Cross Country Fun….ny ...GLPalinkas My father-in-law just had surgery again last week in
Georgia. My live-in elderly mom is visiting my brother. So my wife
says, fly me up to see dad and mom in Georgia for a week. Well, OK
honey, if you Insist
Sanley Fly-in breakfast RV-8s ...Paul Tuttle photos (I think) Kevin Horton from Ottawa dropped into the fly-in breakfast
with his RV-8 and parked next to mine. We are hoping to make the
first flight within the next week or so, weather depending.
Kevin made an inspirational fly by when he left Stanley.
Eagle's Nest - Roger Elder receives "Teacher Innovative Grant"
Eagle's Nest (EN-3) project leader and Clear Springs High School PLTW
aerospace engineering instructor, Mr. Roger Elder, receives
$5,000 "Teacher Innovative Grant" from Clear Creek Education
Foundation to support next year's Eagle's Nest program.
Eagle's Nest -10 is scheduled to begin in the Fall semester and will be
the school's second project!
Thank you CCEF for your vision and generosity!
50+ fish visible from a plane.
The RV is too speedy for me to see this kind of stuff, which is probably
why it's new to me in two decades of flying. Yesterday morning in
a low/slow Cub I stumbled upon 50+ fish in the shallows of a lake near
our airport. Lon/Lat sent to our friend Steve (fishing guide).
The iPhone took a surprisingly good picture from about 250' up.
Winds calm and blue skies after several days of storms - it felt good to
get off the surface, if only for a bit. 2.5 gallons burned and the
mental gyros recalibrated for a few days.
Clicking on the image below will take you
to the 3,264 pixels-wide version.
Hudson Valley ...SmilingJack Haven't been able to fly much, but squeezed in a quick flight today
in the New York "Texas" heat
Avery Tools Memorial Day Sale
(from Bob)
AVERY TOOLS IS HAVING A MEMORIAL DAY SALE
CHECK OUT THE SALE PRICES ON ALL THE INDIVIDUAL ITEMS ON OUR WEB
SITE.
$1.00 FLAT RATE SHIPPING FOR ORDERS OVER $100.00 VALUE (shipping
in US only on this offer).
TOOL KITS – BUY A TOOL KIT AT THE ALREADY DISCOUNTED PRICES
DURING THIS SALE AND GET $3.00 SHIPPING ON YOUR TOOL KIT
(savings of $30 to $60 off shipping – in US only).
ALSO, AVERY TOOLS HAS A NEW PNEUMATIC RIVET SQUEEZER PRICE
MATCHING GUARANTEE
WE WILL MATCH OR BEAT ANY OTHER COMPETITOR’S ADVERTISED PRICE ON
NEW U.S.A. MADE PNEUMATIC RIVET SQUEEZERS.
AVERY TOOLS ONLY SELLS NEW PNEUMATIC RIVET SQUEEZERS AND
SQUEEZER YOKES THAT ARE 100% MADE IN THE U.S.A. MANY OF OUR
COMPETITORS ARE NOW SELLING IMPORT / MADE OFFSHORE PNEUMATIC
RIVET SQUEEZERS & YOKES -- MAKE SURE YOU ARE PURCHASING A U.S.
MADE TOOL; NOT AN IMPORT COPY. BUY AMERICAN!!!
THE AVERY FAMILY WISHES ALL IN THE AVIATION & RV COMMUNITY A
HAPPY AND SAFE MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY.
DIY safe room project that doubles as work bench
you can build airplane parts on
Randy, Clayton and I were talking yesterday about tornadoes and what they
do to our part of the country. I found a safe room
design online for
$3K-$5K that could double as a family tornado shelter (another
design).
Since I don't have that kind of money laying around, we thought maybe you
could buy steel 3/16 C-channel locally cut to a specific length, maybe
workbench height, and then weld them together with the stick welder here
in the hangar.
Unlike the online version this would have the rough stuff pointing
outward - smooth interior walls. You could tie the four walls together
in the corners with some angle iron and bolts. Use a hammer drill, more
angle, twenty
HILTI expansion bolts and more to tie it into the garage slab.
Bolt on a work surface made out of thicker steel C-channel welded
together and then cover that with wood to become a workbench. Cut
in a door with some bad boy welded-on hinges and we're good. Paint
it safety red and put a RESCUE arrow on the door pointing to the knob.
I'm guessing something like this might support the weight of a
car, and might even stay attached to the slab if an EF5 decided on
us.
Maybe there is an engineering type out there w/something better than MS
Paint that finds this interesting, too.
We're thinking about things like this with a renewed vigor around here.
Anywho, if it comes to fruition, we'll keep you in the loop.
My dumb two minute drawing...
Pic of a safe room bolted to the slab...
Tue May 21, 2013
1145Z....some
interesting tidbits plucked from the
VAF forums (posting
guidelines) Not a lot of excitement to
work on the site today, I'm afraid. Our hearts are heavy from the
loss of life and storm destruction across the Red River in Oklahoma.
God Bless all those affected. dr
Aluminum Lady was there.
On this Sunday was held the French vintage aircrafts annual meeting of La
Ferte Alais, in the south of Paris. For the first time, Aluminium
Lady was invited to put her heel of this famous airfield on which was
held one of the most famous meeting for Europeans, excepted Duxford in
UK.
...
Van's Aircraft will be closed Mon May 27
...for Memorial Day Phone, Fax, e-mail and Web Orders placed after 12PM noon
(Pacific Time) on Friday, May 24th will be processed on Tuesday
May 28th
Landing with flat tire ...Larry Pardue Thought I would report this just as a data point. I
had the left main tire go completely flat during a short flight
today. I made my normal three point landing and could
immediately tell that something was amiss but the airplane was
completely controllable and I even taxied down the runway to the
turnoff and turned to clear the runway in the direction opposite
of the flat. Took lots of throttle to taxi and of course the
tube was destroyed. but the wheel pant seems fine.
It was time for new tires and tubes anyway.
RV INTERIORS NEWS (Rich Meske) Please take a fresh look at Aircraft Extras, Inc.
custom aircraft interiors. Presently, we are offering interiors
for models RV-6, RV-7, and RV-9. If you would like to purchase
interiors for other models, please contact us. Choose your own
materials and we will make your seats, armrests, and stick
boots. The seats feature an inflatable lumbar support. An
optional EZ-Step can be incorporated in the seat. Also, check
out our newest products at
www.aircraftextras.com
Fact Sheet - GA Safety ...issued May 14 The United States has the largest and most diverse
general aviation (GA) community in the world with more than
300,000 aircraft including amateur-built aircraft, rotorcraft,
balloons, and highly sophisticated turbojets. Reducing GA
fatalities is a top priority of the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) and the FAA’s goal is to reduce the GA
fatal accident rate by 10 percent over a 10-year period
(2009-2018). Loss of Control – mainly stalls – accounts for
approximately 40 percent of fatal GA accidents.
Lesson Learned
Never leave an airplane part on the floor of the garage. Even if its just
for a minute. I learned a valuable lesson today that cost me a
month's worth of work.
...
Fuel Tank Rib Tooling Hole Issue
I'm stumped by what to do with the tooling hole in my inboard T-703 rib
of the fuel tank, in the area where the T-708 access plate is mounted.
The tooling hole at the aft end of the rib extends beyond the T-407 cork
gasket and stiffener by a tiny amount, but it's just enough to see
daylight through it. The drawing shows this hole as barely under the
gasket, as they appear to touch on the outboard edge. My access panel is
a fraction forward of where the drawing has it located, and has just
uncovered the edge of the tooling hole.
April in San Miguel de Allende 2013
My wife Joan wanted us to stay in one place on our next trip so, since I
want her to continue flying with me, I said yes. We rented a house in
San Miguel de Allende for April for $1000. We took 2 weeks of Spanish
Language classes and explored the area by walking a lot, and also we
took taxis, and buses. We reserved a shuttle van the the drive back and
forth after leaving the RV at Celaya airport. Believe it or not, it was
fun, and we had a wonderful time.
Here is our story with pictures.
Status ...Miles RV-7 I finished the F-704 bulkhead by riveting the vertical spacer
bars and vertical side members to the aft bulkhead, and the vertical
side members to the forward bulkhead. I also enlarged the F-704J spacer
holes in the aft bulkhead to 15/64 then reamed them to 0.249. I
performed this step while the two bulkhead halves were aligned with two
7/16 bolts though both the forward and aft bulkheads on each side so I
could use the final size spacer bolt holes already in the forward
bulkhead as alignment holes. Many thanks to local RV-7 builder/flyer Hal
Lyons for loaning his very well made laminated wood bulkhead spacer
blocks to me.
Fri May 17, 2013
1208Z....some
interesting tidbits plucked from the
VAF forums (posting
guidelines) Wishing you and yours a happy, safe and RV-filled weekend!
An American in British skies ...photos by Ed Hicks. ...flown by an Englishman.
The weather was kind to us yesterday, and we managed to shoot Mark
Albery's RV-8. Mark's machine is still wearing it's 12"
temporary N-numbers from it's transatlantic flight, but will
soon be G-registered.
I had to brag for her!
Last week my wife was awarded a full scholarship to complete her IFR
training. The award is the Amelia Erhart scholarship presented by the
National '99's' organization for women pilots. She now has left seat
control of our RV6A.
Status ...David Domeier 8 I've been measuring, trimming and smoothing the edges after each cut
of the Todd canopy. It started out 4" above the roll bar and is now down
to 3/8". The aft end has been trimmed once and now rests on the canopy
frame rather than the fuselage. About 3.5" of material has been removed
from the front of the canopy.
This is a messy, unpleasant job and I will be pleased when it is
completed and can move on to more civilized, clean work.
...
Updates on the 'Rosie and gang' RV
adventure [ed. My working theory is that nobody sells more RV kits than
Paul 'Rosie' Rosales! dr]
(From Rosie)
"(A lot of this page was update for placeholders for Days
7/8/9: Posts
92,
93 and
94)
And the grand-daddy post that I just made moments ago...and
I need to get up in about 5 hours (but it was worth it):
Page 22 with this post:
Link and a second because I can't have more
than 8000 words (was nearly 12,000!)
Good night Krash and thanks again for this WONDERFUL
WEBSITE!
