As long as I can remember I wanted to fly! I failed 5th grade starring out the window wondering what Chuck Yeager was doing today. Had he finally broke the sound barrier? But coming from a very modest family, there was no way I could afford it. Our local, Broward Community College offered Airline pilots training in 2 years. But the cost per quarter was as much as I earned that year. How could I afford that with a wife and child on the way, and just out of high school. I tried to join the Air Force to be a pilot, but I had no College Degree. Then tried the Army, and believed the recruiter! He said "Go in as an aircraft mechanic then transfer to Warrent Officer training". And since that was my best chance to fly, I wanted to believe him. Ended up in Viet Nam, working on every aircraft I could get my hands on. Then got out the same time as 100 thousand other aircraft mechanics. So I worked at jobs that were not what I wanted.
Then one night while watching Discovery Wings, I saw a program called "A Plane is Born". I was hooked!!! I said "I can do this". Building a plane would give me an airplane that was affordable and I could do the maintenance. Now flight was within my grasp. All I needed to do is convince my wife and decide which plane to build. So I set out on my research. I quickly learned that there is no plane that can do all things. So I had to decide how I was going to use the plane. Our family history was one of spur of the moment trips to NJ or NC, etc. Also with me fast approaching retirement we had been talking about getting a motor home and seeing more of the US. So it was easy to see a cross country bird is what I would be using. Then one day while doing some searching of possibilities my wife said "No, a four seater." That narrowed it down pretty quick. A 4 seat cross country homebuilt!
So how many airplanes fit my needs? I needed to be able to build it myself, and do the maintenance on it. It needed to be reasonable in cost but safe. I looked at several potentials, an RV, Lancair, Velocity and more. But all these kit built planes seemed as though it would take just as long to build as a Cozy, a plans built. And cost almost double, while getting lower fuel and higher maintenance cost, and being slower to boot. Now I liked the fact that I could get my money back out of a couple of these planes if I had to sell later. All the possibilities used the same engines, avionics and paint. That left it between Kit vs Plans built. With the added cost of the kits and no substantial savings on assembly time, I decided to go with the Cozy Mark 4.
The Cozy Mk IV is a 4 seat cross country homebuilt. It has excellent top speed with a Vne(velocity never to exceed) of 220. Fuel economy is better than most 4 seaters due to its very low drag. The engine you choose to put in it will determine how much fuel it will burn per hour. But the Cozy will allow a higher speed for that engine. There is enough fuel on board for over a 1000 miles of cruise. Usually your kidneys won't last that long. This plane will carry over a thousand pounds of payload. That is four 200 pound people and 200 lbs of fuel. A full load of fuel weighs around 390 lbs. So there are some compromises. But with 2 kids and 2 adults you can fill it up.
Being an aircraft mechanic in the Army, I was familiar with the engine possibilities. Some of the helicopters I worked on had Lycomings and Continentals, and they haven't changed much. But in my searching for a plane, I keep hearing about Madza rotary engines. This intrigued me, for its simplicity, weight, lower maintenance, but mostly for it safety. When this engine has a problem it doesn't come apart, taking parts of the plane with it. It just reduces the amount of power and gets you home. The accessories on the engine are its limiting factor. These haven't been time tested in an airplane. Cooling, exhaust systems, prop gear reduction units, intakes are all things that need to be straightened out. But this is the way I wanted to go. I found one on Ebay that would fit my needs and bought it.
My wife and I went to Sun n Fun in Lakeland, Fla. Spring of 2004. She thought I was crazy but wanted to support me. As we were walking around the airshow, I pointed out the homebuilts. She got a much better appreciation of them, but still thought I was crazy. Nat Puffer was there with his Cozy Mk IV, and it was beautiful. I left there and went by Aircraft Spruce to picked up Plans # 1286. I don't know at what point you become a builder, if it is when you buy the plans, When you start setting up your shop, when you buy your first batch of airplane stuff, or when you start chapter 4. But when you get done Chapter 4 you know you are. You have real airplane parts in your hands.