by Flynic3 » Sun Jan 14, 2018 10:30 am
Hello SonexBuilders.net! My name is Nicholas Dawson and I am originally from Dayton Ohio. I grew up surrounded by aviation and was extremely passionate about it. My grandfather and father both were pilots however neither of them flew when I was growing up. I was fortunate enough to have an amazing neighbor named Bill Hatton who first got me involved in model aviation. Later on when he purchased an airplane I was lucky enough to fly along and learn from him. I accumulated time in a small Grumman Trainer and then a little later on he purchased a Grumman Tiger. I really enjoyed fixed wing aircraft however my real passion always was helictopers and rotorcraft. Fortunately for me, Bill Hatton was also the lead mechanic for the local hospitals care flight helictopter. When I spent a day job shadowing him, I was hooked and from then on all I thought about were helicopters. I mean he was working on a $9 million dollar Eurocopter Dauphin and I was just blown away! I really wanted to follow in his foot steps and enter my local Vocational High Schools A&P program. It was 1997 and was also the first year the school offered a Computer Information Technology program. Everyone pushed me towards that program as I was also good with electronics. I foolishly listened when being told that computers were the future and if I really wanted a job in the future than this was the class I needed to take. Looking back on it now I truly wish I would have went with what I was passionate about! Over the years life gets in the way and I slowly drifted away from my passion for aviation. Fast Forward to 2018 and I am now finally back enjoying my passion for aviation again! I have slowly drifted away from working in the IT field and into manufacturing. I currently operate a 3 axis CNC mandrel tube bender and I am looking to get into Aviation manufacturing. I am building the interior components and stanchions for New Flyer city buses. I have recent applied with an Aerospace manufacturer and am hoping I will soon be working with my passion daily! I am also interested in obtaining my LSRM certification and am actively working on my Sport Pilot Gyro rating along with fixed wing rating. I am extremely active in my local EAA chapter 132. I am PRA member and would like to become active in the Indiana PRA Chapter. I was involved with the Civil Air Patrol as a teenager and I am looking to get involved again with my local squadron. I look forward to meeting and speaking with everyone here at the SonexBuilders.net. I am interested in building a Gyro and a Waiex in the near future. I have been looking into building a Waiex with either a Jabiru 2200 or UL260i! I woukd like to start with the Jabiru 2200 and install EFI from SDS/Edge, then eventually a VVT turbo setup from Edge performance. I know this would be quite the extreme install that would take some extra work... that being said I would more than likely do the upgrades in to the engine slowly. I am curious what everyone experience is with the Jabiru 2200 engines and alternatively the UL260i. You could easily do both upgrades to the Jabiru 2200 and would cost about the same as the UL260is when complete. Now that I have written what may be the longest introduction on the SonexBuilders.net I am all done!...
Best Regards,
Nicholas Dawson