Building a Jabiru J400 from a first-time builder's perspective

About the Builder

I am 27 years old at the time of this writing and reside in Boulder, CO USA. I have not built an aircraft before but I have done other building projects so I'm fairly handy with shop tools.

I once majored in Biochemistry and Chemical Engineering so some of the fluid mechanics principles covered in chemical engineering comes in handy when learning about aerodynamics and aircraft principles. It seems to me that chemical engineering is very similar to Aerospace engineering. The difference is in that chemical engineering covers mostly fluids through objects (such as pipes at an Exxon refinery) whereas aerospace engineering covers fluids around objects such as wings. Either way, not to worry as I think this background helps in a general theoretical application and not in a specific mathematical manner (as I've forgotten most of the formulas by lack of use).

I've always wanted to fly as far as I can remember. Flying isn't the only thing I do but it's definitely at the top of the list. Maybe flying will be taken for granted in a 100 years in the way cars are nowadays, but in the meantime it's something you have to 'significantly work' for unless of course you have a nice bank account. :)

I live in a condo so I do not have a car garage to work in. I will more than likely find a hangar or some sort of workshop to work in. Preferably a hangar since the airport is a good source of motivation. Unfortunately, hangar availability is tight in this area and there's lists to put your name on and wait.

Currently I hold a private pilot license with approximately 130hrs mostly in C172. I have done some glider training but never finished it (kinda missed the powered flight part of flight... soaring is more of a sport whereas powered flight is to get places and see things which I prefer at this point). I do plan on getting the instrument rating but not anytime soon (the J400 won't be instrument rating outfitted anyway but it will have some nifty instruments that will help should I get myself into IFR conditions accidentally.. such as an artificial horizon). I did a lot of aircraft accident research during my aircraft selection and it seems that the two top reasons for fatal accidents are:

1. Weather related disorientation
   • VFR pilots (or flights) getting into IFR conditions accidentally and crashing one way or another such as into terrain, stalling, or just some other weather related disorientation/confusion.
2. Loss of control
   • Usually stalling in one way or another or something that may provoke a stall such as an engine failure (ex. pilot lost engine and tries to avoid trees by pulling back, airspeed bleeds off and stalls the plane right into them)

Take note that aircraft failure is not listed in the top two even among experimentals only. However, it does happen in both experimentals and certified categories but it is usually a 'very minor' portion of the total accidents it seems.

Even though I once majored in Biochem and Chemical Engineering I am not an engineer by profession. I do entrepreneurial business and web development (such as develop ecommerce stores). Since I do web development day in and day out, it's fairly convenient to publish one more web site (this one).