Central Queensland pilot Len Neale has built his own plane and restored a piece of Queensland aviation history.<\/p>\n
He is one of thousands of enthusiasts with home-built planes registered to fly in Australia.<\/p>\n
His lifelong passion began when he was a child. Now 74, he still takes to the skies.<\/p>\n
When Len Neale dons his flight goggles, he is living a dream that started when he was a boy.<\/p>\n
The former tradesman spent his life working at power stations, while in his downtime he built an aircraft the now 74-year-old continues to fly weekly.<\/p>\n
"You take notice of the plan, you build it right, you balance it right, and that's very crucial."<\/p>\n
Len Neale is an "aviation nut" who even named his son after one of his planes.\u00a0 (ABC News: Jasmine Hines)<\/p>\n
Mr Neale lives in Biloela in central Queensland and is among thousands of enthusiasts with home-built planes registered to fly in Australia.<\/p>\n
Mr Neale said his own father had always wanted to build a plane big enough to sit in.<\/p>\n
He had even bought Irish linen with the dream of using it to cover the wings of a future project.<\/p>\n
But Mr Neale said family life and a lack of funds got in the way.<\/p>\n
Mr Neale decided to fulfil his father's ambition after he died in 1989, and since then he has built and restored two planes.<\/p>\n
Len Neale's build projects. (ABC News: Jasmine Hines)<\/p>\n
Among these projects was "The Spirit of Smoky Creek", his amateur-built J6 Karatoo.<\/p>\n
Mr Neale said it was based on a US design, but with an Australian Jabiru engine.<\/p>\n