Dave Forster of Friendswood, Texas, is a consummate homebuilder. Both his parents were pilots and flew off a strip on the family farm near Calgary, AB, from his earliest memories. At 8 years old, Dave remembers holding a bucking bar while helping his dad work on a 1946 Luscombe. Dave learned to fly in the Luscombe and earned his pilot’s license at 19. When Dave’s parents felt he was putting too many hours on the family airplane, they told him it was time to buy his own plane. He sold his car, used up his savings, and borrowed a little money from dad to buy a wood and fabric, low-wing, side-by-side Cavallier and he has owned an airplane ever since. Dave’s first experience with homebuilding was an F1 Rocket (not a usual first build!) following his restoration and rebuild of a wrecked Miranda. Later, Dave built a Rotorway Executive helicopter and then an amphibious Searey.
For the last six years, Dave has served as a volunteer on the EAA’s Homebuilt Aircraft Council. He has chaired the unit for the last four years. During that time, the group did an extensive study of fatal accidents (see Staying Alive: HAC Study Targets Experimental Flight Safety), provided input on the MOSAIC initiative, and provided input towards upcoming changes in the Additional Pilot Program to include plans-built and non-piston engine aircraft.
Dave is also a CFI and very recently was approved to become a DPE. While still living in Canada, he was active in the Recreational Aircraft Association and served as a Design Approval Representative, a role similar to the FAA’s designated airworthiness representative.
