Alex Paul
They haven’t been kids for decades but the looks on the faces of Chuck Fitzsimons, Norm Wingren and John Atchley are those of youngsters about to spin the prop on their first motorized airplanes.
In their cases though, the planes are real and are being built in Fitzsimons’ shop outside Sweet Home.
All have been pilots for decades and both Wingren and Atchley have a long list of planes they’ve previously owned.
For months the trio have turned their skyward interests to the workbench, completing three kit planes purchased from Just Aircraft LLC in Idaho.
The Escapade, as the plane is known, is as close to the original seat of your pants plane of the 1920s and 1930s as one can get.
Small, light and affordable to operate, the Escapade can be airborne in approximately 50 feet and land in about the same distance.
Powered by a four cylinder, 80 horsepower engine from Australia, the Escapade can cruise at 100 mph and consumes just four to five gallons of fuel per hour.
“It’s designed to get people back into the air,” Fitzsimons said. “With small airplanes selling for $160,000, they’ve priced most people out of the game.”
A basic Escapade kits costs $15,000 but the men say they expect to sink about $35,000 into each of their planes. A finished version, available next year from the factory, is expected to sell for about $65,000.
A two-seater, the Escapade has ample room for storage and features stick controls rather than a steering wheel.
Although it is very lightweight, about 500 pounds, the Escapade is very sturdy, the men agree, because it features a Chrome-moly tube frame covered with polybrushed fabric.
“I could hit that plane with a bowling ball and it would bounce off that fabric,” Fitzsimons said. “Hit an aluminum plane with a bowling ball and see what happens.”
Each of the planes is being finished in unison so that all will be air ready at once.
“When someone asks us when they’ll be done, we tell them in 30 days…of course, we don’t tell them when we start counting,” Fitzsimons said. “We’ve had a lot of friends stop by the help.”
Atchley, who has owned a plane since 1964, said the Escapade is “neat, they really area. We took our time and looked at a lot of kits but this is definitely the best.”
Atchley used his planes to transfer men and equipment to construction sites for his electrical contracting company. He currently owns a 310 horsepower Cessna T210, a six passenger turbo charged model he keeps at the Lebanon airport.
“I love this plane, it’s neat a good sturdy aircraft,” Atchley said.
Norm Wingren founded Norm’s Electric in Brownsville and has spent many hours in the air. He and Fitzsimons restored a 1941 and 1946 Ercoupe last year, which fueled their desires to built a kit plane.
Wingren has owned many planes includes Pipers, Bonanzas, Beachcraft, Mooney and Tomahawks.
Wings for the Escapade fold in less than two minutes so the plane can be pulled easily onto a trailer.
“It’s really designed for camping,” Wingren said. “It’s extremely safe.”
Even though the Escapade is considered an experimental plane, all three of the units will be inspected by the FAA before flown.
“What’s really nice about these planes is they land so slowly, about 27 miles per hour,” Fitzsimons said. “They’re rated at four G’s right side up and two Gs upside down. They’re tough.”
Even the propellers for the units are light, weighing less than 10 pounds.
“They’re laminated and the tips are composite, so if you get a chip, you just fill it in and sand it down,” Atchley said.
What’s been the hardest part of building the kit planes? Sanding? Painting? Electrical?
“No, I’d say just learning how the manual is supposed to read,” Fitzsimons laughed.