Area pilot builds aircraft in his garage

Pilot David T. Morgan, of Monroe, has been building an RV-12 single-engine airplane with the help of his wife, Rose, in their one-car garage in the Mount Pleasant Retirement Village.

Denise Wilson/Contributing photographer Pilot David T. Morgan, of Monroe, has been building an RV-12 single-engine airplane with the help of his wife, Rose, in their one-car garage in the Mount Pleasant Retirement Village.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Pilot David T. Morgan, of Monroe, has been building an RV-12 single-engine airplane with the help of his wife, Rose.

Denise Wilson/Contributing photographer Pilot David T. Morgan, of Monroe, has been building an RV-12 single-engine airplane with the help of his wife, Rose.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Denise Wilson/Contributing photographer Pilot David T. Morgan, of Monroe, has been building an RV-12 single-engine airplane with the help of his wife, Rose.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Denise Wilson, Staff Writer 3:48 PM Thursday, July 9, 2009

Pilot David T. Morgan, of Monroe has built many airplanes with his brother and been around these vehicles most of his life.

In September, Morgan, 76, who is a civil engineer retired from his father’s general contracting company in Middletown called B.D. Morgan & Company Inc., and a sister company Morgan Engineering and Concrete Company, began building a RV-12 single-engine airplane with the help of his wife, Rose, in their one-car garage in the Mount Pleasant Retirement Village on Muskingum Street.

The kit aircraft, which is designed and founded by engineer Richard VanGrunsven from Van’s Aircraft in Aurora, Ore., is a 100 horsepower, two-seat, all metal, side-by-side airplane that meets the certification standards of the Light Sport Aircraft category.

Morgan, who took his first flying lesson at age 12 and got his license at 17, said he decided to build the RV-12 aircraft, similar in size to a Cessna 152, as an “insurance policy for old age.”

Morgan, who currently pilots a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron six-passenger airplane, said he has to have a current FAA physical and private pilot’s license to operate that vehicle.

“With this (RV-12) airplane if I have a valid drivers license, I’m legal to fly as a FAA medical. In other words, they’re thinking if your physically capable of driving a car, you’re physically capable of flying a plane,” he said.

“I’m having a little bit of medical problems and it’s my insurance policy that if I don’t pass my physical that I can fly this with my driver’s license.”

He said he flies regularly between 75 to 125 hours a year mostly to his vacation home in Punta Gorda, Fla.

Morgan said he is not sure when he will complete building his plane, which is estimated to take the average builder about 600-900 hours to complete an unpainted RV-12, according to VanGrunsven Web site, www.vansaircraft.com.

“It could be this fall, it could be by the end of the year or it could be next year sometime. I don’t know. I don’t rush. I’ll probably have 1,000 hours in when I get done,” he said.

Morgan said he’s enjoying assembling the plane, which will require the wings and tail to be installed at Middletown’s Hook Field Airport.

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Medical examinations are not accurate in determining whether a man should or should not fly. The stress test subjects one to conditions which will never be encountered in an aeroplane.
In denying a man the right to do what he truly loves to do, you are, in effect, doing him more harm than what he can ever do to someone else. Let us be realistic and stop picking on a small segment of our population, the pilots, and dwell on the huge world of auto drivers, many of whom should not drive.

Walter H. Peters
9:48 PM, 7/14/2009

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I agree with rick and Hugo that it appears you can fly an LSA as long as you have not failed an FAA medical exam. It is true that, to my knowledge, most states do not require a periodic medical exam to maintain an automobile drivers licence.

Relating to the comments by Gary and Ned about the
risks of flying with a known medical problem; it is scary to think of all the automobile drivers who are out there with known medical problems and
little training.

Bob
1:03 PM, 7/13/2009

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So, lets look at this. A guy has a heart condition that would cause him to fail a third class physical. All he has to do is not take the physical and fly under the light sport rules with a drivers license. I don't think so. If you read the FAA rule, you will see that isn't even close to correct!

Craig Muth
9:49 AM, 7/12/2009

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My take is that the medical should be eliminated for the private pilot, restricted for single engine four passenger. If a person would be so irresponsible as to fly with a condition that could result in loss of control, they will likely do it anyway. A person who has gone through the process to earn the privilege to fly, is characteristicly responsible. Sudden death at the controls is a throw back to the days when flying was new and medical science was much different. It is very rare indeed.

Gary Weidman
2:33 PM, 7/11/2009

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Do you think it's smart to fly an aircraft with some kind of medical problem that could incapcitate the pilot and possibly cause a crash killing the pilot and others on the ground? On top of that, it's not very wise to be advising people how to buck the system with a known medical problem! These are the people that will give a bad name to the LSA program....Those that fly knowing they have a medical problem that would not allow them to pass an FAA medical. Way to go. You should be ashamed!

Ned
11:16 AM, 7/11/2009

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