Hello Kitfoxlings,

I know these questions have probably been asked many times on here, but searching among threads I have not been able to find anything. Skip the the bottom if you don't feel like reading a lot of crap.

A little background on me: I Started flying when I was 15 at a local airport here in Michigan. When I turned 17 I went to a full time flight school in Daytona Beach, FL, and when I was 19 to an agricultural flight school in GA to get my commercial license, where I got hooked on taildraggers. Then it was off to college and long story short... I am 30 now and have not flown much since then. I had to put career life first, and now that things are settling down, it's time to get back into it. I think this will be the year I can make it happen. Thanks to the fact that the girlfriend hates my house (kitchens too small) I decided FINE, I will sell mine, stay at hers and the equity I get will fund a kitfox and a hanger (Not a bad trade in my book).

After talking to a few people at the local EAA meetings and on the internet... the following things make me nervous. The maintenance costs of owning a factory built aircraft is scary for someone who's not loaded like me. That is why I looked at building one.

However, the people I have talked to all ask "why the heck do you want to build one? If you are retired and have time then maybe building is a good idea" You should buy a cheap plane and start flying again. Well, I am not familiar with what annuals cost, which things go wrong the most and how much those cost to maintain. The last thing I want is to buy a plane and a year later have to spend 15,000$ in maintenance. Like I said, I am not familiar with these costs...maybe its not as bad as I think. If I did not think it was so bad, I would maybe look at a factory built Kitfox.

So this leads me to buying a kit, something I can fly north to remote strips and take my fly rod and camping gear. Something I can take into the Canadian wilderness and film epic fishing or hunting adventures. The kitfox seems to be a great choice, and I think I can fit both my dogs in the baggage area as well (bonus!).

The reason why the individuals I have talked to are telling me to lean away from building is the actual build time. So I thought I would ask you folks how long it took for you to build yours and how many hours a week did you spend working on it?

These people are telling me, no way will you have it done in 18 months...multiply that by 3. I have met a couple people who have been working on them for 6 years or more. I have read on here people buying kits as the 3rd or 4th builder on the kit and its still not done.

Well, I really do not want to spend the next 4.5 years building. I do not have kids, I am not married yet, and I think I am a fairly handy person when it comes to working on stuff. I would be able to tackle some hours a couple nights a week and at least most every weekend assuming the lady is content. Holidays as well. I feel that my time is running out and once I put a ring on her finger then the possibility of getting a plane will be much tougher!

What advice can you guys give me? How long did it take you to you build yours, and how often did you work on it? What were the biggest challenges? And, what are your thoughts on cost of maintenance on a factory build Kitfox?


Thank you for taking the time to read this, you guys rock.

-Adam