Pilot who died was aircraft hobbyist

Kirk Babbit may have been part of a rare and exceptional populace who regularly commute to work 140 miles per hour without traffic signals, speed limits or orange barrels.

The 37-year-old Tooele County resident was part of a vast national community of plane builders who fly, before his life ended Tuesday morning in a plane crash on Antelope Island.

More than 160,000 Americans are currently living a piece of Leonardo da Vinci's dream by owning a flying apparatus. Buying and constructing a high-tech aircraft may be more straightforward than many people might assume.

In fact, the buying process is no more complicated than shopping at an IKEA store. The whole aircraft, including wings, rudders, seats and wheels, can be ordered in a ready-to-go kit from several U.S. makers. They even have those convenient pre-drilled holes that Americans have come to expect in ready-to-go packages.

Sebastian Heintz, owner of Zenith Aircraft Company, which manufactured Babbit's Zodiac CH601 plane kit, told the Deseret News on Wednesday that he makes and ships out three kits a week. The Georgia-based company sells the kits for $19,000, but they don't come with an engine or avionic instruments for the plane's control panel. The final cost for the two-seat Zodiac pushes $50,000. Buying it pre-built costs about $85,000.

"Every one that goes out will become one of a kind, because people will put in different engines and controls," he said.

No matter how easy the purchase may be, the Federal Aviation Administration ensures that builders don't assemble the aircraft like a box-store item, only peeking at the instructions when they get stumped. FAA inspectors want to see a detailed log of how the builder assembled the aircraft before its registration is approved.

"I've seen guys slap down three binders full of documentation on their building process," said Dick Knapinski, spokesman for the Experimental Aircraft Association. "They want to make sure it passes."

About 1,000 homemade planes were registered with the FAA last year, and each one takes 1,000 to 2,000 hours to complete, said Knapinski.

"So, it's a commitment," he said. "In context, that's having a 20-hour-a-week, part-time job for the next couple of years."

The safety rating of the hobbyist planes is similar to those of prefabricated and commercial planes, according to the association.

Insurance companies calculate them at basically the same rate as comparably sized commercial units, which suggests insurers may see them as a similar risk.

To Knapinski, the planes crafted in America's garages on quiet evenings after work may be safer.

"The pilot has a personal interest," he said. "If I'm in something going 150 mph, thousands of feet above ground, you can bet I'm going to make sure every bolt is in and every nut tightened."

E-mail: jhancock@desnews.com