|
The Van's RV News Roundup
Promoting life with a
Van's RV
aircraft as a family member.
Published five days a week by
DeltaRomeo, LLC.
Home
of the
VAF Forums
(register)
|
|
random photo by doug
reeves (unless noted on image) |
Fri 07.03.09
1159z
Friday, baby!
And so begins the Fourth of July holiday weekend in the USA. I
hope every dang one of you got the day off and get to spend at least
some of it in the shop working on your project or out at the airport
flying your plane.
Fly your flag, eat a hot dog and get a little sunburned. Wishing
you all a happy, safe and RV-filled
Independence Day!!!
Doug Reeves
Contact
RV-6 RV-3B IFR Track Blog
●
Carb Heat Hardware Dance ...Scott Card (-9A)
As many know, us carbureted RV drivers have a little rite of
passage that we must go through. Usually the mantra of "build it like
the plans say" works, but not in this case. I've been on this learning
curve now for a little over 400 hours.
-->
●
Paul Nelson's Shop Setup (pics) ...Roselle, IL
So, my wife and I moved into our first "real" house about 5 weeks
ago... said real house includes a 2 1/2 car, heated & insulated garage!
Needless to say, I've been spending way too much time getting the house
set up- but the workshop is coming along nicely! Thought I'd share some
pics of my newly-completed EAA tables. Enjoy!
●
Geek Heaven. Pete Howell Pushes The APRS Envelope ...by
Pete Howell
The Alpha and Beta testing is over and the first long XC is under
my belt with the next generation of APRS for the RV World...............
GEEK ALERT - this is not for the plug and play crowd - but if I can
do it, you probably can, too.
APRS has a lot of very cool capabilities beyond dropping the bread
crumbs that many of us already do. It can send messages, it can track
and plot other units, and it can send telemetry. Anyone interested in an
RV mounted solution that can do all that???
Read on!
● RV-8 Cutaway Image ...Tom
Johnson.
(From Tom) I just finished up the RV-8 Cutaway. It took
longer than originally projected because I was so enthused about this
great airplane. While I was painting it, I probably spent more time
analyzing the technical aspects of building one rather than just
concentrating on the necessary information to do the rendering.
Here it is, and I hope you have as much enjoyment looking at it as I did
painting (and Buiding) it.
We'll be notifying those who ordered prints via email. If you're
interested in placing an order, we still have a few of the limited
edition giclee's at $200 plus shipping. Send us an email at
tjtechart@comcast.net.
related:
The thread that started it.
●
Bob Is Hanging His -7A Engine TODAY Noonish ...anyone near
KSGS (St.Paul, MN) welcome to come hang out.
●
TruTrak Closed Friday
For Holiday Weekend
"Trutrak
will be closed on Friday, July 3 as well. We will be open for normal
business on Monday, July 6."
Event News
●
OSH '09 Gatherings
If any model-specific group
would like to use the space right here (in the daily rotation) to help organize gatherings at
OSH'09, I'd be honored to help. Simply start a thread in the
model-specific area with an appropriate title (ex: RV-12 OSH'09
Gathering) and I'll keep a link to that thread right here on the
front page through the end of the event.
- Tue 6pm:
Van's
Airventure Banquet Info
- Wed 6pm:
Piece of Grass '09
● Van's
2009 Homecoming is sched'd for Aug 28th and 29th. Be there!
● This Day in Aviation: In
1919... Designed and built by the Engineering Division of the U.S.
Bureau of Aircraft Production, the first of four XB-1As (originally
designated USXB-1A) makes its first flight at McCook Field, Dayton,
Ohio. In 1936... The first C-class Empire flying boat built by
Shorts as the S.23 design, makes a brief 14-min. first flight piloted by
John Lankester Parker.
Thu 07.02.09
1203z
Howdy!
Topping today is a link to the first pictures I've ever seen of an RV
being used in a wedding! Way cool. Thanks to Brian Wallis
for putting the link up.
Yesterday was filled with a little more work on the RV-6 annual and
avionics, lunch with -8A fastback builder Joe Ferraro, and the normal
mix of paperwork polka, computer cha-cha and telephone tango.
Around 9pm, I sat down and finally watched Clint Eastwood's
Gran
Torino on demand last night - just me and Moondog on the couch. I think it's
one of the
best movies I've ever seen. Moondog concurs.
Doug Reeves
Contact
RV-6 RV-3B IFR Track Blog
●
Good Taste ...Brian Wallis
It's very good taste when the Bride's dress matches the
airplane!!!! My friend Daniel was recently married... and the
young charming couple flew away in his RV-4. I wish them the best. Their
wedding was in the church, the reception was in a HUGE hanger.... That
man has STYLE!!!!!
-->
●
Inspection Set For July 9th. First Flight Soon.... ...Kirk.
