In 2024, when my wife and I decided to build our first airplane, I started the research process that airplane builders are all too familiar with. I knew the road would be long, but with google as my guide, how hard could it be?
After bookmarking every kit manufacturer website, and reading every review, that I could find, I quickly realized just how hard it could be. So, I created a spreadsheet to enforce some order on the chaos.
First I listed all of the kits that I could find a website for.
Then I added their specifications, prices, and anything else that seemed interesting.
Then, I learned about "standard" options, and added those to the spreadsheet.
Then came the "modifications" that I found in the various build forums.
The spreadsheet was growing fast.
Soon I discovered build logs. And build videos. I noticed that almost all of the kits lacked a certain level of upfront planning. Builders would make progress for awhile, then realize that they were missing something, or that they had made an easily avoidable mistake. Then they had to undo the progress, wait for a part, and start again. It was as if no one had ever built an airplane before.
As I watched and read, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was watching someone build a PC back in the 1990's. I remember building a lot of PCs in the '90s, and every build was a new adventure. There was nothing to tell you that you needed a part before you realized that you were missing it. The only way to know was to have been missing that part on a previous build. And, there was no way for a new builder to know any of that without repeating all of the same mistakes. We had PC Magazine, and Babbage's, and that was a good start. But it was only a start.
Having used PC Part Picker for many years, I knew that better was possible. I found myself wanting something similar, but for kitplanes. After much searching, and a Reddit Thread, I realized that the only option was to create it myself.
Welcome to KitPlane Picker.