Rosie"
Tip:
If you would like to read this thread from the beginning, go
HERE(also, if you're logged into the forums you
might like clicking on 'Display Modes' over on the right
side of the screen. Select 'Linear Mode'). dr
Good evening with RV ...Vlad Working hours are over done for the day. Clocked out and 30 minutes
run from work to the hangar. There were freshly flared brake
lines for RV12. Nicely done.Tried to bend them no way brain is
frozen. Here comes RV therapy
Crack
When I bent the F770 side skin, a crack developed at the sharp bend.
Can I just stop drill the crack and continue building or do I need to
order a new skin?
iFlightPlanner Improvement
....from Andy Matthews "You may have already noticed this but I wanted to be
sure you know that we've updated the processing behind the
Weather Widget on VAF to always pull in the nearest TAF for any
airport in the string of identifiers that are submitted. It was
an overall upgrade to the site for resources within
iFlightPlanner that display METARs and TAFs, and the VAF Widget
is one of the beneficiaries of the new technology running behind
the scenes."
[ed. This means I can put in the identifier for a grass
runway near me (XA0) and it will automatically pull the METAR
from the nearest reporting field (DTO 5nm) and TAF from the
closest reporting spot (AFW 11nm). dr]
Weirdest Passenger?
When Van started selling his kits....I wonder if he ever imagined one day
they would be used to Lifeflight turtles.
I was busy watching my hockey play offs with friends and having a couple
margaritas on friday night when the emergency email came. Pilots N Paws
Canada needed an emergency rescue flight. Cool, some cute little dog
needs to go to a new home. I would do that.
...
May 25th: Near
Summit Point, WV
Weather permitting, stop in next Saturday afternoon May 25 for a cold
drink and some RV talk. Cedar Meadows Airpark is not on the sectional,
but is a couple miles west of Summit Point, WV, just a few miles SE of
Martinsburg, WV. RW 9/27 is on the south side of the railroad tracks and
has (for identification purposes only) an intersecting N/S runway on the
north side of the tracks. The turf runway is 3000 by 100 and reasonably
smooth. We monitor 122.85 My new hanger is being constructed and should
be occupied by my RV4 by the end of May. You can park by the white
hangar on the west end of the runway.
Pure joy of flying ...Luke in Italy Today the weather was VFR excellence (we are still
waiting for spring software upgrade here in Northern Italy), so
me and my wife took some hours of free time for a flight, pure
joy to do it, spending couple of hours together in our RV-8.
...
Italian "Spring meeting"
"..we had the honor of hosting a group of 14 RVs coming from England,
France and Ireland."
Memorial Day Air Race at Terrell, TX, 5-25-13 ...Bob
Axsom SARL is struggling with converting to a new website
hosting service (I think I got that right) so things are running
late as they convert to a new one. The Address is the same
www.sportairrace.org but the content form etc is changing. Sorry
about that. The course is not yet published but will be coming
soon. Terrell is on the east side of Dallas. It has an
uncontrolled airport which last year was the start point for the
race.
The current entries are:
Race # Name Aircraft Class
--------------------------
Race 71 Bob Axsom RV-6A RV Blue
Race 77 JT Racing RV-6 RV Blue
Race 411 Jeff Barnes RV-6 RV Blue
Race 118 Ken Krebaum RV-8 RV Blue
Race 390 Jerry Hajek RV-8 RV Gold
Race 13 James Redmon Berkut RG Blue
Engine mount rusty - how to fix it
I have an engine mount that I have not gotten around to using yet.. but
being in my garage, it has been subjected to the cold and higher
humidity (yeah.. I know, MOVE IT!!) and sadly it has developed
some surface rust (Hope that is all it is)..
Question is: How to remove/treat the rust without weakening the mount?
Should I sandblast it? (suggested media?) Wire wheel it? Should
I metal prep it afterwards ? Does metal prep need to be
neutralized?
...
RV-10 #500 ...from factory FB page Yesterday the Hobbs Meter on our website rolled over FIVE
HUNDRED flying RV-10s. That’s a big number in the world of 4-place kit
airplanes. But even with 500 flying, landing somewhere and seeing an
RV-10 on the ramp is still a bit usual.
That’s because about half of the RV-10s completed so far have been built
outside the USA and the vast majority of those – over 200 -- are in
Brazil.
Brazil?
Many American pilots don’t realize it, but Brazil has a strong aviation
history, dating back to before World War I and the days of
Santos-Dumont. People have been flying, designing and building airplanes
in Brazil for over a hundred years. Van’s is just joining a long and
proud tradition.
...
related:
RV-10 section of VAF Forums
From the factory
FB page:
"It's good to see a picture of the RV-1, RV-3, and RV-4 in the EAA
Museum! Lot's of history there..."
A story about assumptions
Fear not, this story does not involve loss of life and limb or the
destruction of innocent airplane parts.
Way back in March, the long-awaited day arrived: the truck driver called
to report that he'd be at my house in about 30 minutes with me
wing kit. I was overjoyed...time to get some of the Real Work
going here! Getting down to business inventorying took a bit of
the shine off, particularly when I saw that I had a few items
backordered:
- A couple of tank ribs
- All 210 of the tank attach nutplates
- Some nutplates for the stall warning kit (which I didn't plan
on using anyway)
That didn't stop me from getting to work, though. I set about assembling
the rear spars, and when that ran out, I went to tinkering on
the main spars. Without the tank attach nutplates, the Big Job
had to wait, but I still had inspection plate nutplates,
tiedowns, etc., all of which I took care of.
About a month in, I hadn't received any shipments from Van's, so I gave
them a call to check on the status of my backorder. I found that
the tank ribs had come in, along with one of the nutplate
batches, but the other nutplates had not. I didn't remember off
the top of my head the part numbers for the nutplates and which
ones were for the stall warner and which ones were for the
tanks, but it was suggested that the ones still on backorder
were for the tanks.
...
Skyview Accessory Locations
Panel is about to be cut, Skyview 10" in front, Skyview 7" in rear.
Need help with the following for best locations please.
1. EMS box and route of sensor wires to firewall forward.
2. Remote transponder box.
3. Mounting a 7" Skyview for the rear talking freight.
4. Skyview battery box.
Glassed Filtered Air Box Alternate Air Door
There have been some threads I've read during my build discuss options
for an alternate air door on the FAB other than the stock Van's door
that can't be reliable reset without removing the lower cowl. Many
builders have worked up a new door design that used hardware such as
aluminum guides or delrin to provide a means to slide a door back and
forth over an alternate air door. But these have all used additional
hardware and weight. Dan Horton had commented an alternative would be to
use fiberglass to provide these rails and eliminate the hardware. So I
took that challenge.
...
"Forest of Tabs" Ground Location
Does anyone have photos or links to URLS that show some good places to
mount the grounding block from B&C on the firewall?
Mon May 13, 2013
1154Z....some
interesting tidbits plucked from the
VAF forums (posting
guidelines) Hope you had a good Mother's Day weekend. I
didn't get any flying in, but did spend some time with Mom (Waco isn't
far enough away to see significant time/cost savings, with the two car
changes and ramp fee). Having said that, I can neither confirm or
deny that she was a 78 yr old passenger in a sports car topping 110mph
on a long, straight, deserted road out in the country. A road like
this. I can also neither confirm or deny that she
asked to do it a second time.
After all this stuff that may or may not have happened, she watched the
Spanish Grand Prix on her DVR. Van's Aircraft wall calendar next
to the TV. A pretty kick@ss Mom....and one lucky kid.
Wonders never cease
Two years ago when I bought my RV I was pretty disappointed when I
discovered my wife, who was scared and reluctant to fly, would
get physically ill from motion sickness in even the slightest
turbulence.
...
"WEASEL I JUST SHOT YOU DOWN MAN!!!!!!!"
It all was a good day in the air. I was on the way back from a trip and
was descending through about 2500ft direct to my back yard when my
passenger said "hey right there is an airplane" I looked out his side to
see a P51-D coming at us starboard side.
...
Fri May 10, 2013
1155Z....some
interesting tidbits plucked from the
VAF forums (posting
guidelines). Wishing you and yours a happy, safe and RV-filled
weekend!
Hand controls needed, please help
...Greg Marlow "...I believe I will fly it again, but it's going to need a
modification of hand controls for the rudder and brakes.
Does anyone have any ideas? I have a 9A, with brakes on the left
side only...."
AZ-MN Graduation Trip Begins
...Cathy Page
We stopped in at DHT for the night. The wind was 210 @ 18-20 G 29. We
used Rwy 21. About 30 min later the windsock went limp, then briskly
snapped to attention from 360 @ 20 G 33. They take their wind seriously
in the TX panhandle.
...
DHT North
This morning we headed N out of Dalhart, then wandered towards the east a
bit.
...
Dawn Patrol pre-Mother's Day ..GLPalinkas
Well, since my 88 year-young mom is living full time with us, I don't get
as much air time as I would like. Long trips are out for now. I
did get mom to go the other day for a short flight. I'm just
glad she's still around to go with me.
Hopefully, I can get her to go again for Mother's Day.
I am mostly relegated to Dawn Patrol, not that I'm whining or anything. I
snuck in .6 this morning. Left at 6am, back by 7am. SWEET
...
AirVenture Cup Race 2013
The GREAT RACE called the AirVenture Cup Race is going to be run again
this year but from a new location, Mount Vernon, Illinois I
believe. For the second year they are going to include classes
I'm familiar with in SARL cross country air racing. In the
healing EAA there is support once again for the event. They say
this is the 16th annual AVC race but I have only flown in it
since 2005. It is a happening as they used to say. It is basic
but it has style and class as well for those who participate.
The website is starting to update as planning, and arrangements
fall into place. www.airventurecuprace.org.
Bob Axsom
Race 71
We have started our build and wanted to post an update.
We received our -10 on April 26th. Since I had the back surgery last
month we decided to wait until Sun N Fun to order at the event.
Of course I couldn't let the crate sit unopened. We inventoried the
evening it came and began work the next day.
We have completed the vertical stab and rudder but still need to install
the fiberglass. I am on fence whether to do fiberglass now or wait and
do it all at once further down the road. I read what Bob Lefler wrote
about it and now think I may do it as I build the part. This way were
aren't working n fiberglass for a month when we are finished.