● Van's Aircraft Closed Friday
July 3rd for Independence Day...Phone, Fax, e-mail and Web Orders
placed after 12PM noon (Pacific Time) on Thursday July 2nd will be
processed on Monday July 6th
●
The AirVenture
Brown Arch Project ...brought to my attention by RV-6A driver
Paul 'Rosie' Rosales (who bought a brick)
The Brown Arch is a historical area, almost a "right of
passage" for new attendees and return visitors as well, creating an
emotional passage through the arch. The tribute area will be located
between Wittman Road and the flightline, and the bricks that will be
offered will be on the west side of the arch. EAA will use the bricks by
the throat of the design to share a message – a Welcome to the World's
Greatest Aviation Celebration. The plaque inscription will be "The
Gateway to Aviation."
-->
Paul's brick noted with
yellow arrow.
●
Freedom Flight pictures ...David
Hopper photos in Houston Chronicle article.
●
Create Your Own Pilot Operating Handbook ...Rick Galati
●
Mike's Nose Art ...Mike.
Education
●
Timing an Approach
...Brent Travis
With all the wiz bang gizmos in our panels these days, I went
completely through the training to get an instrument ticket, and I can't
remember whether this was ever addressed:
When you start timing from the final approach fix to the missed
approach point, do you calculate intermediate values for the time based
on groundspeed? If so, how do you do it on the fly when all that other
stuff is happening?
For example flying into KCOE on the VOR RWY 5 approach my IAS is
120 knots, and the GS on my GPS says 105. The distance from FAF to MAP
is 5.3 NM. On the gov't plate the times for 120 and 90 knots
respectively are 2:39 and 3:32. If I calculate it out with a calculator
(which I currently don't carry in the cockpit, I do (5.3/105)*60 = 3.03
minutes or 3:01.
What do you do? I cant imaging trying to do the math in my head,
and I don't want to get a calculator out and start crunching numbers
either. I am open to suggestions.
Miscellaneous
●
GA
pilots could influence security measure (aopa)
Wed 07.01.09
1224z
Hump day!
Flash is still down for a long annual and some GPS/Comm/Xponder
upgrades (pic below of what's going in), so I took Scott's RV-7 up for a
short .3hr flight yesterday. Scott spends more time at the office
than he would like (not his choice), and since I've known him for 35+
years and am on the insurance, I'm tapped to occasionally move the oil
around as a 'favor'. I get my RV fix and Scott's RV-7 gets warmed
up. Everyone wins (except Scott). He's in what you call the
'good friend' category. You know the joke about friends, right?
A friend will help you move. A good friend will help you
move a body. Or fly his RV in this case...
Anywho, this RV-7 has a Garmin 530W GPS/Comm and a
GTX 330 mode S transponder, similar to what I'm putting in my RV-6
right now (except I'm going with the
430W). I've been reading the manual on the 430W daily, and its
feature list is simply amazing. Let me tell you about playing with
the traffic screen...
I took off from runway 17 at 52F in Scott's plane, did a climbing left
turn and exited the area to the NW. Right at takeoff the traffic
screen came alive, with three targets in the area (that were squawking).
One of them was my altitude and coming straight at me. Range 3n.m.
As it hit the 2n.m. ring it turned yellow, so I began a slight turn to
the right while scanning visually. After about 10 full seconds of
scanning, I picked up the speck. C172 at my altitude coming smack
at me. I'm virtually certain I would have picked it up visually
with my normal scan, but having it pointed out to me earlier got it on
my mental radar sooner, and that's gotta be a good thing.
We waved with wing rocks as we passed and I headed out to the practice
area NW of the field for some clean and dirty stalls to see if his
AFS AOA Pro was calibrated (one of my 'duties' on this flight was to
recalibrate it if it wasn't). It was calibrated right on the
button and Betty started bitchin' right before the wing stalled.
Climbed a couple three thousand and went through left/right rolls.
Loaded a WAAS approach for nearby Alliance Airport then loaded direct
back to 52F. As I got near the field I pulled up the traffic
screen again and saw what looked like one on downwind and one about two
miles east. That info, coupled with what I was hearing on the
radio helped shaped a mental picture of the arrival. Squeezed into
the flow, did one TnG (no flap) and then back around for a full flapper.
Tail low wheel landing, relatively stink free, and the Bravo turnoff.
A nice 18 minutes and I got my fix.
When Flash's GPSComm/xponder install and annual are done, IFR
training resumes. And, WAAS approaches will be in the mix now.
That and increased traffic awareness. That's gotta be a good
thing.
Have a great Wednesday!
Doug Reeves
Contact
RV-6 RV-3B IFR Track Blog
What's going in Flash
(a 430W and a GTX330).
related: TCAS
symbols explained
last page of this PDF document.
● Calling All Vanheads:
Anyone Have a Wood or Metal Sensenich Prop Matt Martin Can Borrow For A
Day?
