New Sling TSi Builder (Sort Of)

[stathis]

Hello all,

I’m Stathis from Seattle, and I’m teetering on the edge of taking the plunge to build a Sling TSi with the factory assist program at the Aircraft Factory. Wife sign-off? Check. Bank balance? Check (ouch). Hangar space? Well… the waitlist here is 3+ years long, so that’s still a work in progress. Visit the factory and fly the TSi? Check (loved it!). Now I just need one final push to commit!

I got my PPL back in 2006, but I haven’t flown much in the last decade—family life and a travel-heavy job kept me grounded. But now that I’m retired, I’m diving back in, including working toward my instrument rating.

I first discovered Sling through YouTube, watching the founder’s adventures. Since then, I’ve been deep-diving into the company, learning all about the aircraft specs, and reading through customer experiences (thanks YouTube!). After months of research, I’ve decided the TSi is the plane for me—it hits that sweet spot of innovation, tech, specs, and price point. My mission? To enjoy cross-country trips across the U.S. and maybe even venture abroad. Plus, being part of the build process is one of the most exciting parts of this journey!

I also want to give a shout-out to this community—I’ve learned so much from the posts here. I’ll be sharing updates on my progress as I dive into the Sling-verse.

Looking forward to connecting with you all! Let me know if there are any other owners/builders in the Seattle area.

Cheers,
Stathis

[Poobah]

Hi Stathis!

I'm in the Seattle area - and also recently retired. My plane will be located at Auburn, but is currently at the MSS build facility in Sandusky MI. Hoping it will be done in time to fly it back home in the spring.

[stathis]

Fantastic, nice to meet you. Let me know how things are going. Love to hear about your experience at some point in the future.

Best,
Stathis

[ibgarrett]

Hi Stathis,

Wow - if you wanted to join a group that was going to not sign off on this, you got the wrong group. (regarding your check list)

A suggestion on the hangar is to put an alert on Craigslist for hangars for sale. Depending up on the hangar situation at the airports in reasonable distance there may be some port-a-ports or smaller more "affordable" hangars that pop up for sale there. I've been on the county wait list for the past 8 years and probably another two or three years until my name gets to the top of the list. I put an alert on Craigslist and one popped up late last year that I was able to nab. It's definitely worth it.

I'm going to put in a shameless plug for my build series here https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRivet if you haven't seen it. I'm due for an update, but that'll come sometime in the next month or two.

Doing the build assist certainly gets you to the plane quickly and you have lots of experienced builders surrounding you to guide you through the process. It gets done faster as well. I built mine over three years boxes to first flight, so it does go quickly.

We have a small (but growing) Discord channel for chatting at https://discord.gg/ZVaN2wNKDH if you'd like to join us there.

Holler if you have any questions.

[Poobah]

Fantastic, nice to meet you. Let me know how things are going. Love to hear about your experience at some point in the future.

Best,
Stathis

Oh believe me when it's done you won't be able to stop me talking about it...

[Poobah]

A suggestion on the hangar is to put an alert on Craigslist for hangars for sale. Depending up on the hangar situation at the airports in reasonable distance there may be some port-a-ports or smaller more "affordable" hangars that pop up for sale there. I've been on the county wait list for the past 8 years and probably another two or three years until my name gets to the top of the list. I put an alert on Craigslist and one popped up late last year that I was able to nab. It's definitely worth it.

Having done the same, I know that there are a few hangars listed on the Seattle craigslist, including one for sale that has < 4 years remaining on the ground lease for only $300k!

[stathis]

Thank you for the suggestions. I will certainly look at Craiglist. Unfortunately there is such shortage of hangar space in the Seattle area that possibly anything else than going through the airport property management might be prohibitively expensive. It seems that is most likely that I will have to settle with tie downs at least initially. I have been looking at this company for covers https://aircraftcovers.com/SL4.

I'm going to put in a shameless plug for my build series here https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRivet if you haven't seen it. I'm due for an update, but that'll come sometime in the next month or two.

Thank you, I am your newest subscriber.

We have a small (but growing) Discord channel for chatting at https://discord.gg/ZVaN2wNKDH if you'd like to join us there.

I also joined Discord, my use handle is AlchemyGeek (don't ask).

Stathis