Designing and Building is a Waste of Time and Unsafe. Build a kit or buy an existing airplane instead.
The above sentence is a response I found to a post on a homebuilt airplane design Facebook group page. The original post was a couple pictures of hand drawn front and side views of a proposed airplane design and the poster was asking for some design input from members of the Facebook group. It was a conventional high wing tricycle gear configuration. I’m paraphrasing this response so it is possible that I’ve misremembered the response but this is what I came away with after reading. We’ll proceed with the way that I remember it. This is what I want to address since I’ve seen other responses similar to this.
Why would someone give such a negative response to a reasonable post? This responder was either a troll deliberately trying to emotionally harm the poster or the responder was sincere. Let’s address the first possibility, being a troll. We’ve all run across comments on videos or on Facebook where a troll is trying to make another person feel bad or trying to make them angry. The troll has no positive goal in mind when doing this. The only purpose is to cause harm. In this case the troll is clearly in the wrong. The best approach for others reading the response is to provide encouragement and constructive guidance to the original poster to counter the troll. Now let’s take a look at the second case where the responder is sincere.
In the case that the responder is sincere then we have to ask, “ is the responder correct”?. There are three parts here. 1) Is it a waste of time to design an airplane? 2) Is it a waste of time to build an airplane? This can be subdivided into building from plans or building from a kit. 3) Would the plane of a first time designer be unsafe?
There are two conditions where I would agree that it is a waste of time to design and/or build an airplane. If your only goal is to fly and you do not really enjoy designing or building then yes, designing or building would be a waste of time. You would be unlikely to invest the time required to finish the plane and then you would end up buying a ready to fly plane.
The second condition where building or designing would be a waste of time is when you think that you will save money by building it yourself but you don’t really derive satisfaction from build. Again the length of time required for a build will become too large a burden when you do not gain satisfaction from the building process. The project will eventually be abandoned. Definitely a waste of time.
In the original post the poster did not indicate a desire for only flying or saving money. The desire was to design an airplane and he was looking for advice on what he had come up with in his drawings. Fortunately most of the replies were helpful. But one replay said it was a waste of time.
Here is my take on the issue. If you buy and start a kit build airplane project and complete it then you have the satisfaction of a job well done and this is renewed every time you fly the airplane. Some folks enjoy the building process so much that they will begin a new project while they are flying the last project. When the new project is completed, the builder may sell the previous project and start another plane project. During the process of the build the builder gains skills and knowledge that he/she did not have before the project started.
For an airplane built from plans the satisfaction is even greater. Also, if the builder ever has to work on the plane or there is a ground incident where the plane is damaged, the builder ?has the knowledge and skills to repair it. Whether kit built or plans built the skills, knowledge and satisfaction gained can in no way be considered a waste of time.
Now let’s move on to designing an airplane. This involves a whole new set of skills and knowledge. It includes aerodynamics and structural analysis, understanding material properties, ergonomics and human machine interfaces at a minimum. If the potential designer has not had any aerospace training or education then these elements can provide a steep learning curve. The first airplane design can take a lot of time and will frequently be abandoned as more is learned about airplane design. This should not be considered a failure or a waste of time. Even if the first airplane design is not completed, the new designer will have learned skills and knowledge that may be used in their career or even other hobbies. Time spent designing an airplane is time put to good use and can even be a future advantage.
The last issue is whether this budding airplane designer would be safer with a ready to fly airplane. The original post contained absolutely nothing to indicate that this new designer would design an unsafe airplane. Based solely on the original post the reply that the design would be less safe was out of line. The drawings indicated a conventional airplane configuration. There are many amatuer airplane design books available that can guide an inexperienced designer through the process of designing a conventionally configured airplane. Again there is no reason to assume that the original poster would design a less safe airplane than one ready to fly. It is possible that would happen but to make the assumption is wrong.
Telling a budding designer that designing or building an airplane is a waste of time, on a homebuilt design forum no less, not only harms the individual, it also harms our homebuilt airplane design and build community. The homebuilt and amatuer design community should also not be an exclusive or elite group trying to discourage beginners that are asking questions. We should encourage and guide first time designers with wisdom and patience and be inclusive.
Leon
My thoughts exactly.