My Cozy Mark IV Canard Airplane Building Log

Hello, my name is Matt Stecher, and I live on the West side of Houston, TX in a suburb known as Katy.  I am building a canard airplane from plans.  My only goal with regards to getting her done is to be flying before my son finishes high school in the fall of 2013.  Its hard to tell if I am on schedule or not as I work when I can and buy stuff when I can afford to.

I am also still a student pilot with about 30 hours and have completed my first solo and first cross county.  The canard style of airplane is not for the inexperienced and it is recommended, by the all knowing amongst us, that a pilot should have at least 150 hours total time and some training in type prior to first flight.  So my plan is to complete my private license and then build time as well as add an instrument rating as I can. The 'economic downturn' hit my family as well so my flying is on hold for the moment.

I highly recommend joining an EAA chapter near you and its even better if you can find one where a couple of canards are being built.  I am lucky to have chapter 12, just South of Houston, out of Ellington where at least 2 are being built (or rebuilt).  The first is a Velocity and the second is a Veri EZ that is being rebuilt.  Gary Hunter is also not too far from me in Eagle Lake and has a wealth of experience with regards to composites.

The Cozy Mark IV, which was designed by Nat Puffer, is a child of the Long EZ and has Burt Rutans seal of approval.  Its a homebuilt 4 place airplane that is licensed in the experimental catagory.  It was designed for the 180hp Lycoming 0-360, but it has been approved for the 0-320 as well. I am not sure what engine I am going to install. The subaru has potential and a diesel would be nice, but I may just go with a mid time 0-360 and when its time for rebuild I will try to have a plan in place for repowering.

And if you have found this web site you are probably in desperate need of information and unfortunately in the wrong place to find it.  I say this only because I am not an expert and only copying  those that have gone before.  As a Naval Architect I am qualified to make design changes if this thing was a ship that floated on the water.  As it is I will stick with the proven concept and only make the minor changes that every homebuilder can't help; like Cozy Girl strakes, electric trim, electric landing brake and well you get the idea.

This site is being maintained for two reasons.  The first is to meet the FAA's requirements to prove that I did the work and document this journey.  The second is to share my trials and tribulations with fellow builders so that they may profit from my efforts (mistakes).

You can click the links at left to get around this web site.  I am not a webmaster and if you find an error please let me know and I will fix it (if I can) and find help if I can't.