History is Philosophy teaching by example. –Thucydides

Building N87RH actually began while building N35HP. I was working at a build center for Glasairs when I first met Ron. He was to be our next customer when the owner decided to close up shop and take a position at the Kitfox company. Ron was frantic. I was suddenly unemployed. I agreed to help Ron in his shop while I looked for work.

My first encounter with how particular Ron was about the work came while I was doing a task–I’m not sure what–when he asked me “what are you doing?”. After explaining what I was doing he asked why. My response was because that’s what the manual says to do. What came next set the tone for everything that followed… “Why? Is that the best way to do it? The fastest way to do it? The cheapest way to do it? Why do they want you to do it that way?”. From that point on every step in the construction process had to be justified according to Ron’s priorities which were as follows:  reliability, aesthetics, performance, weight, and at the bottom of the list cost. I had a few priorities of my own: easy maintenance, simplicity for the pilot’s sake, and never a red light on the panel for a normal condition indication. By the time we completed the building–or rebuilding would be more accurate–of N35HP we had a beautiful and reliable Glasair III that won Reserve Grand Champion at Oshkosh 1994. Ron had ordered a new kit before he had N35HP judged at Oshkosh. We were committed to building it with great forthought at every step, but earning Reserve Grand Champion set the bar high for the next plane as did the complimentary article in Sport Aviation magazine’s April 1995 issue.

“If N35HP is now merely the baseline from which he will start out, then Ron’s new Glasair III is going to be something to see”.–Jack Cox