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I'm Roger Tunsley, a technical writer and project manager for Instron Corporation, a manufacturing company in Canton Massachusetts. Many years ago, in another life, I was an aircraft engineer in the Royal Air Force. I did an engineering apprenticeship long enough ago that two of my instructors had taught engineering to Frank Whittle, the inventor of the jet engine! (That's the truth.) Anyway, I thought this was all behind me until I got my pilot's certificate about seven years ago and began to get interested in airplanes once more. So to cries of "Are you insane?" from various people I decided to build one. 

This, of course, is not a decision that can be made alone, at least not if you're married and want to stay that way. So let me start out by stating my thanks and my love to Kath, my wife of 37 years, for believing in me enough to let me spend a substantial amount of our money on this project and having the confidence that I will finish it. I've started enough other unfinished projects during our time together to prove that this is not by any means a safe bet.

This web site chronicles my project - a Zodiac CH601 HDS from Zenith Aircraft. I chose the Zodiac as it is reasonably fast - 130 mph, reasonably docile in handling, reasonably quick to build - 400 hours stated so I'm estimating around 600 hours, it's all metal which is a material that I'm comfortable with and is also more weather-proof than other types. All in all, a reasonable airplane.

I finally decided on an engine for the Dog, a Jabiru 3300. Why? It's six-cylinder thus a smooth runner; it has dual magneto ignition which does not depend on the aircraft electrical system to keep going; it's designed for aircraft, therefore designed to run around 75% power for long periods, rather than an auto conversion which, although strengthened, was never designed to run at more than 30% power for long periods. It has a great name for reliability and longevity on the various web sites. 

The N-number you see on these pages is not the registered number yet, it's a reserved number. I can't register the aircraft till it's built of course, but I've reserved one ready for that moment.

The aircraft will be known as the Round Dog. For those interested enough to wonder why, click here for the story.

This page was started in November 2000 and last updated on 07/12/07.