I had posted in the RV "weekend" section initially, but thought a little more detail was in order. It really is an amazing airplane, people think you're full of "it" when you're gassing up and answering their questions about where you came from/where you're going on HOW MUCH GAS?
My Wife has never been a small airplane fan but us builders can be persistent, past couple years she's really been ok with riding in the RV with a destination in mind. I'll always give her the "spouse" briefing of the flight (mostly the ride conditions) and she knows where to find the ETA on the GPS.
We had made plans to visit my wife's sister in Virginia, the girls were doing a 5K and the BIL and myself were doing the 5K followed by a half marathon. With our newest additions (twins) I suggested we go commercial, she said no way. I suggested a rental 4 seat, she said take the RV7. I know I need to build a 10.....
I was a little doubtful but I bought a bunch of different car seats and got to work . Found a set that fit and modified them to a 4 point tie down, 2 to the front seatbelt anchors and 2 to the rear baggage bulkhead and did several test flights with my twinsies. This was after one of their hour long "test" flights, couldn't believe how well it worked for entry/exit and inflight. It is in no way in comparison to a full and proper crash test. In theory its better than holding them in your lap on an airliner or similar jumpseats in other small aircraft.
Decent amount of room for 2 little gallon size scrunch bags between the car seats and seatbacks. Diapers squeezed and another gallon scrunch bag between the carseats. Toolkit under my knees, running shoes dangling from the slider rail. Room was definitely of more concern than weight.
A little halfway there in a 3.4 hour leg to Danville,KY. It worked well with the Twins' morning sleep schedule. Nice airport/car/restaurants/people etc. A couple hour break also worked well with the twins schedule.
Went IFR the second leg mostly for the busier east coast stuff, it was MVFR and supposed to clear to VFR which it did. I always expect a handful of unknown fixes when getting into ZDC.
The BKN layer broke up nicely by the time we got to KJGG 3.1 hours later.
My Wife has never been a small airplane fan but us builders can be persistent, past couple years she's really been ok with riding in the RV with a destination in mind. I'll always give her the "spouse" briefing of the flight (mostly the ride conditions) and she knows where to find the ETA on the GPS.
We had made plans to visit my wife's sister in Virginia, the girls were doing a 5K and the BIL and myself were doing the 5K followed by a half marathon. With our newest additions (twins) I suggested we go commercial, she said no way. I suggested a rental 4 seat, she said take the RV7. I know I need to build a 10.....
I was a little doubtful but I bought a bunch of different car seats and got to work . Found a set that fit and modified them to a 4 point tie down, 2 to the front seatbelt anchors and 2 to the rear baggage bulkhead and did several test flights with my twinsies. This was after one of their hour long "test" flights, couldn't believe how well it worked for entry/exit and inflight. It is in no way in comparison to a full and proper crash test. In theory its better than holding them in your lap on an airliner or similar jumpseats in other small aircraft.
Decent amount of room for 2 little gallon size scrunch bags between the car seats and seatbacks. Diapers squeezed and another gallon scrunch bag between the carseats. Toolkit under my knees, running shoes dangling from the slider rail. Room was definitely of more concern than weight.
A little halfway there in a 3.4 hour leg to Danville,KY. It worked well with the Twins' morning sleep schedule. Nice airport/car/restaurants/people etc. A couple hour break also worked well with the twins schedule.
Went IFR the second leg mostly for the busier east coast stuff, it was MVFR and supposed to clear to VFR which it did. I always expect a handful of unknown fixes when getting into ZDC.
The BKN layer broke up nicely by the time we got to KJGG 3.1 hours later.
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