My container is still on the dock in Hamburg. According to the shipping itinerary it was supposed to be picked up yesterday by the Al Safat. But for whatever reason it was not. So now it just sits on the dock for another two weeks. Until another ship is ‘supposed’ to pick it up. ( This is the fourth time is type of delay has happened, albeit at other ports. ) and sadly the journey is only half done. So it is impossible to tell how many more delays there will be. There is no way to determine when it might even approximately be delivered. I have found this lack of predictability very challenging when trying to schedule and plan aircraft building and normal life things in the future.

So I guess my advice would be to any future kit purchasers…

  • (this section has been rewritten a lot)
  • get enough money so the $100k for the kit isn’t significant. Send them the funds. forget about it. and then someday a year later you’ll receive a surprise gift from yourself.
  • send them the funds. Get drunk enough that you don’t remember doing it. some day a long time later wake up to a truck with a container backing down your drive way.
  • send them the funds. get amnesia, in the movies this typically involves getting hit by a car, lighting, drowning… I have a hard time recommending this path. and someday you’ll wake up to a pile of aluminum and instructions in your front yard. Just start on page one.

… … …

Because if you can’t do some version of the above. and you check the tracking status of your container every 5 minutes for half a year, like I do. You will slowly and certainly make yourself go insane.