I damaged one part so far. I new better but did it anyway argh...I broke
the leading edge of the rudder while scuffing it after I machine
countersunk it. It was a dumb move. I should have left it on the bench
and scuffed it but I held onto it and of course it buckled in my hand. I
used the second piece I had for the leading edge and will order a new
replacement from Vans.
...
All she wanted for Mothers Day ...Jim Wright 9A
My sweet Mother-in-Law asked me yesterday when I was going to take her
for an airplane ride. Today we crossed that off the old bucket
list. She is 80 years young and had no trouble getting in and
out of the plane. She had been in a small plane three times in
her whole life, once when she was young and later in my Cessna
172. Today was the 3rd time and it was a perfect day for
sightseeing. She has never been in a commercial plane either.
When we landed she said that was all she wanted for Mothers Day. Boy did
I get off easy! :-)
Aero Friedrichshafen Follow Up - Two Perspectives...factory
FB page
Van's Aircraft exhibited again this year at the Aero-Friedrichshafen show
in Germany. Daryl Sahnow and Van were in attendance. Former
Van's Engineer Ken Krueger even showed up to help out. What
follows are their thoughts on the show:
...
Oshkosh 2013- Let's talk homebuilding!
...Bob Collins doing daily talk show at OSH again this year (trained journalist who knows his stuff, not a
pretend one like me)
Have I mentioned how much I get a kick out of the VAF community?
"(from
this thread)...Canada was 10 miles east and we had the sky
to ourselves. No restrictions from the surface to the moon. My
favorite wintertime activity was a contest to see who could
raise the highest rooster tail of snow when we buzzed a
lake......"
Memorial to Frozen War ...Vlad 9A There is a fascinating place in upper right corner of
US. Two years I was trying to get there and it finally happened.
An alien Air Force guy I knew closely asked me to land there. I
still don't know why, the base was on his unit target charts.
I couldn't get permission to land, an authority of the phone
told me they don't accommodate planes on weekends. "If something
happens..." was their argument.
Anyway, after almost three hours of flying I finally got closer to Loring
AFB.
...
(and as usual, a VAF user
spent time there)...."Those rusty fuel tanks in the
pictures used to hold millions of gallons of JP-4. I had to
manually "stick" every tank daily to ensure nothing was
leaking."
Rest in Peace Capt. Mark Tyler Voss
...'RVZoomie' in the VAF forums
(from John Anderson) Based on news reports and some of his posts on here,
it looks like we lost fellow VAF member Capt Mark Tyler Voss (RVZoomie)
in last Friday's KC-135 crash in Kyrgyzstan. I can't say I knew Tyler,
but I saw him around USAFA from time to time and had a few mutual
friends.
...Thankful for his brave and selfless service and proud to know
that he was a part of the VAF community. Here's a toast...
Charity Caps ...Mark Santoleri
"We will be making donations to various local charities"
More Charity Caps ...David "I donated to the National Multiple sclerosis society
in PA."
GRT Announcement ...Katie Bosman GRT Avionics is announcing a major price cut for all
EFIS systems today. Please find the press release attached,
along with a copy of the new price list and screenshots of the
Sport SX (with optional synthetic vision--a $400 software
upgrade) and the Horizon HXr. Please contact me with any
questions.
Hat sighting ...Joe Walker
"At the Udvar-Hazy center. Dornier 335 and Arado bomber in background."
Welcome Amelia's Landing
....flying-themed hotel in Port Aransas on Mustang Island. Their
ad will live on the Previous Day's News page. http://www.ameliaslanding.com/
Fri May 3, 2013
1139Z....some
interesting tidbits plucked from the
VAF forums (posting
guidelines). TGIF! The five
year old Gateway desktop I
usually use to assemble the daily edition threw up all over itself
yesterday evening, and once again my trusty HP laptop came to the rescue
as my hot spare slash travel computer.
HP ENVY....you rock.
You gave me time to breath while I beat this desktop with a bat
back into submission.
Wishing you all a happy, safe and RV-filled weekend.
Big Bend State Park trip ...Mark Burns
Last Friday Seven RV’s and a Velocity
departed five different airports in Arkansas and Louisiana and headed
for Big Bend State Park.
...
Getting called up for active
duty requires selling new XO-360
(Save $2,700)
....posting this as the top story for Lt Col Brian Delamater.
Least I could do.
What:
Factory NEW Lycoming XO-360 A1A for $24,000. (crating/shipping or
pick up at buyers expense – Located in
Knoxville, TN area)
This engine was purchased
through Vans at the Oshkosh price of $25,500. (Current Vans list
price of $26,700). I received the crated engine in early October
’12 and hung it on my RV-7 in Dec/Jan timeframe. The engine
still has preservative oil inside (no fuel, spark or regular oil
has been introduced to the engine).
Lycoming confirmed that the
FULL FACTORY WARRANTY (which
has not yet been activated) will transfer with the sale of this
engine.
Engine will be dropped from
my project, resealed and “re-pickled” using a Tanis 4 Cylinder
Engine Preservation Kit prior to sale.
Why: Active Duty
Air Force Assignment is taking me outside of the Continental US,
project will go into storage for 2-4 years. I’m happy, blessed and
proud to serve (and flying the F-16 is no hardship)…I just didn’t
anticipate an overseas assignment and planned to fly a completed
RV-7 to my next duty location.
Timeline: I have until the end of June to complete
this sale, I will be departing the country after the 4th of July
weekend. Project will be moving from my residence in Maryville TN to
DKX (Knoxville TN) sometime this month.
Misc: Completed Baffles (fit to an RV-7 top cowl),
Catto 3 blade with spinner, and other Vans FWF items/accessories can
be discussed/negotiated if buyer is interested.
Contact: Brian, Cell: ( 7 0 2 ) 4 6 9 . 1 9 6 4 Update: Engine has sold
My trans-atlantic RV-8 odyssey ...Mark Albery Last Saturday I completed a 7,000 nm, 19 day trip from Los Angeles to
Oxfordshire, England in my RV-8.
Having completed 4 years working in the Tesla Motors design studio in
Hawthorne CA, it was time to move on and go home....
I made an extra hole
I'm 99% sure this part is trash but thought I'd put it out here to
see if anyone has any thoughts. I was dimpling leading edge skin tonight
and the skin slipped off of the dimple die. Before I knew about it, I
had made this new hole
Wed May 1,
2013 1202Z....some
interesting tidbits plucked from the
VAF forums (posting
guidelines). Today's edition
spotlights a lot of RV stuff in the new Sport Aviation. A nice mix
of motivation, safety and friendship. Enjoy! dr
So That's What They Look Like....
Yesterday I dropped by Walt's to say hey, and while there I got a shot of
him at work. Blinking electronic thingys that I don't
understand, but he does. He is 'Walt'
in the forums and runs
ExpAircraft.com (one of this site's advertisers).
"An FAA Certified repair station
specializing in Propeller balancing, Pitot-Static/Transponder
checks, Avionics work and Experimental aircraft building and
maintenance." dr
Request to Review LED Push-to-test Circuit...
Would you guys mind looking at the attached circuit for providing
push to test functionality to a handful of Annunciator LED's
(12v) and let me know if it is okay I need some peer review...
thanks.
Night Flight Pics...tkatc
"...So there I was watching a few episodes of Flying Alaska while eating
dinner when it dawned on me that there should be a large moon again. I
remembered I was due to fill up the tanks but had plenty to make it to
the cheapest fuel airport around with reserve. I set out just before
dusk with my flashlights and a plan. ..."
Sport Aviation May Issue Online
....some highlights below.
Can you enter a spin from a slip?
I bring up this topic only because there are many pilots that are shy
about slipping to a landing due to the cross control and so close to the
ground that they would not be able to recover.
The answer to this question will surprise those that fear the slip. But
prove it to yourself at altitude.
The up front answer is ........ NO..... But there is a far more detailed
answer than that. Let's let the group explain.
This is a broad statement. And there must be some aircraft out there that
you can't (or not allowed to) slip. I am talking about the planes that
WE fly and learned with
Slow Leak
I am still building, but one of my main tires has suddenly started going
flat. Was fine and seems fine for days then suddenly goes flat
overnight. Confused!
Any ideas?
Day 25- Flying to Montserrat then to Anguilla
We are planning a Tuesday morning departure to Montserrat to visit the
lava flows from the 1997 volcano eruption then will end up in Anguilla
for two nights (Wed/Thurs).
Mon Apr 29,
2013 1148Z....some
interesting tidbits plucked from the
VAF forums (posting
guidelines). Saturday I had the privilege of
giving two short rides to non-RV folks. Darren is married to Pam.
Larry is married to Pam's sister, and just regained his medical after
many years (has owned Barons, Bonanzas and C172s). Zero tailwheel
time. They found me through Pam, who is my wife's partner in the
non-profit yoga org they started that provides free classes for cancer
patients and survivors (YogaBridge.org).
Overcast skies at around 1500' called for the low show, with lots of
turns, creek following, house spotting and laughs. Point eight in
the logbook, good memories and two new friends.
Larry's comment to me as we got out, "This is the best flying airplane
I've ever had the honor to fly." He surfed the classifieds as
I gave Darren his ride.
Hope you had a nice weekend, too.
N489KT RV8 First Flight ...video!
As a long time lurker on VAF, I finally have someting to contribute.
After 4 1/2 years of building, logging on to VAF every day to
search for solutions to questions I had during the build, I am
finally done.
N489KT flew on Saturday for the first time and it was all I expected it
to be.
...
Meeting the neighbors...Bret
It is amazing who stops by, gets out of their car and says HI! When you
have an airplane in your driveway. Been on this street for years
and just met the neiborhood this weekend while rigging the wings
and emp.
On the road again so soon to KPBF
...the Cards (Georgetown, TX) I love my instrument ticket. Our objective today
was to make it to Glider’s wedding in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. By
RV just a quick two hour run. The weather wasn’t looking so hot
on Friday for VFR flights. A couple of locals hit the road for
the long seven hour drive yesterday and early this morning.
...
F-704H Dimple/C'sink ...RV-7 France I'm assembling the center fuselage section
and I'm about to start dimpling and countersinking as required.
