Seven employees at Woodinville, Wash.-based Dynon Avionics who formed the Swamp Creek Flying Club have finished building a Glasair Sportsman under its Two Weeks To Taxi program and have begun flying.
The seven club members, along with other Dynon employees, took vacation time to help build the Sportsman between March 18 and 31. They originally planned on starting to fly the Glasman by June, but started two weeks early.
“We got flying very quickly, because the father of one of the club members volunteered to fly most of the first 40 hours. He is retired, has several thousand flight hours, has performed the first flight in four different homebuilts, and had the time to fly 40 hours within a week or two despite the rainy Seattle weather,” said Dynon President and club member Robert Hamilton.
Glasair has a good checklist for performing tests during the phase one flying, and there were not too many squawks that had to be fixed, said Hamilton. “We are still tuning up the airplane, adjusting some items like the engine baffling,” he said. “But overall it has flown very well, and we now have about 80 hours on the Hobbs meter in just six weeks.”
The build time was shared by all and it served as a great bonding experience, said Ian Jordan, who headed up the aircraft’s construction group. “We all have considerable knowledge of what is in the airframe and a high level of respect for taking care of it,” he said. “It's really an ideal way to start a flying club.”
As soon as the phase one flight testing was completed, the club members started lining up for checkouts and the group is now active with its new, self-built Sportsman aircraft.
"Everyone is very enthusiastic about the plane and the club," said Hamilton. “They're all very eager to get on the schedule and log time in the aircraft. Other Dynon employees helped on the build, and it was a good educational experience. There are a lot smiles in the shop these days. The big question now is who gets to fly it out to AirVenture this summer.”
