Bob Borger has been a self proclaimed "Airplane Nut" for as long as he can remember. He began flying lessons at age 15 and completed his private pilot license at Ohio University at age 21. Bob spent five years taking orders from the US Air Force, where he worked as a technician maintaining flight simulators. While he was there, he had the opportunity to fly rented airplanes as well as fly for the Civil Air Patrol. As is often the case, getting married, attending graduate school and raising a family resulted in no further significant flying for many years. It was the year 2000 when Bob's wife suggested that he dust off his wings and get back in the air. She didn't have to ask twice! Not only did he dust off, but he went back and added Commercial and Instrument ratings. Bob has built a Europa XS Monowheel airplane powered by an intercooled Rotax 914 swinging an Airmaster C/S prop.
You would think that one homebuilt aircraft under the belt would make anyone satisfied, but in the true spirit of a repeat offender, Bob has another airplane in the works.......a Little Toot of course! Bob first discovered the Little Toot when he read about it in aviation magazines back in the 1960's. A bi-plane fan since he was a kid, Bob was found himself attracted to the good looks of the plane. Evidently it was too good to resist because Bob began collecting pieces and parts of other people's projects which had been abandoned for various reasons. He plans to complete the assemblies and assemble them into the finished airplane. Bob likes Little Toot because of its strong design, visibility over the nose, great handling, and ease of landing.
Little Toot is a plans built aircraft so it can be challenging to build, but Bob is working closely with Tommy Meyer to master the different skills needed to complete a home built such as wood, metal, welding, composite, fabric, electrical, etc. Bob's plan is to finish the Little Toot in classic Toot colors of red and white. The fuselage is constructed of tube and fabric. He also plans to equip the plane with a Lycoming IO-320-D1A with lots of goodies, including inverted oil and fuel. Evidently he plans to spend a lot of time looking up at the ground!
