It was probably my mid-life crisis, but 16 years ago I wanted to build a side-by-side SuperCub. I chose the Glasair Sportsman and once the 49% kit was in my garage, I worked on it with ever less motivation and after 6 months the project was frozen for more than 10 years.

In august 2020, a friend retired and told me, «Let’s build your airplane » and we moved the kit into a box in Aigle and restarted where I had left it – you need to be two working, the motivation comes and stays.

So, in six years we finished the build, in September 2025 we moved the Sportsman to LSGB Bex, where I was on waiting list for more than 10 years for a hangar place.

It took 7 months to finish the paperwork to finally go flying.

The first flight was uneventful, the takeoff run was much shorter than expected, the engine break-in required 75% power or more, so I basically made ever bigger circles around Bex. My son observed me and later mentioned: you did only left turns; does it turn right?

The flight was as expected- smooth and direct. Then, after one hour I came in for the landing, flying it to the ground, and I made a perfect wheel’s landing, keeping the tail wheel in the air.

It just came naturally and I had a great smile on my face. And of course, I was happy that the Sportsman flew as expected- there is always a little doubt before the first flight.

Alex Kollep