It's an age-old story.

A man gets disgusted with commercially-produced aircraft. They've been out of
production too long, parts aren't available, and he's looking for a hobby to
distract him from some world-size problems.

So, heck, he decides to build his *own* plane. His neighbors laugh, but he
whips out his drawing board and welding torch and goes to work. He scrounges
old parts, and digs up a surplus engine. Some aspects are too much for him, but
various other friends show up to help him hook up the avionics and other
systems. He ignores the conventional metal-skin approach, and covers his bird
with high-tech carbon fiber.

And when it comes time to fly...the pilot with the largest cojones steps up and
straps it on. Not only is this homebuilt airplane *faster* than the rest, but
it out-maneuvers them as well.

Yep, it's an age-old story, all right. And last night, it was a major subplot
of the new-production "Battlestar Galactica" science fiction series on the SciFi
network....

Homebuilders rule! :-)

Ron "And, technically speaking, the pilot didn't *have* cojones" Wanttaja