I've read the plans and the instructions but I don't see
anywhere if I have to dimple or countersink F-704H side plates.
These are the plates going between the F-704 bulkhead and the
side skins.
...
Static linee ...RV-6 England
I am contemplating the best way to get my static line past the cockpit on
my tip up canopy RV6 - What have other people done ? I am
considering a hole at the black X location - Will it possibly
interfere with the locking mechanism for the tip up canopy?
Bad countersink ...Florida
Today I started some countersinking and almost immediately I
noticed them coming out over size.
...
Fri Apr 26,
2013 1153Z Wishing you and yours a happy, safe and RV-filled weekend.
dr
Germany Hat Sighting ...Heinz Leuters (RV-3) with Van.
I took the opportunity to get a picture of myself and The Boss
himself (taken by Daryl) at the AERO fair here in southern Germany (map) in
April 2013 (so yesterday effectively). I just wanted
shake the hand of this Gentleman to thank him for his designs and work
in the Experimental world and I asked for the picture. Even though
asking for the picture I felt was a bit cheesy he said, ´Well, I am a
public person so no problem.'
Best,
Heinz Leuters (RV-3)
P.S. I went down to the fair in the -3 using just 47 Ltrs / 12.5 gals
for 280 NM at ca. 16 kts ground speed in 2:48 hrs - a slight tailwind of
say 8-10 kts (ca. 150 kts TAS). I just love how efficient the planes are
(same thing the way back)
Homebuilt Pitot Tube ...Dave Paule Here's the pitot tube I made for my RV-3B. The tube part
is 3/16" stainless tube, and the mast is a section of aluminum
jury strut extrusion. The mast is 1.125" chord and about 3/8"
thick.
The tube is held in mechanically and sealed with JB Weld. Above the 1/8
NPT sensor connection hole, the tube portion of the mast is
sealed with JB Weld too. I used the marine version of the epoxy,
which is compatible with aluminum.
The whole assembly, which weighs 95.1 grams, is attached to the wing by a
plastic clamp just below the tapped sensor hole that screws to a
bracket attached to a main rib. Then another small bracket,
riveted to the main rib, screws to the hole at the top of the
mast, a little hard to see in the photo. The bottom bracket and
the plastic clamp weigh 35.2 grams. In U.S. units, that's 4.6
ounces for this and most of the bracketry.
Self Portrait ...Jeff Wirs Taking my buddy's wife for an RV ride!
Maintaining polish ...Bob Collins
"...I'm almost finished with the initial deep polishing of the RV-7A. I
started last November and took a few months off for winter (I got
spoiled with the two years I was in a heated hangar!). It's been really
great fun to be able to see every centimeter of the plane's exterior and
seems remarkably consistent with the annual inspection...."
Taking scenic photos from the plane
Yesterday was a beautiful day to fly. I tried to take some photos from
the cockpit and they were worse than underwhelming to say the least.
So many of you take wonderful photos from the cockpit. How do you do it?
Hi to our RV Family of Friends (Updating this as you read this on
Friday AM),
Thursday (April 25), was set aside for a day of diving for me with Key/Sharbait/Tuppergal
planning to head out and go ziplining midday. I was up ~0645 and grabbed
a cab (10 minutes) to the
Sandals Grande. I wasn't even a guest there, but when I arrived, I
was treated like I was there NUMBER ONE customer.
I was personally escorted to the Dive Center where a gentleman named St.
Rose (nickname Rose :-) helped me fill out my paperwork. Hiram was asked
to carry my dive gear to the boat (I offered but it went on deaf ears),
and my Dive Instructor Marney brought me aboard the boat which had six
others on (there was room for 25 divers.
Went diving with them ($80 US for a two-tank and I wasn't even a guest
at the resort). I dove the Lemleen? Wreck then another shallow (45')
dive. I was quite proud of myself for coming up with 1200psi for each.
Once back in port, ~1300, it started pouring rain and it rained ALL DAY.
Just let up about 1900 then we begged this internet access.
Check in Friday morning to check our progress. Jailbird/Indira pressed
on today (before the rain) and are in Nevis (they need to get home
before Sharkbait/Keys/Tuppergal/Me) so it's just us from here on out.
We are making reservations as we go and picking islands as we go but
need to be on Aguadilla next Wednesday night to make CA (with good WX)
by the first weekend in May.
Thanks SO MUCH for all the kind words and especially great to hear from
my pilot-friend and co-worker Dave Huhman's brother Roger!
Rosie
Trio Avionics ...Brian
I bought a used Trio EzPilot autopilot from a fellow VAF (I think Gene
used the money for Avgas with Rosie and the other Grand Turk travelers).
I was replacing a Navaid A/P which never worked, turns out I wired it
wrong
Anyway, I sent the EzPilot back to Trio to make certain all was well
internally, get a new non-faded faceplate and get a new wing servo
mount. Of course I picked Sun & Fun as the best time to send it in. But
they hopped right on it and I got it less than a week later. Great
service to get anything delivered to Montana in a week.
Birthday present to myself.
Thu Apr 25, 2013 1202Z
Video: Skagit Valley Washington Tulip Fields ...Steve Rush
(Arlington, WA)
So, there's this big Tulip Festival in Skagit County that goes the
whole month of April. Every other year they even have a Fly-In / Air
Show associated with it. So this year I actually went looking for some
footage of it, it is after all only about 15 miles from home. The view
from the air is not quite as spectacular as I'd hoped.
Turns out there are only about 4 tulip fields in amongst all of the
farm fields. Must not be any great profit in tulips. Note the number of
cars around the various fields though. This is a Wednesday afternoon
about 4:00.
I know, it would look better without the smudge on the lens. (video)
It Had to Happen.....And It Did
The promise of every new project is that in our minds, it is perfect.
Unfortunately, our projects almost never turn out that way. So
somewhere along the line, we eventually have to deal with the
disappointment of imperfection.
Ironically, while building a wing stand to protect my wings, I managed to
dent my right wing while taking the stand off the work table.
Darn.
However, I've learned a lot in the past year and a half and that is
"Don't sweat the small stuff and it's all small stuff." While I
was definitely disappointed at my mistake, I didn't spend much
time beating myself up over it. Everything can be repaired and
in the big picture, I'm still doing what I love to do. Life
could be a whole lot worse I've learned.
So when you get around to making that first big oops on your pride and
joy, take a time out and count your blessings. Van's sells a lot
of replacement parts because we aren't the first builders to
screw up. A couple of hours and I will be the only one to know
about my mistake. Life is good.
__________________
Randy Pflanzer
Martinsville, IN (II87)
Eagles Nest 4 ...factory FB page We had a recent visit here at Van's from students, mentors, and
a couple family members of the Eagles Nest 4 youth build groups
from the Puyallup, Washinton area on April 5th. Dick VanGrunsven
(aka "Van") met with the group for about 30 minutes to learn
more about EN4 program and also shared some wisdom and
experience with the mentors (Van is also a mentor with the Teen
Flight 1 & 2 programs). Van's factory guy, Daryl Sahnow, was the
master of ceremonies for the tour. Even though the CNC punches
weren't operating at the time, they still had a great time and
spent well over an hour learning more about the manufacturing
process. Things have sure changed since the RV-3 days...
There even happened to be a couple of RV-12 examples on display including
one of the new S-LSA aircraft. EN4 is currently in production on
an RV-12 build.
Gagarin737
Blue is quite dark when in the shade. When its perpendicular to the sun
it gets a few tones lighter. I will post the color numbers when I get
them from the painter (grey and blue are Peugeot metallic colors).
The painter loved the lines
(not) . We failed a bit at the aft window (white is a bit small).
Status ...Paul K in Michigan Done with the engine runs and done one taxi test to test the breaks
and the way it rolls. So far, so good!
Panel ...Fernando Abasolo
I think I will be ready to fly again in about 2 week,
this have been lot of work and pain to upgrade my panel, but I
am very happy with result.
"Best Low-Wing Homebuilt" at SnF
...John Long RV-8
"Today I received a plaque as "Best Low-Wing Homebuilt"
at Sun-N-Fun" 2013.
Photo, taken outside my hangar in Gastonia, KAKH, NC. This was on Dec.
19, 2012 about 20 minutes after I got back from the paint shop"
Rosie update:
Day 17- We have arrived to Grenada from Bonaire!
I have a few minutes while Jailbird/Keys check in to the hotel and wanted
to let you all know we are safe on the ground at Grenada
Flight time was 3:00.
Our routing was actually IFR way points to vector us through Venezuelan
airspace. We started out at 7500', then 9500', 11500' and even 13500'
for less than 30 minutes
The descent into Grenada had us, at one point, at 1000' over the ocean
due to cloud coverage over the island but it all worked out. We'll be
here two (2) nights, and I have a morning Dive planned with Keys.
Sharkbait is still trying to get out of Brazil, and we MAY see him
tomorrow (Tuesday). Opie & e-Stitch are on their own till they get back
to SoCAL, and I believe they were going to St. Lucia.
Thanks again to all who tracked us today (at work no less), and I'll
check back later with more details!
Jay Pratt new contact info
Jay's email address has changed. Adjust your records accordingly: RVcentral46 'at' gmail 'dot' com
I need a lift KTVR - KTLH
I am dropping off the CAF Red Tail P-51C in Tallulah LA next Sunday
afternoon, and need a ride back to Tallahassee Fl to pick up my
Rocket I would buy gas.... Anybody going that way
Sunday late afternoon or Monday would be fine.... Dougr(at)petroblend.com
or 641-425-5432
Doug Rozendaal
RV nightmares ...it's amazing how many people have the
'flying off your street under the power lines' dream (myself
included).
Left hand throttle quadrant for RV-6
Integrated it into the arm rest and made it largely using the RV-8 rear
throttle kit from Van's. I agree that it makes sense to mount only the
throttle on the left in the -6 and mount mixture and prop in the
conventional location. There is not a bunch of room on the left in a -6.
(red knob under the panel is an oil cooler door control).
(Brian)
Left side throttle just seemed right for me, might be the Citabria
influence. When I'm jockeying the throttle, I'm not changing radio
stations or tuning the GPS, so I don't worry about switching hands.
