The Inspection

On the morning of Saturday, July 15th, I departed for Winnipeg. Mervin and I were not planning to depart for Minneapolis until Sunday morning, so arriving in Winnipeg I found myself with some time to kill. For an aviation enthusiast, and a glider pilot, there is no better place to go for a visit than the local gliderport. Off to the Winnipeg Gliding Club I went! I met some great people and stayed for supper, some great conversation, and some great pie.

On Sunday, I drove to meet Mervin at his home in Kleefeld. I parked the rental car in his driveway and we took his wife's car and departed for Minneapolis (we didn't want to encounter a border hassle with the rental, and Merv's wife was extremely generous to grant us the use of her fuel efficient Corolla). Approximately 7 hours later we found ourselves at the Airlake airport, south of Minneapolis.

Mervin had been to Airlake previously while he was building his Sonex. There are a few Sonex aircraft that are based at this airport, and I made an attempt to contact as many owners as I could. John Koser, owner of a Jabiru 2200 Sonex (N167JK), came to the airport to meet us. Joel Fuller was also there when we arrived and he had the hangar open and N14YX pulled out of the corner and ready for inspection.

Now is the time to admit that I was not as thorough with my inspection as I could have been. Here are the principal deficiencies noted with N14YX during the first inspection:

1. Oil leak from engine at crankcase parting line
2. Fuel seep at fuel tank sump
3. A few minor, easily corrected interferences on the airframe (rudder pedals, Y-rudder fairing)

That I missed things on the inspection, as will become apparent as you read future posts, actually wasn't that consequential at this time. Joel had had enough interest in the aircraft that there was no room to negotiate - this was pretty clear. As I had said in a previous post, I figured that I could sell the airplane at any time and not take a huge loss if it looked like things were starting to get out of hand or over my head.

It was time to come to a decision: take it or leave it. Based on the fact that I am writing a Blog, it should be clear that I decided to take it! Joel and I wrote up an Offer to Purchase and I handed over $4800.00 US to leave him with a large deposit of $5000.00 USD. The Offer to Purchase was drafted based on an agreement from the COPA Guide to Buying an Airplane (pp.110-111), viewable online for free by COPA members (recommended read for any Canadian contemplating an aircraft purchase).

Joel threw in pretty much everything he had kicking around the hangar, including a few tools (battery charger, power buffer), an AVMAP EKP-IV GPS, and a LightSPEED in-ear headset. I am glad for the headset ... headroom is limited for me in the Waiex.

Another person also came to meet us at the Airlake airport: Kim Johnson, president of EAA Chapter 25. Kim is a very friendly, helpful person. I reached out to Kim to gain access to his network of local pilots/mechanics. I knew that to pull this project off, and stay within my budget, I was going to have to find a local pilot to fly the flight test hours for me and that I was going to need some help. I consider myself handy, but I don't have much experience working on aircraft. I hoped that Kim could connect me with the right people.

With the deal done, Merv, Kim, and I had dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Lakeville, MN. After dinner, Merv and I then started our drive back to Canada. Once on the other side of Minneapolis, excited but exhausted, we spent the night at a hotel and finished the drive the following day.

Upon arriving in Canada on Monday, Merv and I went out to the Steinbach airport to take a look at his airplane. It really is nice - he did a great job building it. I took some photos of things that I would like to do to my aircraft.

Fuel Shutoff linkage:

Fuel shutoff linkage (and fuel seep repair):

Cabin heat diverter valve:

Cabin heat diverter valve (inside) - simple and no cable to run through the firewall:

Cabin heat box and firewall grommets:

Tailwheel linkage with rod ends (the stock Sonex linkage will ovalize the holes in the horns prematurely):

Merv also took me flying! I'm glad that I liked the way the Sonex flew .... because I had already bought one! My only complaint would be that I found the rudder to be too light. It took more work than it should to coordinate turns because I was over-controlling the rudder. Stiffer springs would help. The Waiex may not have this "problem." The "problem" could also be with me - I'm used to flying the CC-115.

After the short flight, it was off to the Winnipeg airport for me, for my return flight to Comox. What a whirlwind trip!

Ducks in a Row

Ok. Breathe. Time to start planning.

I've seen a Waiex before, but can I actually evaluate one? Doubtful. I need someone with some experience in my corner. I need to talk to a builder.

First stop: Canadian Civil Aircraft Register. There are 32 Sonex aircraft on the Canadian Registry. Not one Waiex.

Next stop: Sonex Find-a-Builder Database. 4 Waiex aircraft under construction in Canada.

