Ballarat business owner Simon Kinnersly built his plane in his back shed at home, and at the last Avalon Airshow his hard work was rewarded with a prestigious award for the best presented home-built aircraft.
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The Sling 4 he built has done hundreds more hours of flying since, but this week it will be back on display at Avalon for the first Australian International Airshow since 2019.
Construction of the kit aircraft took him two years and three months but unlike many aircraft builders it had not been a long-held dream to build his own.
Instead it was a conversation with the kit importer at the Avalon Airshow in 2015 that later inspired him to take on the challenging project.
"I had already had my pilot's licence about five years but the thought of buying a plane, it was too expensive, but we started talking about the price of a kit and I thought it wasn't too bad," he said.
After selling the family home in Melbourne and moving back to Ballarat, Mr Kinnersly had some "spare change" and decided to buy the Sling kit.
"I spent a couple of years building it in the shed, then took it to the airport, test flew it and have never looked back," he said.
Flying is a family affair for Mr Kinnersly, his wife and two children and the Sling has carried them across Australia to destinations including Tasmania, Cairns, and Alice Springs.
Even building it was a family exercise.
"When I bought the kit I worked continuously on it on weekends and evenings. I told my wife it's not worth anything as a pile of metal in the shed, but when it's flying it's worth more.
"Building it at home was good because I was at home. The kids came out and helped me put rivets in."
Not only will Mr Kinnersly's aircraft be on display throughout the airshow, as a member of the Ballarat chapter of the Sport Aircraft Association of Australia he will also be on hand to help promote the SAAA and its activities.
Earlier in the week he towed a student-built Vans RV-12 aircraft down to Avalon on a trailer to be part of the SAAA display.
"It was a youth-build project built by a number of schools in different states - one school built one wing, another built the other wing, and others built the tail and fuselage," he said.
After the airshow the aircraft will be taken to Tyabb for some "finishing touches" before a series of test flights and, once certified, it will go to Western Australia where school students will learn to fly in it.
Mr Kinnersly said it was important to promote general aviation to students and young people.
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"It's a growth point. For most people, unless you are lucky enough to get in to the Air Force, you don't really go directly into airlines in Australia so the pathway is through general aviation," he said.
And he said building an aircraft was not as daunting as it sounded, with strong support networks available through SAAA and fellow aircraft builders.
"Modern kits are pretty good, not like the old days where you bought a plan and went to the hardware shop," he said.
The Australian International Airshow at Avalon Airport opens to the public from 11.30am on Friday and runs all day Saturday and Sunday.
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