I would guess it took a week to route cables (custom), build custom
brackets for the FI. then build the mount 3 times to get it where I
liked it. Would I do it again?....most likely, I stubborn like that.
Mon Apr 22,
2013 1154Z The hunt continues for a Honda C70 scooter from the late
60's-80's to use on grocery runs (if you've got one that isn't getting
any love). No flying this weekend for me, but some nice time out
at the airport in good weather. Hope same with you. dr
(click
to enlarge)
4/19 - An impromptu BBQ broke out behind theVanCave on Friday NW
of Dallas, TX. 60*F and not a cloud in the state. Several of the usual
suspects showed up for BBQ brisket, ribs, baked beans and shooting the
bull. Pushed outside to make way for tables: RV-4, Bonanza and
RV-8. Good times, and thank you Gary and gang for inviting both
Susie and me. She had to teach yoga classes Fri and Sat night, so
this turned out to be our weekend dinner date. It was perfect ;^). dr
Hill Country Air Race (Llano, TX) 4-27-13
[ed. Every time I
see the word 'Llano', it takes me back to being a kid, deer
hunting with my late father at a lease site in and around the
Llano uplift.
Laying on my stomach on exposed granite, waiting for dawn with a
lever action Remington 30-30. I spent many hours in deer
blinds in the scrub between Llano and Mason. Looking
forward to the race pictures from this area! Thanks race
gang for the walk down memory lane. dr]
Home Safe, Friday 10 am
Home again! Thanks again to the VAF "family" we share with each other,
and my very patient wife and family. Also extra thanks to my
team at NASA, 6th floor, 4 South, for covering while I was gone.
Calgary to Disney... will this be the year!
...Troy Branch RV-10
For the last couple of years in spring we have planned to have a vacation
in the warm south west with a planned stop at Disney Land for
the kids. Both times we had to leave early from a house issue
and the other year from sick kids. I posted a write up of each
of these trips.
'ScrollF4'
(a.k.a. SidMayeux) is moving down to DFW in the next few
weeks and I offered to store his RV project until he could find a place
for it. It arrived Saturday safe and sound (the pic I sent him
below).
Workshop accidents
When it comes to safety when working on the RV, my main concern has
usually been the use of hand and power tools and the potential
for inadvertently drilling a hole through my finger! An incident
this afternoon reminded me that workshop accidents can sneak up
on you from unexpected directions.
Let me explain. It is autumn in this part of the world and the weather is
starting to get a bit gnarly, rain, thunder and a report of some
minor tornado damage not far from where I live. I am out in the
man-cave standing on a small stool, with my head buried in the
innards of the RV, when my dog, who is normally a pretty calm
beastie, must have been frightened by the thunder and decided to
climb up dad's back for 'protection'. (continue)
Day 16- Our Last Day on Bonaire
Our second full day on the Island is coming to a close following a
GREAT dinner with Chris & Indira Kleen who arrived today from Curaçao.
They stayed there on Friday and watched Keys/Tuppergal/Me depart for
Bonaire.
Bonaire is a SERIOUS DIVE DESTINATION and there is really
not a whole lot of things to do here other than DIVE so it was much more
enjoyable for the Kleens to stay on Curaçao!!!!
I'm going to save this post for the pictures that Keys has been taking
but he's asleep now, and I don't want to wake him. Unfortunately, since
we arrived on Friday, he's been a bit under-the-weather (his stomach),
and we are guessing it's the Chicharrones Salad that he had Friday
night.
Day 16- Our Last Day on Bonaire
This is a quick update to let you know we are planning a 1000-1100 EDT
departure from Bonaire to Grenada on Monday, April 22. I had
considered another day (as detailed in the previous post).
We plan to depart for the Flamingo Airport (10 minutes away) at 0830-ish,
and not sure how long it will take to 'clear out'...hopefully painless!
Keep an eye on our
ground track
Rosie
Fri Apr 19,
2013 1214Z Wishing you and yours a happy, safe and RV-filled weekend.
dr
RV-14 Landing Light Lens Install Tip
The final step to the outboard leading edge prior to riveting it to the
main wing is the leading edge landing light lens installation.
It's been reported that getting the lens up tight to the front
on the wing to pilot drill the screw holes requires two men and
a boy. I think that's probably a true statement after I held it
in place and tried to push. It seems like the lens is about
twice the thickness as the ones supplied in the previous landing
light kits by Duckworks. Since I was missing a couple of the key
players mentioned above I set out to find another way to push
the lens into place by myself. By the way, regardless of the
order of the manual instructions, don't rivet the lamp holder
bracket in place before this step. It'll just be in the way. (cont.)
RV nightmares...
"I occasionally have a dream where I take off from a street, then fly
along looking for a gap in the overhead wires so I can climb on
out. It never comes."
Day 12- Flying from the BVI (back) to the Dominican Republic
All right...let's get geared up for the overwater flight! I wear a
fishing vest under my life jacket that has a dye pack, mirror,
12"x40' orange streamer, brimmed hat, sunscreen and chapstick:
Day 12- Flying from the BVI (back) to the Dominican Republic
I mentioned it earlier but while cruising along, just to pass
the time, I'll preload points farther along the router just to
see what the leg time might be for our normal cruise speed. Here
are the times to:
Santo Domingo - 12 min
Curacao - 2:17
Bonaire - 14 min
Grenada - 2:17 (same distance as to Curacao from Santo Domingo)
How far to trim the forward baffles? I need to get the remaining clips for the connection between the
center and forward baffle sections fabricated and riveted in
place. The instructions are pretty vague about where to trim the
center section pieces with respect to the cowling. Do I line up
the forward part of the center section with the cowling inlet
and cut on the blue line? I know to leave some room for the
baffle gap seal material on the side. I don't have the upper
fiberglass inlet ramps glued on to the top cowling yet, so I
know there is still some trimming down the road.
The Trip Home... Joe Blank
It took one day longer than expected, but Sterling and I finally made it
back to Oregon in the RV-14. Weather was the biggest factor on the
return. With a unexpected snowstorm in the Rockies blocking the way,
Interstate 80 in Wyoming was closed due to a couple of feet of snow, the
mountain west was a complete mess. A divert to the southwest was in
order and the only way back.
Gwinette-Waycross-Palatka-DeLand
...flytoday Three male Martin generations, in Martin ver 2.0 I had 2 male
siblings but Daniel and cousin Gabe are the only males to carry the name
in Martin ver 3.0, and little Gabriel is the only male Martin ver. 4.0
so far... We are flush with X chromosomes.
Q: Fuel line assembly through firewall
I was going to install fuel line AN fitting thru firewall, and got to
looking at the plans, which I have inserted below.
They show putting the firewall doubler on motor side of firewall with
the AN833 going through it, then the AN spacer washer and nut.
Wouldn't it be better to put the AN spacer washer on the back side of the
firewall since the firewall is so thin?
A:
No. I can only tell you what I did on my -8. Put the doubler on the
aft side of the firewall, and the spacer washer on the firewall side.
A: I don't known which ones are building an 8 or 7, but on a 7 the
doubler is on the engine side. Two of the holes in the doubler are
riveted to the vertical firewall brace as seen below. Therefore the
doubler can't go behind the firewall.
A: I followed the plans, but moved the location down slightly to
clear the starter solenoid
Aileron Bellcrank Installation When I tightened up the pivot bolt to clamp the aileron
bellcrank bushing between one set of my aileron brackets, the
bellcrank felt like it was binding; not much but enough that I
could put the bellcrank in any position and it would stay there.
I did grind the bushing to length and I have about 0.020 -
0.025" clearance between the end of the bellcrank pivot and
bracket with the pivot bolt tightened.
The instructions say you have to ream the bushing for a slip fit on the
bolt. My bushing came with hole already a slip fit on the bolt,
but the bushing in the bellcrank is a light tap fit. Should I
ream the bellcrank pivot hole, or allow the bushing to "wear
in"? I did lubricate the bushing with molybdenum grease before
installation.
Wed Apr 17,
2013 1152Z
Day 11- An entire day of Island flying...Rosie and gang. Hi to our RV Family of Friends! We’ve been having such a GREAT
TIME here on Virgin Gorda that it’s REALLY easy to get behind (thus the
placeholders).
It’s nearly midnight but wanted to get you caught up for Today’s flying
(April 16th) which was a LOT OF FUN! (continue)
NC to ATL
We got a slow start south since ATL area had IFR WX this morning. Left
Asheville area about 2 pm and quickly arrived in KLZU, NE of
ATL. Daniel has his PPL Glider but is motion sensitive. A bit
bumpy today so I turned off the Trio Pro Pilot and he hand-flew
to keep up the concentration on the task and avoid any bad
feelings. He flew great!
Iron Butt Contest: 1,100n.m. in one day
....RV-14 prototype from the mothership
FB page.
(Joe Blank) "We did over 1100 miles today in "The 14" today from
Lakeland Fl to Wichita KS. Tomorrow we're planning to do another 1400
miles home to Oregon... This is an awesome plane!... Joe — at Jabara
Colonel James Airport."
See how relaxed he looks? ....the sunburn line on Rosie's
left thigh is hardly visible (g)
Tue Apr 16,
2013 1204Z My thoughts and prayers to all the people, family and
friends of those killed/hurt yesterday in Boston.
dr
Peter McCoy 9A Sighed Off ...ARROW completed. FAA
Inspection Done.
It’s been seven years. March of 2006 I got the crazy idea that maybe I
could build an airplane in my garage. Last Friday, the FAA said job well
done, go fly. My airworthiness inspection was completed and I now have
all the proper paper work that enables me to legally go out and fly.
ARROW is completed and in the plane.....
A - Airworthiness Certification. FAA inspector handed that over at the
completion of the inspection.
R - Registration. The first step in the process. I sent off three forms
and the FAA sent back the registration doc that registers my plane as
N35PM, Model: RV-9A, Manufacturer: MCCOY PETER J, Serial Num: 91335.
This is important as all subsequent paper work must match this exactly.
R - Radio Certification. n/a. This is an old one from the days where you
needed an FCC radio operator permit. I have one from back in the 70’s,
buy it is no longer required.
O - Operating limitation. FAA document that describes what my flight
profile will be in phase one flight testing as well as phase two flying.
