Q: Seems to me that it would take a long time to build an airplane, but I’ve never tried. How long does it take?

A: I don’t want to be flippant (okay, I do), but it takes as long as it takes. "I’ve been working on mine for 10 years, and I’m about half done," said Dennis Hasha, Homebuilt Registration chairman. "I’ve got a friend who has built three or four RVs, and he can finish one in two months. And we’ve had people who took 20 years to build an aircraft. There’s a lot of variation."

Some homebuilt aircraft are simple, using what are known as quick-build kits. A plane built from plans, "where you start with some drawings and a lot of flat metal," will take much longer." And a one-of-a-kind, where there is inclined to be a lot of trial and error, will take even longer. "A lot has to do with dedication."

Hasha recommends getting involved with your friendly, neighborhood EAA chapter and with the association’s technical advisors. After his project sat idle for two or three years, he moved it into a hangar with his fast-building friend. "If he hasn’t seen me for two or three days, he calls me and wants to know where I am," Hasha said. "It becomes a kind of social thing."

Q: When is next year’s AirVenture?

A: Look, we’ve just started this year’s convention. Be patient. You ask this every year.

All you have to do is look on the website, www.AirVenture.org. The dates are right there on the left-hand side. If that’s too much trouble, next year AirVenture will be right here from July 28-August 3; in 2009, July 27-August 2; and 2010, July 26- August 1. After that, you’re on your own for now.

Q: When seats are side by side in an airplane, which one is the pilot’s seat? I know that most planes have controls on both sides.

A: If you don’t know, then it’s best that you keep your hands off those controls. In most fixed-wing aircraft, the left seat belongs to the pilot in command (PIC), as it is known among aviation aficionados. For reasons that nobody seems to know, the right seat is the driver’s seat in many helicopters.

While there are controls on both sides, the gauges and such on a fixed-wing plane are clustered in such a way as to favor the left seat. Also, there frequently are patterns above airports that keep the runway in sight out the PIC’s window.

In tandem aircraft (where the seats are lined up one behind the other), the driver’s seat generally is the back, though this can vary. It is a matter of balance, and in some tandem airplanes, there will be a placard advising which seat should be used when flying solo.

Q: I lost my cell phone on the grounds. What should I do?

A: Don’t call me. Folks here at AirVenture are very good about turning in such equipment. Check with the Lost and Found, just south of the tower. They are very good at locating lost equipment. And people.

Q: What is that tall, skinny structure under construction next to the FAA building?

A: You must be new around here. That is, or will be, the new control tower. When it’s finished, it will be 120 feet tall, about twice as tall as the present tower. So far, the basic pre-cast tower is up. The top part, called the cab, will be a steel-frame structure. It will have 438 square feet of floor space to accommodate the dozen or so air traffic controllers who work there during AirVenture, when it becomes the busiest tower in the country.

The base building will house all of the FAA functions. The tower will cost $7 million and is expected to be completed in the spring of 2009.

Q: How many of those portable toilets are around the AirVenture grounds?

A: What is this fascination people have with those things? I keep expecting to see Dr. Who pop out of one. Anyhow, there are about 1,100 of them, give or take a couple. That’s a lot of—oh, never mind.