Planes the ultimate in DIY

By AINSLEY THOMSON

For the past four years Wayne Matthews has spent his days in his garage tinkering away on Rosie.

Rosie, or Rosie III as she is formally known, is a high-performance, twin-seat Thorp S18 aircraft.

This year the retired Air Force navigator's hours of meticulous work at his home in Greenhithe will be rewarded when Rosie, which can reach speeds up to 320km/h but is compact enough to fit in a home garage, takes its firstflight.

In the past three weeks light aircraft such as Rosie have been under scrutiny after three accidents in which seven people died.

While only one involved a custom-built plane, the class of aircraft has received bad press.

Mr Matthews, who is vice-president of the Sport Aircraft Association - the private plane builders' organisation - said most of the negative image was due to the names given to the class of plane.

They are often called homemade, amateur class, or even worse, experimental class.

"It makes people think the planes have been cobbled together with a bit of string."

He and the other 400 association members much prefer the term "custom built", but it does not seem to be catching on with the public.

Mr Matthews said most people were not aware of the intensive safety measures the planes required.

Anyone planning to build one must first contact the Civil Aviation Authority.

During the building a log must be kept of work done and a photographic record, both of which are inspected.

Construction and inspection records have to be filled out, and exhaustive ground tests and flight tests are conducted.

Mr Matthews said the comprehensive process meant custom-built planes were just as safe as factory-built ones.

"And as I maintain, it's even safer. I go the extra mile because I know I will be the one flying it."

The Sport Aircraft Association also has technical advisers, who visitmembers and give them adviceon construction.

Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Bill Sommer said custom-built planes were extremely safe and built to strict standards.

"The things that go wrong with them are exactly the same things that happen to aircraft built by aircraft manufacturers. There is nothing particular to them."