I get to fly 40 hours in a highlighted orange box over the desert North
of Apple Vally, CA.
W - Weight and Balance. I weighed the plane and set the max gross
weight. This paperwork outlines the center of gravity (C.G.) and the
weight profile of various combination of passenger, baggage and fuel
loading.
So now the big question. When will I fly the first flight. The answer is
when I am ready, the engine is running smooth and sound, the weather is
clear with calm winds, the airport is quiet, there isn’t a crowd of
people standing around.... The first flight will be done soon, but not
before all the conditions are just right. After seven years, I am not in
a rush. When everything falls into the proper configuration, I will fly
the first flight. Might be next weekend, might be the weekend after
that. In any case, I am no longer waiting on anyone but me to decide
when it’s time to go fly!
SNF 2013 with Dad ...Bruce Sacks At 75 years old, I didn’t really expect my father,
Richard, to agree to fly with me to SNF this year but I made the
offer anyway. Soon enough though, he was in my RV9 and we were
taking off for Lakeland, Fl.
Monday and departure prep ...the Cards
Today was our last day on the island. We started with some breakfast in
the room as we did every day. Yesterday we had finalized a plan
for one of our top-secret primary objectives while on the island
and this morning was execution time. That took an hour or so and
we got the golf cart from yesterday returned just in the lick of
time this morning. Late morning was spent around the pool
chatting and doing picture stuff with others. By 11am six of us
had hatched a plan to rent silly bicycles and bike the few
minutes north to the Bohio resort for lunch and some beach time.
(continue)
The Charity Cap Strikes Again
...Heinz in Muenster, Germany
Got the caps today and donated 30 UK Pounds Sterling (ca. USD 45)
to Sue Ryder (www.sueryder.org)
- a national charity in the UK who this year celebrate their 60th
anniversary.
Here are my 2 caps in front of the PC Screen in my Office with the Sue
Ryder Webpage open
To me, they were one of those ubiquitous organisations that I never
really knew what they did. And I very much hope this state of ignorance
prevails for all of you for its not until a family member, a loved one,
a friend or indeed we ourselves, are unfortunate to succumb to a life
changing or terminal illness that you really appreciate the role of Sue
Ryder.
Their sole objective is simply to bring comfort to someone's final days,
or give a person with an incurable illness the opportunity to make the
most of their lives by providing health and social care services to
those in such circumstances within their local communities.
This is something of great support as I see this when I visit one of my
best friends (age 52) who is suffering brain cancer in a hospice here in
my hometown in
Münster.
Last year, Sue Ryder helped 16.400 people and their families. With more
support, they can help even more as the breakdown below reveals, every
little helps.
• Ł6 – provides three lunches for our patients
• Ł60 – provides two hours of physiotherapy for someone with multiple
sclerosis
• Ł600 – covers the cost of a Sue Ryder nurse for five days
• Ł6000 – covers the cost of running one of our hospices for a day
Take care, Heinz
fmi:
About the cap
NRA 500 RV Flyover, Texas Motor Speedway ...Sara Evans
singing.
(Stu McCurdy PIREP) Yup, it was Falcon Flight joining forces
with KC Flight and also a few others from Cincy and Pine Bluff.
Falcon Flight flew in from a performance from Burnet Airshow at
1320, KC Flight was already there having done the Nationwide
Race on Friday night. Ripper was doing the great job of the
logistics, and BeeGee did a great job of briefing and leading
the 23-ship for an EXACT TOT with Red White and Blue smoke.
Everybody brought their A Game and we felt it was a good show,
verified by comments from the Speedway. After debrief, they gave
us Pit Passes and we went over to watch the last 150 laps in the
pits and then from the stands. Then they provided lodging at the
Hilton Garden Inn.
A good time, good hosts, good flying, good leading. Good to see old
friends again.
Shawn Anderson
...VansAirForce.net charity participant. "Just got my new cap in the mail, and sent the $10 to Angel
Flight West, on behalf of vansairforce.net! Pics to come - I plan on
taking it when I deploy this summer!"
fmi:
more on the
hat
...and speaking of the person who compiles the RV White
Pages...
College Crunch Time If you're one of those folks
who usually
donate here in the first
quarter of the year, the year is a little over 25% done. I
try not to bug you much about donating, but Audrey starts
college in about four months,
and it's really getting to be crunch time. She got a
little scholarship money and a small grant, but, you know.
The current plan is biomedical engineering at
SMU,
most likely with graduate school. In other words, more
than our house (worded another way....3˝
RV-7s). No, I'm not doing OSH, or SnF, or really anything
for the next ten years. And I'm OK w/it.
I can pretty much guarantee
that if you send in a donation over the next few years, it will
be spent on helping this wonderful young woman become a
productive member of society. Then we start it with the
Tater...
Yes, I will post their grades here so you can keep an eye on your
investment.
fmi:
How to donate
(and
thank you).
Recent Out-the-door Panels from
SteinAir
"1) This is the upper portion of a panel from a customer’s RV-10 that
upgraded from old round instruments to new GRT. We made the panel and
the wiring harnesses plug into his existing plane.
2) Lancair Legacy with G3X EFISes in it. Really nice panel!
3) RV7 with G900X’s in it. "
Related: The 'SteinAir' edition cap....
A week doesn't go by in our house where somebody doesn't walk around in a SteinAir T-shirt. I thought I would return the favor using 'his colors'. Dropped in the mail yesterday to my buddy, Stein.
(click to enlarge)
related:
more on the cap thing
My name is Mark, and I made a Big Mistake in my Build
This is a cross-post of my blog entry today and while it was a stupid
mistake and one that isn't likely to be repeated by others, it
hopefully has redeeming value to others. While we aren't
building space shuttles as we often hear, it still needs to be
treated with respect and work needs to be done the right way. In
this tale, you'll see how one little mistake in reading the
plans one late night had a ripple effect. Luckily this was
caught in time and penance to the plane gods is now underway.
(continue)
RV-14 Builders ...from the mothership "Van's has been notified of a missing molex connector, ES-00045
one each from the Rv-14 wing kit, pg.17-05/06. Van's will be shipping
one each to all customers on record."
Day 4 - We be on Island Time
...Rosie Grand Turk update. Hi to our RV family of friends!
I have to APOLOGIZE for the delayed post to this thread but I am having
MAJOR computer malfunctions. I’m thankful Scott “Scoot” Card is
here to help, and we’ll hit it hard on Wednesday to figure out
what is going on: I can’t get into my website to upload pictures
AND the connection here is very, very slow
Like an ‘Audio Book’, please try to imagine what I am trying to describe
with the written word. I will do my very best to get pictures up
via another source (that Scott helps me with, thank you!
Our flight briefing on Monday night (April 8th) took nearly an hour with
a break in the middle for PIZZA (thank you Indira!). Once
complete, flight leads gathered for their brief and then we
called to file our flight plans.
Something I wanted to try was to file ONE flight plan for Alpha flight.
If you pull up an international flight plan (with instructions),
it says you can enter the number in your flight in BOX 9 then
enter their data (TYP/RV6 N212JC) in the remarks section. When
talking with the briefer, he skipped over this box. I asked
about it, and he said that it is NOT EVEN AN OPTION for him on
the computer system!?! No worries as he was able to ‘my flight
plan’ and I was able to give the Name, RV Type, N number etc for
each of my wingmen. Our filed route of flight was X51 direct
MBPV with a planned speed of 150 knots, 9500’ MSL with ETE 3:30.
This is my third trip here, and I really hope that some of you can also
fly here and enjoy the beautiful water and friendly ‘belongers’
who live here.
Tuesday, April 9th was our departure day from Homestead (X51) to
Providenciales (MBPV), Turks & Caicos and it started at 0515.
After getting packed up, we met the group in the lobby at 0600
for breakfast, and all were ready to depart the hotel at 0630.
We loaded up the three (3) minivans with 19 people, and arrived to the
airport ~0650. Everyone started readying their airplanes, canopy
covers were draped over tails, bags packed, thorough preflights
and then came the ‘donning’ of the life vests for the
now-customary group picture.
Alpha Flight: Rosie, Keys and Bill ‘need a call sign’ Wootton
turned-props at ~0740 and were wheels up at ~0753.
(continue
Day 4, part 1)
TruTrak SnF Announcement
Trutrak introduces the Vizion autopilot series. It features the same,
familiar user interface of the Digiflight II but with all new hardware
and altitude select! Prices start at $2800 for the Vizion 380 servos
included.
For Sun n Fun, Trutrak also announces new pricing on the GX-Pilot,
$2475 servos included!
For the month of April, all two-axis autopilots will include a free
automatic trim module. The Sorcerer autopilot, now priced at $6500, will
include a free automatic trim module as well!
related:
www.trutrakflightsystems.com
Cards Turks Update...
All are accounted for in Homestead. We launched out of Asheville NC this
morning on an IFR flight plan direct to Williston FL for fuel
and a quick sandwich. Good fuel stop. We got a number of funny
re-routes along the way, but just rolled with the punches as it
was so much easier than dodging clouds and actually having to
think
.
The island flight briefing is now complete with all involved. Too pooped
to be creative. This pretty much concludes my PIC time for a
while. I have been doing all of the flying up to this point. I
now hand the keys over to Tanya for all international operations
(she is flight lead for our flight). More pictures from today in
Rosie's thread and my other links above
Special flight
Saturday I had the privilege of flying Col. Dave Eberts (Ret) in my RV-8
for his 94th birthday! Dave joined the Army Air Corps in 1941 just prior
to Pearl Harbor. He served for 30 years and flew everything from the
Stearman to F-4.
Factory SnF Info
"Be sure to visit the Van's Aircraft Booth
We will be in exhibitor locations NE-12 & NE-13 (same as last year).
We are planning on having the RV-14
(as well as a few other models) on display!
Be sure to attend the forum presentation
"What's new at Van's Aircraft" with Van & Gus, scheduled Tuesday April 9
at 11am in Room 1.
Welcome Sean ...RV-10 builder
Hello all,
Sean from ELP, working on the RV-10 at a hangar in LRU, since I don't
have a garage ;(
Bought the wings a few weeks back from another gentleman who started
them. Just about finished on the wings. Ordering the tail this week to
keep the progress going. Due to work schedule and 30 minute drive to
hangar, goal is to be in the air in three years.