What's the nearest Canadian city to Minneapolis? Winnipeg. Are there any Sonex aircraft in the Winnipeg area? Yes: C-FMNX owned and built by Mervin Friesen of Kleefeld, MB ... and the Sonex Find-a-Builder database contains his email address. Let's send him an email.

Merv replied quickly with a short note, his phone number, and a photo of his plans-built, Jabiru 2200 powered Sonex.

His airplane is as pretty in person as it is in the photo. The man is a true craftsman. He is also a true gentleman. I called him up to discuss my situation. He had been to the Airlake airport to meet with other Sonex owner-builders previously, though he had not met Joel. After a few minutes of chatting, I decided to ask him a big question: would he be interested in going to take a look at N14YX with me? He said "yes" and I proceeded to book a flight to Winnipeg.

Hello Airplane, Buh-Bye Money

Wow! That happened fast! I was shopping for a glider, but I put a deposit on a Sonex Waiex?!?

The story, from the beginning:

I look at airplane classifieds a lot - I am generally looking at the Barnstormers Experimental listings at least once a day (it's a bit of an obsession). Every once and a while I see a deal, but I am generally not compelled to act. In the case of N14YX, I was.

I have been following Sonex Aircraft for quite some time. I like the simplicity of their designs and that they deliver a fair bit of performance per dollar (both up front, and per hour of flight). At Oshkosh in 2010, I had the opportunity to sit in a few Sonex cockpits, talk to the Monnetts and other factory reps, and take a tour of the factory. I saw nothing that gave me a bad feeling. John Monnett can seem stubborn and tough-headed when you talk to him, but he has his ideas of what is right and sticks to them. I admire that, though I may not always agree.

As a glider pilot, the Xenos had my eye from the beginning as an economical touring motorglider. Unfortunately, out of the Sonex line, the Xenos is the least common and they do not come up for sale often. Given that I am in the military and move every few years, I was not interested in building myself because I did not want to face having to move an unfinished project with the next posting or two. 

I saw the ad for N14YX early in the morning (at 05:30 on July 9th) as I was having breakfast before heading to work for an overnight trip to Sandspit, BC. She was well equipped and at $15,000 USD looked too good to be true. I called the seller, Joel Fuller, immediately and left a message. During the bike ride to work I got to thinking ...

Pros:

• Priced at less than the price of a Waiex Complete Airframe Kit ($15,995 USD at the time of writing) alone ... not to mention engine, instruments, avionics, paint, hardware, and handy upgrades to the basic kit from Sonex (pre-assembled spars, machined angle component kit)
• Well equipped for day VFR
• Dynon EFIS-D10A and EMS-D10 digital instrumentation
• XCOM radio
• Microair Transponder
• 406 MHz ELT

Cons:

• Location: KLVN, Airlake Airport (Lakeville, Minnesota - south of Minneapolis)
• Unproven: the aircraft has flown only 10 hours
• Aircraft has been sitting for six years
• Phase 1 flight testing (40 hrs) not complete

Misc:

• AeroVee engine

Photos from the ad on Barnstormers:

  

The getting the aircraft home to Canada was certainly going to have its challenges, but I figured that, given the price, at any point in the process I could sell the airplane and not get totally hosed.

Joel called me back as I was flight planning at work at approximately 07:30. We had a brief conversation and I knew that he was about to be flooded with calls and emails so I asked him if he would take a small deposit to hold the aircraft so I could arrange to go see it. He agreed and I told him I would contact him that evening and send him a deposit via PayPal.

Once settled into the hotel at the end of the day, I gave Joel a call to send him some money. He informed me that another fellow, local to Minneapolis, had called. Joel decided to let this fellow (let's call him Buyer #1) take a look at the airplane first. Reasonable, yes, but I was pretty disappointed. I was kicking myself and thinking that I should have sent a token deposit immediately after getting off the phone with Joel.

Upon returning from Sandspit the following day (July 10th), I checked my email. It had news from Joel: he showed the aircraft to Buyer #1 and Buyer #1 decided that he wasn't ready to buy. Was I? Willing to gamble $200 USD (as a non-refunable deposit for Joel) and the cost of an airline ticket, I guess I was.

The adventure begins ...

Welcome to my Blog!

Buying an airplane has been a big learning experience for me, and I hope that others can learn by reading about it.

A big learning point for me was how much this endeavour was going to cost. As the dollars flow, you can keep track of my purchases and expenses as they mount post-by-post here:

Useful documents are posted here: