidentally threw away half his airplane's skins.

In this episode:

• Why Carson chose a Zenith: STOL performance, cost, and no ground-loop worries
• How the Zenith rudder workshop led him to buy the kit
• Builder Assist vs. building it yourself, and when to get help with the engine and avionics
• "90% done, 90% to go": wiring, final assembly, and the last six months
• Putting a Lycoming IO-390 on a Super Duty for high-density-altitude backcountry flying in Utah
• The DAR inspection, the first flight on July 4th, and flying to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
• Why experimental and kit aircraft, along with MOSAIC, could be the future of personal aviation
• Carson's dream fleet: a bush plane, a 200-knot family hauler, and a show plane

Thinking about building a kit plane? Send this to the friend who keeps saying "someday."

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