Other than a bamboo hang glider I built in high school, the 8 year long project to build a reproduction 1917 Fokker DR1 Triplane represents my first true aircraft project.
You can read about the entire project at The Aerodrome, and as far as I know, is the largest read thread of its type in the world.
While many questions come up regarding historical details, pilots and their Jastas' colors and schemes, eventually everyone ends up at the same place: what is it like to fly the aircraft?
Yes, it is a challenge to fly, but if you have the right balance of natural talent and instruction, you'll be fine. There are some pilots out there who will say that you need thousands of hours in high performance aircraft and I'll be the first to say and exemplify that such ego-megaphony is pure BS. I had only 3.5 hours of tailwheel time when I first flew my Triplane on 23MAY2012. It was terrifying and thrilling, as this was the first plane I'd flown without a vertical stabilizer. But with a little focus and my hand on the throttle, I was able to handle it and actually came to enjoy flying the thing. It's like a unicycle- you will enjoy the challenge of riding it around your neighborhood or circus tent, but let's face it- if you're really going somewhere, you'll probably use something else.
Yes, it is a challenge to fly, but if you have the right balance of natural talent and instruction, you'll be fine. There are some pilots out there who will say that you need thousands of hours in high performance aircraft and I'll be the first to say and exemplify that such ego-megaphony is pure BS. I had only 3.5 hours of tailwheel time when I first flew my Triplane on 23MAY2012. It was terrifying and thrilling, as this was the first plane I'd flown without a vertical stabilizer. But with a little focus and my hand on the throttle, I was able to handle it and actually came to enjoy flying the thing. It's like a unicycle- you will enjoy the challenge of riding it around your neighborhood or circus tent, but let's face it- if you're really going somewhere, you'll probably use something else.
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