If anyone knows any good RV builders who may be able to lend a helping
hand or brain cell when I need it, I would appreciate someone local.
Really excited about the journey ahead!
Thanks!
RV-3 Question:
Does anyone have a photo by chance of what an "E-310" "rib" looks like
when you drop it into the left elevator.
RV-14 Prototype Visits theVanCave
....on the way to SnF.
RV-12 Service Bulletin 13-4-5
Oil Tank Mount Brackets.
All RV-12 Kits and flying RV-12 aircraft incorporating Fuselage
kits shipped prior to April 5th, 2013.
Fri Apr 5,
2013 Looking for a Honda C70/Super Cub/Passport moped from
'69-'80.
Daughter may steal borrow it for college here in a few
months, or it might get put on family grocery run duty (lotsa baskets). Any folks
got one they wouldn't mind selling to a good home w/o turning the
thumbscrews too much? Nothing in pink, please.
Wishing you and yours a happy, safe and RV-filled weekend!
dr
AVERY TOOLS SUN-N-FUN SALE!!!
Even though Judy and I are not going to Sun-N-Fun this year, we can have
a Sun-N-Fun Tool sale to celebrate the show.
Here’s the deal – starting this Saturday April 6th and going thru the end
of the show on Sunday April 14th we will have a
10% off sale; Plus, tool kits will have an additional 5%
off their already discounted price.
Our shipping prices remain the same -- $3.00 shipping for orders over
$100.00 value & $6.95 for orders under $99.00 value.
Tool kits, shop equipment, etc. will have higher shipping costs.
If you are starting a new airplane kit, now is the time to buy a tool kit
and take advantage of this special one week Sun-N-Fun sale.
Bob & Judy Avery / Avery Tools, LP www.AveryTools.com
That's me
...Roger Whittier (7A) talks about getting interviewed for an
article I am one of the builders in that article (I do not know the guy from
Mesa). They got my number from our EAA website, which I am
chapter president of... I know enough from my pre retirement
media training to be skeptical, very skeptical. A couple of
blanks I can fill in. The reporter already had the Stern Lancair
4 crash in mind (that was a big deal around here) and had found
the FAA data on experimental crash rates. So where he was headed
was not good, you know, experimentals are killing unknowing
pilots... He already had the information we dread having
incorrectly portrayed and publicized. I asked him if he was open
to the counterpoints. He seemed to be. I provided data from
other studies and asked that he read it before we talked more.
He asked if he could see my project. I agreed.
I made sure he saw Van's build drawings (the whole stack and the one that
I was doing at the time). And tools, books, parts, raw materials
and then things made from those raw materials, etc... My
project, which is wired, rolls around and is starting to look
like an airplane instead of a pile of parts was probably at a
perfect stage for a non builder to see. He was fascinated by the
work and the level of complexity to build it. I powered up the
panel, which is pretty well equipped. I wanted to demonstrate
this is not unknowing and unregulated, we talked for quite a
while. I covered the DAR inspection process. He realized this is
not a simple and scary case of a guy with a toolbox just fooling
around in the garage and then going out flying to endanger folks
on the ground.
In the end I "think" I turned what could have been a negative piece into
something neutral, probably better than neutral. At least he
saw it as a legitimate activity that, while having some inherent
risks, is not a willy nilly free for all and is not as unsafe as
the general public thinks.
As you pointed out, the title is generated by someone else to be eye
grabbing, I wish I could have influenced that. But otherwise I
am pleased how it went and I think the piece served our
community well.
Others comments in this thread are right, little planes scare people.
Most think we are nuts to build a plane let alone actually fly
it. But if we educate others about what we are doing and how we
take it seriously we win. We won't convert them to becoming
pilots or builders. But we can convert them from blindly scared
of what we do to at least respecting it. Even if they choose not
to join, they will not join the chorus against us.
Aerotronics / Synergy Air Class Giveaway
"Aerotronics is giving away one FREE spot in the Synergy Air
Quick-Building the Vans QuickBuild Class on May 6-10, 2013 in
Sunriver, Oregon. Giveaway entries will be accepted until April
15th, 2013 and the winner will be selected at random. Prize is
Valued $1,800.00." (more)
Tales of a Flight Tester
...Martha L. in Flying Sometimes I wish I'd spent less time giving (and taking) check rides
and more at the real business of aviating: flying an airplane from here
to there for a reason. And I’m not sure all the testing stuff is
anything to brag about; you handpick your weather and grind around
familiar territory with the same approaches and procedures, talking to
the same controllers. But I’ve been lucky to do the work in lots of
different places where I’ve made wonderful friends, flown with talented
aviators, dealt with rogues and downright crooks and had my share of
excitement. When you take a multimotor machine and some pilot you don’t
know to their limits, life can get pretty exciting. (continue)
SnF News from VAF Advertisers: Avery Tools
"Avery Tools has exhibited at and supported the SUN-N-Fun Fly-In
for the past 28 years (1984 to 2012). Judy & I wanted to let our friends
and customers know that we will NOT be attending the show this year
(2013). We have watched the show grow from the early days in 1984 (we
were the only aircraft tool company there in the mid to late 1980’s).
Over the past few years all the other aircraft tool companies exhibiting
at SUN-N-FUN have for various reasons dropped out of the show. From 2009
thru 2012 we were (again) the only aircraft tool company exhibiting at
the show. We made the decision after last year’s (2012) show to not
attend this year. Judy and I will miss visiting with all our friends and
customers that we supported these past 28 years.
WE WILL SEE ALL OF YOU AT OSHKOSH, however."
Wed Apr 3,
2013 Tomorrow is the sixth anniversary of me doing this site as my full time job.
A huge thank you from our family to those who help keep the pirate ship VAF afloat!
In today's no holds barred virtual world of in your face emotion and
aggressiveness, I'm grateful to see this place exist, with its posting rules regarding
civility and staying on RV topic.
On the old age front, got my 3rd class medical
yesterday. The doctor scratched out 'brown' on hair color and
wrote in 'gray'. I'm officially an old fart. Sigh...
dr
Safety committee’s report focuses on loss-of-control accidents
...by Dan Namowitz (on aopa.org) A work group of the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee, an
FAA/industry panel dedicated to reducing fatal general aviation
accidents, has completed its report on loss-of-control accidents
in the approach and landing phase of flight, including
recommendations for safety improvements.
AOPA’s Air Safety Institute co-chairs the joint steering committee, and
AOPA participated in the working group. A second work group,
focused on en route and departure loss-of-control accidents, is
chaired by AOPA and the FAA.
The work group focused on loss-of-control accidents because an FAA
overview of fatal general aviation accidents from 2001 to 2010
concluded that 40.2 percent of fatal accidents during that
period had loss of control as a cause. (continue)
O.D. Green VansAirForce.net cap
....owner
Randy Richmond.
How do you floss?
Once in a while I feed my Lycoming with a portion of leaded
gas. It digests good and performs well but need a hygienist in a hundred
or so hours. How d'you clean this? Yes, the lead deposits inside the
cylinders around spark plug hole.
Inversion therapy...Jon Thocker
In my never ending quest to eventually replace every original part on my
plane, I submit some pics of my fuel injection and inverted oil
conversion on my RV8. (more)
First Flight ...Larry Tompkins RV-6A There were many times when I wondered if this day would
happen or even if it was meant to happen. Saturday, for the first time
in 2 years and 6 months, my RV-6A had a fresh, signed off, condition
inspection and took to the air once again. I stayed in the pattern for a
while, then headed over to Scappoose (KSPB) for fuel, then north to
Toledo, WA (KTDO) to shoot some practice landings, then back to W52,
home base. 1.6 hours total. All of the mountains - Rainier, St. Helens,
Adams, Hood and Jefferson were visible on a CAVU afternoon!
Earlier this month I took 3.7 hrs of dual from Brian Moentenich in his
-6A, but my panel is different with switches in different locations, so
it will take a while before I am completely up to speed again.
The details of my hiatus from flying revolve around money and time (of
course). When it seemed like I had too little of either, I also wrestled
with the idea of whether or not I really had my priorities in order.
After flying Saturday, it seems that this is a blessing that was meant to
be. When I am in the air, I feel closer to my Creator than when I am in
church (sorry, Pastor John). In the end, this aircraft is not an idol,
it is a blessing that enables me to experience the magnificence of God's
Creation in the way that is most meaningful to me.
FAA Inspects N942PT...Pat Garboden
After 9.5 years, N942PT has gone from project to certified airplane. FAA
Manufacturers Inspection District Office (MIDO) in Wichita, KS brought
three inspectors for a 2.5 hour inspection on Good Friday 3/29/13. That
is equal to 7.5 man hours of inspection and questioning. Two inspectors
looked over the plane while the third covered documentation. Non-stop
questions. All three have military backgrounds and wore the faces to
prove it. I will give proper thanks to the many talented individuals and
family members that made this possible after first flight when I report
to Van's.
Special Airworthiness Certification is now in the plane. Phase I testing
in the near future
Complete with thumb
in shot...
....my impromptu video/pic capture while driving up to 52F Friday
morning after pushing out the site. Formation practice arrived
overhead as I got off the motorcycle. An experiment in using the iPhone as
the primary device - failed miserably but did get a nice blur of my
thumb ;^). Six pics and two vides at the link.
How did your new RV fair the first year?
Well today is the day 1 year latter from the first flight for the "School
Bus". It now has over 290 hrs on it.
Man it seems like yesterday that I was privileged with riding into the
air for the first time after 22 months of hard work.
Welcome:
www.wildblueinnovations.com
...home of the Aero Gust Buster
The "Gust Buster" is an engineered "gust control system" for
light aircraft. It is not a "gust lock" but rather a gust
control system that absorbs the energy of high wind events
protecting the control surfaces from . It is used in the cockpit
making it safer for the pilot, passengers, paint and structure.
Unlike external devices, the Gust Buster is safer for the pilot
and passengers because forgetting to remove this device before
flight is highly unlikely.
WD-803
"At least now I know, sooner or later I will have to make something
fit,,,,,but I'll give it an hour or thirty six before I drill."
