Linden Hills Man Building Airplane From Scratch

“This is where it all happens,” says Steve Schmidt, leading this reporter into his small basement, filled with hundreds of pieces of carefully cut wood and welded steel that will soon fit together and carry him up to the clouds.

The Linden Hills man is one of only 50-plus people around the world who've built or are building the Wolf Boredom Fighter biplane. The single-seater, open-cockpit flyer was designed by the late engineer Don Wolf to be reminiscent of World War I fighter aircraft.

“I like the looks of it. They're small and quick and fun to fly,” said Schmidt, a soft-spoken 69-year-old guy who lets the work of his hands do most of the talking.

Schmidt said he likes to make things from scratch. His plane will be well beyond the technical definition of a home-built plane, as opposed to a “kit plane” of pre-made parts. “Plans-built” planes are considered at least 51 percent built from raw materials. His will be 90 percent home-built. The engine and piloting instruments are the only parts he's buying off-the-shelf. The rest is slowly being assembled according to 45 pages of hand-drawn and hand-written instructions Schmidt bought for $125. With all the materials to make the 473-pound plane, his total cost will be about $6,000.

A Vietnam War veteran, Schmidt earned his private pilot's license at age 52. He retired after 30 years with Honeywell as a software developer at age 57.

“Then I decided I wanted to build the airplane,” he said.

He started in 2000 by building the plane's torso, called the fuselage. Some days he spends up to 12 hours working on plane pieces. But over the years he's been sidetracked by other projects, like replacing the clutch and breaks of an old VW bus for road trips with his long-time sweetheart.

This week he's working on the plane's parking break. As pieces get too big for his basement or his home-built garage, they get transferred to a hangar in Crystal.

“It will look like an airplane next summer,” he said.

Schmidt plans to paint it dark green and cream with a scallop design on the wings.

After the plane passes inspection by the Federal Aviation Administration, Schmidt said he sees himself enjoying loops and rolls over the countryside in his home-built plane, leaving boredom in the dust.