• Become a Subscribing Member today!

    The Biplane Forum is a large global active community of biplane builders, owners and pilots. From Pitts to Skybolts, to older barnstormers, all types are welcome.

    The Biplane Forum is a private community. Subscriptions are only $49.99/year or $6.99/month to gain access to this great community and unmatched source of information not found anywhere else on the web.

    Why become a Subscribing Member?

    • In addition to our active community, our content boasts exhaustive technical information which is often sought after for projects and maintenance. This information has accumulated over the 12+ years the forum has been in existence.
    • We are also a great resource for non biplane users, since many GA aircraft are built the same way (fabric and tube construction).
    • Annual membership also comes with two BiplaneForum.com decals.

    Become a Subscribing Member and access the Biplane Forum in full!

    Subscribe Now

How Did You All Gain Your Mechanical Knowledge?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Mar 25, 2013
Messages
1,230
Reaction score
621
That's a pretty broad question so please allow me to narrow it a bit. I intend to purchase a Pitts S1-S (or similar) sometime this year. I am not a builder and frankly have minimal mechanical aptitude. I simply wish to own and fly the only toy I've ever dreamed about since I soled at 16 nearly thirty years ago. The prospect of owning and practicing in this airplane doesn't deter me nearly so much as the thought of keeping it mechanically sound with so little mechanical experience. Of course the obvious first step is to find a good mechanic. I feel I have done well in that respect. My Pitts instructor is an AI with an astounding wealth of knowledge. But he is also 500 miles away. I'll try to establish some local relationships as well. But I have to say that browsing this forum has been, well, humbling. I see terms and parts and structures discussed so casually by builders who see them as obvious fundamental things. Half the time I haven't a clue what you guys are talking about. Then I read about cracks or failures in one of these mysterious parts or that some builders may put it here and others there, and quickly become -- I want to say "demoralized" but that's not the right word. I am motivated but increasingly cautious with each thread browsed.

This is a builders forum. So it's no surprise that the builders here know their stuff. How does someone like me who is not, and probably never will be, a builder gain some of that knowledge without close access to people who work on Pitts' frequently? The obvious answer might be the forum itself. But this forum is a bit to advanced for someone trying to get there head around the seemingly countless variations of parts and configurations among builds. I'm looking for books, plans, sites, etc that I can study in a more focused manner than is possible with a forum. I at least want to be knowledgable enough to be able to ask the right questions and fully understand the answer. Thanks for reading and thanks for any help.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top