Arnold had originally planned to sell plans for the AR-5 but, while he was satisfied with the design, he decided to wait and see how the gathering storm of product liability suits would play out.

 

Instead, Arnold fell back on his first craft, producing a series of movies about his plane and selling video copies to homebuilders and aviation enthusiasts. The full set of films is:

• Why It Goes So Fast

• How It’s Made

• Moldless, Low-Drag Wheel Pants

• The AR-5 In Action

• Making Fibreglass Molds

• Making A Molded Fuselage – Shaping The AR-6

 

There is no CGI or even a pretty diagram in any of them. Each documentary offers an engaging story as well as plenty of information.

 

Mike Arnold died on October 6th, 2015. He considered his aviation films his legacy and, after his passing, the Arnold family generously shared all six on YouTube.