"If you've been following the saga of 402BD, my RV-4 (a.k.a. the Lemon
Squeeze), you know that I had a prop strike back in December which
destroyed my Sensenich wood and prompted my to replace my old, wrung-out
O-360 with a factory re-man O-360 and a shiny new Catto three-blade. But
because the airplane is stuck at North Las Vegas where Phase I ops are
not allowed, I've been trying to demonstrate to the FAA that the new
prop does not constitute a "major change," and that they don't have to
put me back into Phase I for five hours.
Well, despite my producing records from other aircraft (and a special
thanks to my fellow Vanheads for helping me with that), it looks like I
will not be successful. The FSDO has been very helpful, and the
inspector was willing to take it to his leadership to make my case, but
due to the political pressure on the Las Vegas FSDO from the Las Vegas
politicians, and the fact that the Catto does not have an STC, they
don't think they can't get away with even the slightest liberalness in
interpreting the airworthiness regulations.
In fact I'm told the VGT Airfield Manager has gotten personally involved
to make sure that my airplane does not take off from VGT.
So I have two choices: find a Sensenich wood to put on the airplane so
that there's no change, or truck it out to Jean. I've been unable to
locate a matching Sensenich, and it would take Sensenich eight weeks to
make me a new one (too late for OSH).
That leaves door number two. And I'm going to once again ask for help
from my fellow Vanheads. Does anyone in the Las Vegas area have a
suitable trailer that I might borrow and some experience transporting an
RV-4 via trailer?
Any help would be appreciated."
-->
●
Brake Release to 10,000' ...David Domeier's RV-7A
For those interested in real world climb numbers concerning RV-7A,
gather 'round. I just landed and this is what I wrote down.
First off, here are the starting points. OAT 81F, SL pressure
29.74, airport elevation 630'. Aircraft gross weight = 1512 lbs,
CG @ 83.2", take off fuel = 39.3 gallons.
Climb power from take off was wide open throttle. Rather than try
to guess a best climb speed for the conditions, I decided to let the
engine decide that. After take off, when rpm hit 2400-2500, climb was
initiated at 110-115 KIAS. I maintained 2400-2500 rpm all the way up to
level off. Also, the engine was leaned using the target EGT technique
from a lead provided by hevans7a last evening. I used 1300F. Max CHT in
the climb was 407F, oil temp never hit 180.
-->
●
More Pics From The Recent NW RV Fly-In ...courtesy Benton
Holzwarth.
●
New Advanced Flight
Systems Web Store Goes Online
"You can now make purchases on all items through the web store,
including charts, sensors, map data, harnesses, systems..."
●
Some More First
Flights Being Reported On The Mothership
Video
●
(AOPA)
Celebrating Your Freedom To Fly July 4, 2009 ....there's an RV-4
in there!
Milestones
●
2000
The Hobbs on my RV-4 just hit 200 hours today. It has been
relatively trouble free since the first flight on March 12, 2007. The
only squawks so far have been the right brake getting soft a couple of
times requiring it to be bled (no leaks obvious). It still continues to
do this even though I replaced all the O-rings in the master cylinder
and the wheel cylinder. The only other problem has been a rough idle
since the last condition inspection. I am not sure what I did to the
spark plugs on cylinders 3 and 4 but they were not firing properly at
idle speeds. Run up and mag check was great but anything less than 900
RPM had a miss-fire. On base leg and final the EGT low temperature alarm
would illuminate for #3 and #4 at engine idle speed. Add a little power
and the alarms would clear. Anyway, I changed out the plugs on those
cylinders and life is good again.
Have I said how great this airplane is? I am still amazed at the
handling and responsiveness of this airplane. Every time I put her up,
just before closing the hanger door, I have to turn back for one more
look. I now know what an addiction is.
-->
__________________
Jerry Isler
Donalsonville, GA
RV4 N455J
1949 C140A N9641A
Troubleshooting
●
Mystery Oil Leak
I have been trying to track down a mysterious oil leak on my TMX-IOF 360
with no luck. I noticed some light misting of oil on the insides of both
of the cooling air inlets for my plenum. The following pictures shows
the location of the misting on the right inlet. Note the proximity
directly across from the ring gear. One would think maybe a front seal
issue? However, when I look and feel around the inside of the ring gear
and hub it is completely dry.
--> (pics)
Building Tips / Techniques/ Mods
● Update on Bob Axsom's Long Range Racing Wing Tips
The new wing tips are nearing completion. The photos show the three
configurations I have for our RV-6A. The longest span is the original
with the 9" tip tank and stock Hoerner tip. This gives a wingspan of
24.5'. The short configuration does not include the tip tanks and it is
the fastest so far (probably always). The wingspan with this
configuration is 21.5'. The one in the middle is a combination of the
short tip and the tip tanks, This is the one I am developing for this
year's AirVenture cup race - the wingspan will be 23'.
Miscellaneous
●
N848XA's Flamin' 8 Tail
● OT:
Stealth Jet Could Have Won War for Hitler
The National Geographic Channel will next air Jorgenson's
documentary, "Hitler's Stealth Fighter," on Sunday, July 5.
Yesterday's VAF News
(and beyond)
|
