American Homebuilts John Doe

The American Homebuilts John Doe is an American STOL homebuilt aircraft that was designed by Steve Nusbaum and produced by American Homebuilts of Hebron, Illinois, first flown in 1994. When it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur construction.

Design and development
The aircraft was given its name because the designer and his wife, Carla Nusbaum, could not decide on an appropriate name for the design.

The John Doe features a strut-braced high-wing, a two-seats-in-tandem enclosed cabin, fixed conventional landing gear and a single engine in tractor configuration.

The aircraft is made from welded steel tubing, with its flying surfaces covered in doped aircraft fabric. Its 30.6 ft span wing mounts flaps, leading edge slats, drooping ailerons, stall fences, winglets and has a wing area of 130.6 sqft. It employs a NACA 4415 airfoil. The acceptable power range is 65 to 125 hp and the standard engines used are the 125 hp Continental IO-240 and 100 hp Continental O-200 powerplants.

The aircraft has a typical empty weight of 878 lb and a gross weight of 1400 lb, giving a useful load of 522 lb. With full fuel of 26 u.s.gal the payload for the pilot, passenger and baggage is 366 lb.

The standard day, sea level, no wind, take off with a 125 hp engine is 150 ft and the landing roll is 250 ft.

The manufacturer estimated the construction time from the supplied kit as 400 hours.

Operational history
By 1998 the company reported that one had been completed and was flying.

By December 2007 a total of three had been completed.

In April 2015 one example was registered in the United States with the Federal Aviation Administration, although a total of three had been registered at one time.