Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Original Posted By: Isablcorky(at)aol.com
Subject: Pietenpol-List: teen builderwell i may have the youngest piet builder around hes 15, and he wants to build a piet.do you guys think its to big a job for a teen tom________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: TRichmo9(at)aol.com
Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: teen builderTom,There are teens and then there are teens. You alone will have to judge the ability of yours. I will say that I knew of a kid (pre teen ) who built a Model T Ford Sporter from parts and had to wait 3 years before being legally old enough to drive it (on the streets). Age really has nothing to do with it. If he can imagine it he can build it.Corky, the ole school teacher down on the bayou________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: "Gordon Bowen"
Subject: Re: Pietenpol-List: teen builderIn a message dated 3/27/05 12:24:24 P.M. Central Standard Time, Isablcorky(at)aol.com writes:Tom,There are teens and then there are teens. You alone will have to judge the ability of yours. I will say that I knew of a kid (pre teen ) who built a Model T Ford Sporter from parts and had to wait 3 years before being legally oldenough to drive it (on the streets). Age really has nothing to do with it. Ifhe can imagine it he can build it.Corky, the ole school teacher down on the bayouthanks corky the kid is pretty good with cars him and his brother built a jaguar xj6 drag car with a 500 hp chevy sroker its pretty quickbut you cant pull over to the urb at 3000 ft________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: TRichmo9(at)aol.com
Tom,I think building a homebuilt can be a great character builder for any young manand the original wooden Piete is a great place to start. Starting a big project,having the character to stick with the work no matter what the problems andlastly seeing the end product of one's labors is an invaluable life learningexperience. Couple $100 worth of Sitka spruce, good wood working tools, plansare all that's needed. If you're anywhere near Satsuma FL, I'll give theyoung Eagle enough rough cut Sitka spruce to get started, if he's got the woodworking tools and desire to buy a set of plans. The wood's in hanger #8 atPalatka Airport FL., so's my metal Piete. Building a plane can start a lifetimeof love of aviation, even if it takes a lifetime getting done. As I thinkmost of the fellow members of these web-user homebuilder groups would agree,being an aviator is more than just being a pilot. Building a plane is as rewardingon a daily basis as actually taking it for a spin around the pattern.Gordon Bowen -Homer AlaskaCozy IV N64CYOsprey II N64SYPietenpol N-1033B Flew again on 3/12/2005"Fanaticism consists of redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim" ----- Original Message -----

Original Posted By: Galen Hutcheson

Original Posted By: TRichmo9(at)aol.com
He'll need a lot of perseverance to see it through to completion. I had the skillsto do somethinglike this as a teen, but I think it would have been hard for me to see a projectof this size throughto the final product.I have a 14 year old whose only interest right now is to get this Corvair enginetogether and see it run.We put a long block together and then the Air Force sent me off to Flight Engineerschool last weekfor the next six weeks. He's just itching for me to get back so we can wrenchon it. Somewhere alongthe way I realized that we didn't orient the pistons properly and that we needto take it apart and flip halfthe pistons over. I was going to help him do it when I got back home. After readingyour post and thinkingabout the things I was doing by myself when I was a young teen (building motors,doing bodywork,doing carpentry, plumbing and electrical work) I realized that I don't give himenough leeway to let himgo and learn some of these things on his own. I'm always there supervising himand if he runs intotrouble doing something I do it for him. As a result he doesn't have a lot ofconfidence in being ableto accomplish anything on his own After thinking it over I called him and toldhim to go ahead anddisassemble the motor and turn the pistons over. I know he can do it, it's justthe matter of lettinghim do it on his own...-Mike McCarty ----- Original Message -----

Original Posted By: Gary Gower

Original Posted By: "DJ Vegh"
Two good friends of mine have now "gone west". Their names were Maurice Fry and John Davids, and both had impressive careers in aviation.They grew up in Hartney, Manitoba, Canada and Maurice travelled to Minneapolis, Minnesota where he took his flying training at Wold Chamberlin airport during the summer of 1930. When he returned to Hartney with a Private Pilot Licence, he and his friend, John, decided to build a Pietenpol Air Camper. I'm not sure when they started construction, but Maurice made the first three test flights on November 7, 1931. At that time the airplane was unregistered and unlicenced. A local Royal Canadian Mounted Police member told Maurice he would have register it and have it inspected by the Department of Transport. This was done and the registration markings CF-ARH were assigned. As far as we can determine, this Pietenpol was the first of the type officially registered in Canada. It was powered by a Ford A engine which, according to Maurice, gave somewhat marginal performance.Building an airplane is an undertaking relatively few people carry through to completion. Maurice and John's accomplishment is especially remarkable because Maurice was only seventeen years old when he test flew his creation--and John was just sixteen!If a kid is fifteen years old and wants to build a Pietenpol, let him or her do it. It has been done before. Graham Hansen (Pietenpol CF-AUN) ________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: Michael D Cuy