Zenith manufactures twelve build-it-yourself aircraft kits designed by Chris Heintz, an aeronautical engineer who started Zenair Ltd. in Toronto in 1974. One of Heintz’s sons, Mathieu, now runs the Toronto operation. The Mexico, Missouri, plant, which opened in 1992 is operated by another son, Sebastien Heintz, who took over in 2003, when his father retired.

Chosen for its centrality to U.S. and international markets, the Mexico, Missouri, location provides once-a-month workshops for customers and prospective customers that cover basics, such as reading and understanding blueprints and the principles of sheet-metal construction.

“We take them through the whole building process,” says Sebastien Heintz. “We do the whole vertical tail section.” Participants can keep this section and apply it toward the cost of purchasing their craft kit. A typical question asked, besides how long does it take and how much does it cost, is “Am I doing it right?”

The overwhelming majority of Zenith customers are already pilots or obtain their pilot’s license by the time they are ready to test fly their own completed craft. “They have done their research, so they really know what they’re getting into,” says Heintz.

“My customers are such neat people,” says Heintz. “We get a lot of guys who are engineers at Boeing. We get guys who have never flown an airplane before and they know that’s what they want to do.”

Only one to two percent of his customers are female, which Heintz wants to increase because he feels that women make “great pilots.” What all of his customers share is a satisfaction in building something with their hands. And something that transports them with quality and with safety.

Every new aircraft gets a FAA certificate. They’re inspected by the FAA or by a designee of the FAA. Then every pilot will need a pilot’s license. The actual test flight procedure, says Heintz, is just a matter of determining its characteristics.

The majority of those who build their own planes, he says, fly their own planes and do so recreationally. And some pilots, if they’re flying the STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) models can literally fly off from their backyards. “If you’re out in the country a little bit, where you’ve got a few hundred feet of open area,” stipulates Heintz.

The company’s website features testimonials from clients who have taken their crafts as far as the Swiss Alps and New Zealand.

On Zenith’s horizon is an exhibition at Oshkosh, WI, the “mecca of all sport aviation.”

“Our philosophy is ‘keep it simple,’” says Heintz. “We work hard at making our airplanes simple to build.”