The Van Aire skyport is a 3,500-foot airstrip, oriented northwest/southeast in a community just outside Denver, Colo. On three sides, homes line the runway – with many residences having access to the runway and associated support buildings through their backyards.

It was a community of aviators. It was there that, as a high schooler, Alba resident Robert Jones began his career in aviation. 

As a teenager, Jones came to be minding the house alone for a two-week stretch of time. His father, a salesman for the Piper Aircraft Company, had a set of plans for a Pitts S-1S aerobatic biplane. With single-minded determination, Jones undertook to scratch-build the Pitts in the garage.

It began by building jig tables. A neighbor, and renowned aviator, LaMar Steen, noted the activity and began to pitch in. It began to come together: fuselage, tail, elevator – all on sawhorses in the garage. 

Not long thereafter, the Pitts flew and figuratively launched Jones into a career in aviation which he has never left.

Some 45 years later, in the Salem community just northeast of Alba, Jones is busy again in his large workshop.

“My hopes are to fill a huge gap in sports aviation, by building and eventually marketing an affordable aerobatic home-built aircraft,” Jones summarized.  

The craft is a thing of beauty. Drawing on a lifetime of work as a draftsman, engineer, pilot and general aviation enthusiast, Jones’ plane is as unique as it is beautiful. 

The lines of the aircraft are full of subtle curves and have a reclining shape. At an estimated net weight of 275 pounds, and expected to be powered by a 62 hp engine, the aircraft is designed to operate at 6 G, with a huge safety margin built-in.

Most notably, it is being constructed by using fiberglass over plastic foam.

At first blush, one might question the durability or strength of such a building technique. Jones is quick to dispel this concern. 

Each major component of the aircraft is first constructed as a box. The longitudinal seams of the box are strengthened by affixing thick triangular foam strips between the straight edges. These strips contain sunken bolts and are layered with up to six sheets of fiberglass. 

Once the boxes were cured, Jones began the detailed work of cutting, shaping and trimming the sections to make the aerodynamic shapes. He described that process as the most difficult but also the most rewarding part of the build. The result is an exceptionally light, aerodynamic and very strong structure. 

“It is most reminiscent of the racing planes of the 1930s,” Jones offered. 

Having attained a glider license at the age of 14 and a pilot’s rating at 16, Jones has never been far from the sky. His career as a mechanical engineer has involved him in many projects, from stabilized glide slope indicators to magnetic stripping machines and from drones to high-performance aircraft. Most of those endeavors were directly aviation-related.    

He worked in designing military training aircraft and upgrades to front-line military combat aircraft. He also flew as a test pilot and as a test engineer. As his reputation as an engineer grew, aviation circles reached out to him. 

His late father, an enthusiastic bass fisherman as well as pilot, relocated to the Lake Fork area and in the mid-‘90s founded AKRO Designs in Alba. Jones assisted his father in designing the Texas Rebel aircraft. 

Although AKRO Designs is no longer in business (Bright Star Water Company now populates the building), Jones is yet involved in the lineage of those aircraft. He consults yet on the MXS design. One can trace the lineage of the MXS design back through the G200, the Bandit, the Raven, the Laser and the Stephens Akro. 

Visit his home office and one will likely find a diagram of the MXS pulled up on one of his three computer screens. Operating an obviously busy office, Jones can unstack reference books – three of his favorites are “Theory of Wing Sections”, “Aerodynamics” by McCormick and “Introduction to Longitudinal Stability of Low-wing Aircraft” – and designs to find just what he seeks. 

So it was that he was able to produce the small yellow sticky note on which he first sketched out his most recent project.

“I knew I had it!” he exclaimed. On the small notepaper was not only the original design concept but some of his initial computations on things such as wing-tip loading.  

Jones commented, “I have a hard time using computer-assisted drawings. I am a draftsman at heart and prefer to draft designs and do my own calculations.”

Although aviation may be his passion, Jones has always flung himself wholehearted into his interests. He was a talented downhill skier in his youth and eyed a spot on the Olympic team in the 1970s. More recently he has been a national skate-dancing champion.

“It’s like ballroom dancing on skates,” he described. 

Before one can get into his workshop to discuss aircraft-building, inspection of his home-built electric tricycle is in order. Jones built the prototype for a disabled veteran friend who was largely homebound. A series of ingeniously-placed springs allow for ease of operation for his friend. 

Varied interests aside, Jones is, above all else, an aviator. On a recent Saturday at Wisener Field, he presented the story of his current project with members of the Experimental Aircraft Association.    

He talked about his build in the same manner one might speak of a family member. The presentation was informative and motivating. He described his build as an “entry level, aerobatic aircraft that can be competitive in basic, intermediate and advanced aerobatics, and that anyone who can buy a new car can afford.”

The theme of the talk could be summed up with a comment Jones made regarding the entire process, “You have to be creative…”