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April 2009: Here are the final stats. 3114 hours. Five years and a month for a total of 61 months. I averaged about 50 hours per month. 500 a year for the first four years. I really picked up the pace in the last year after the Citabria was gone, logging over 800 hours. However, my flying really went down in 2008. I went from 145 flying hours in 2006 to 57 hours in 2007 and 20 hours in 2008 -- 15 of which were in gliders. I tended to log more hours during the winter months when there wasn't much else to do but work on the plane in the warm basement. I worked steadily on the project -- never really took a break other than the month I flew the Citabria out to the west coast and back. The hours in the final four months were lower because the airplane was at the airport -- 40 minute drive each way. Since it was dark by 5PM I could only work on the airplane on the weekends. In the cold, dark dingy hangar. One day I was out there when it was less than 20 degrees. But I worked throughout the winter and had the plane ready by spring. Which worked out well for flying off my Phase I test hours. In the beginning, I thought the project would take two and a half years. It took five. I thought it would take 1500-2000 hours. It took 3000.
As of September 2008: I was shocked to see I'm up to 2700 hours on the project. It'll be 3000 by the time I'm finished. Twice as many hours as I initially thought it would be. I really picked up the pace in December 2007 when I practically doubled my hours per month. This moved my average up to almost 50 per month. I lost July 08 because of a long family vacation. Clearly, my productivity is nothing to brag about. But what can you do? Everyone goes at their own pace. When building an airplane, obviously you don't want to rush; my philosophy was it takes what it takes. And you'll be done when you're done. As of 1 January 2007 : I havn't looked at the stats in a while. I've been working on the project three years now. Almost 1500 hours actual building time. Roughly 500 a year. I average a little over 40 hours a month. I definitely get more hours in during the winter months. The Oregon Trail trip in June cost me about two months. I'm hoping to average 60-70 hours during 2007 which would put me over 2,000 hours total and perhaps completion. As of March 2005 I worked on the RV over 450 hours in the first year. Which surprised me. That's a lot of time for a couch potato like me. The bad news -- given that only the empennage and left wing are done -- is that I have a long way to go. My numbers for the empennage and one wing are close to Dan Checkoway's. So I'm going to use his numbers as a yardstick for the entire airplane. The airframe took him 1200 hours and the powerplant, avionics and miscellaneous items took another 800. I doubt if it will take me any less time than he. Probably more, since I know he worked more efficiently than I do, or will. Even so, figure about 2000 hours total, which means at my current rate, I have another three years at least to go. That's OK. I enjoy the building process, I'm learning every step of the way, and I have a plane I can fly -- the Citabria. That said, I can't wait to fly my RV!
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