World
Sunlight Map...with clouds. Watch the sun rise and set all over the world on this real-time,
computer-generated illustration of the earth's patterns of sunlight and
darkness. The clouds are updated every 3 hours with current weather
satellite imagery.
I set the link as a bookmark on my iPhone home page.
Out and about
B-24J seen while driving on Hwy 377 east of 52F. iPhone pic with
the window down.
Wed Mar 27,
2013 N73HR (120332) First flight 25 March
2013
Rob and Haruko Reese's RV-12, N73HR, S/N 120332, had its first
flight yesterday, March 25th, 2013 out of the Georgetown, Texas
airport (KGTU) . My favorite wife Haruko's favorite official
transition training pilot, John Albury (JetGuy) did first flight
honors, with his co-conspirator Colin Richardson (RDOG) in the
chase plane, N1212K, with Haruko riding shotgun. It was flying
so nicely that John's 30-minute first flight extended to about
two hours. A delightful 3 years, 1 month build time (mostly
Saturdays--I'm still gainfully over-employed), with advice and
consent from EAA Chapter 187 Tech Counselors Deene Ogden and
Seth Hancock.
This was the 232nd RV-12 reported to Van's to be flying.
__________________
Rob Reese. RV-12 #332. Austin, TX
RVs and the ME262 replica
Yesterday there was a big capital 'H' parked over N.Texas, not a cloud in
the state and deep, cool blue from horizon to horizon. Taxied out
to let my oil warm up and saw (3) other RVs on the field with the same
idea.
After takeoff a few of us switched over to 122.75 to talk. It was
made aware to us that the Collings Foundation had some hardware at
nearby Denton, TX (9nm
flight - 4min).Spotting deer can wait....let's go look at the planes. We
landed, taxied right up to 'em and shut down.
iPhone camera out. Pretty cool stuff. You'd think seeing a
262 replica was the highlight, but it wasn't. When I was cleared
for takeoff for the return trip, they told me about the Huey on the east
side of the runway paralleling me at about 100' agl. I took off,
then leveled off, and for the briefest of moments flew alongside a
Vietnam era Huey. Doors open and all.
Total engine run time....24mins (most of that on the ground warming up
and waiting to takeoff). The
history of this B-24J was really interesting. Built down the
road in Ft.Worth - returning to the exact same airspace 69 years later.
The pictures I took. Enjoy.
[ed. Used the 99˘ app 'Picashare'
to upload the pics directly to my Picasa site from the iPhone.
From the hangar....dr]
fmi:
ME262
-
B-17G -
P-51
-
B-24J
First Flight: David Oakes
I now have the RV Grinn!!!!!
At 1:40 P.M. on March 22, 2013. First flight went well. The very
next day flew 2 hrs. Now only 38hr more to take Donna. Thanks to
her and others that made it all possible.
Google & Garmin news over 12 hours
I goggled 'Garmin G3X' at 8pm my time last night, around 12 hours
after the latest Garmin announcements. I got the following
screen capture below. Google says
VAF's discussion of the new news got a higher relevance than
on the following sites: EAA, AOPA, Avweb, and even Garmin.com.
85,523 page views in the VAF forums yesterday, says
GoogleAnalytics.
Go RV community!
RV 12 saw horse collapse
Since most everyone has had to park their 12 on sawhorses for the gear
SB, this should provide some caution. I almost did the same,
using old plastic sawhorses, at the last minute I bought some
1000 lb capacity steel ones. This is a friends build, it crashed
when he was not even around it so he was not injured. No big
damage to the airframe was reported either.
Off-field RV-6A Landing
...follow-up in words and images from the keyboard of the guy doing
the flying.
Left Logan at 4:10 ish KLGU- for a company meeting in SLC U42. No
problems during the flight. Unfortunately They route you pretty low
right over the middle of salt lake as you're passing by the tower- so I
was at 5500 ft as I squawked vfr and set up for a right base for the
field. So problem one- already lower than I like- field elevation is
4600. make my turn to final- pull the power back a bit more to get under
100 mph for flaps-- put the first notch of flaps in, and run through
landing check again- somewhere amidst this I go to add power because my
glide path is a little low- This is the tricky part. I still don't know
exactly how long my engine was out before i figured it out. You have to
understand- smooth airplane (I've had compliments on the smoothness and
quietness from other rv owners) power is supposed to be at idle anyway-
and the prop didn't stop, its windmilling. Lightspeed Zulu? not much to
hear. Anyway, so eventually pumping the throttle i realize that i am
engineless. This is how high? maybe 750 ft high? at that point my glide
dropped far below the runway and i am suddenly super concerned that i am
right on the edge of making the soccer field. I put my flaps back up as
this glide thing is going through my mind. I have maybe 10 more seconds
to try anything to get the motor going- put the mixture richer, confirm
carb heat, boost pump, fuel selector- pump pump pump throttle. Nothing.
No time. No more time. Fly the airplane. (south valley traffic 00Z going
down in a park just south of the runway) I am not going to make the
field. i do an intermediate level off to clear the building south of the
park, but only enough to clear (actually split the buildings that's how
close it was) and then pitch back down to try to maintain the rest of my
airspeed as possible for the flare. Flare- happened so fast, obviously
didn't have much airspeed left because i went full rear stick fast- was
hard but good enough- next problem. Trees. had one or two seconds- hard
rudder input, whack, (split trees but hit park sign) and go up a hill to
a level off where i jamb the breaks and keep elevator back of course.
wow i stopped fast. I stop just before the second sidewalk and a second
set of trees. I am alive! I am ridiculously lucky i made that field. I
didn't flip! I hit my wing.... I am ALIVE! GET OUT! gas is coming out of
my right wing- flip everything off and jump out. (continue)
Fri Mar 22,
2013 Wishing you and yours a happy, safe and RV-filled weekend.
dr
iPad photo from the couch at
theVanCave.
Just after washing - click for larger image. dr
Welcome Adaptive Interfaces
"Adaptive Interfaces is a new company, based in Colorado,
offering a line of 2-1/4 inch digital instruments for home built
and experimental airplanes. We currently have 5 products: an
Altimeter / Encoder, a Mode C Decoder, an Electrical Monitor, an
Oil Temperature / Pressure gauge and an Engine Temperature
Monitor. Adaptive Interfaces wants to support the RV community
in any way it can. Please feel free to contact us at our web
site,
www.adaptint.com , with questions or issues you have with
our products as they relate to RV aircraft or any
other technical questions. We want to be involved and to help."
GLO Custom Paint Slot Openings
(from Grady) We wanted to let the RV builders know that GLO CUSTOM
has openings for the months May
and June for anyone who is
ready for paint give us a call at 817-430-2078.
fmi:
www.glocustom.com
Exhaust blow-by ...RV-12 I'm in the process of performing my second condition inspection. I
found that there has been some significant leakage of exhaust
gases from the right rear exhaust pipe muffler joint. See photo.
I will have to remove the muffler and investigate of course, but
wondering if anyone else has seen this?
Semi off topic
....watching my son fly r/c in the backyard yesterday evening.
This is the first time he went out by himself - no help. I
shot this image through the window.
Regret and the 'no go' decision
...Bob Collins Sometimes, I think I'm too risk-averse to be a pilot.
For the past six weeks, I've been planning a trip to Arizona with my
youngest (25) son. We're both big Cleveland Indians fans and
wanted to spend a couple of days watching the Tribe. My friend,
Darwin Barrie, offered to put the RV-7A up at his airpark and
give us his truck for the week to use.
And so began weeks of planning for the trip, which -- for me -- consists
of six weeks of worrying, playing "what if?". I pored over the
charts and established the best route. I consulted with Darwin
on the best approach into Phoenix' airspace. I'd go to sleep at
night thinking of the approach and memorizing every mile of the
route, the fuel stops, and the time. (continue)
Update to the hangar lift idea: Magenta
line is a steel channel that runs back to the tailwheel, bolted to the
car lift. Gray
square is a concrete counterweight that can be moved fore/aft and bolted
into place.
2-post 9,000 pound car lift is $1,300-$1,600 and has all the modern
locking safety features. Channel removable w/a wheel
on the 'concrete end' for rolling around the hangar (for when you need to lift a
car for maintenance. Move the weight to the 'RV position' in the
summer and 'Cub position' in the winter. Thoughts?
Jerry Turner: Pink Slip 9A
Today after 7yrs we have an airplane, thanks to so many for the help.
I now have to get myself tuned-up before I begin the flying
adventures of the new GreenPlane.
Tue Mar 19,
2013 Sorry for the 3 hour delay on the front page today.
Verizon's fiber optic threw up on itself (again) and I couldn't connect
to the interweb from the house for a bit. dr
Hello ...Prince Edward Island, Canada
Just wanted to say hello to all the users of this forum. I've been
lurking for a while but recently took the plunge and joined the
ranks of home builders. I purchased a -4 empennage and wing kit
from the fine folks of Chapter 105. I now have the kits in hand
and I'm getting organized to start building. I'm sure this will
be the first post of many in the years to come. I may be naive
but I hope to have this project completed in 5 years with a test
flight on my 40th birthday. I currently live on Prince Edward
Island, a small island in Atlantic Canada north of Maine but I
grew up in Alberta. I earned my Private license last summer in a
Piper Cherokee PA28-140. Previous to that I made it to OSH '11
with a friend who acted as PIC. Looking forward to starting this
amazing journey.
Aero Friedrichshafen...factory FB page.
Attention European customers! Van´s Aircraft is sending their
two most senior employees this year to Germany's Aero
Friedrichshafen, April 24-27. Dick VanGrunsven (aka "Van"
himself), along with Daryl Sahnow will be manning the booth,
assisted by local builders Stefan Schroter and Klaus-Peter
Morhard. If you're interested in RVs and in the neighborhood,
this is a great chance to talk with people who know the
airplanes as well as any can. Feel free to stop by and visit,
maybe get your picture taken with Van, and talk to Daryl about
kits, ordering, and get your questions answered...
You will find us in booth space B4-219
RV-8 stick force gradient when landing
In a recent thread on landing the RV-8, Ironflight observed that "it has
been shown that with the CG well after, the stick force gradient
goes negative as you slow down below about 65 knots (+/-). A
pilot needs to be ready and aware of this or they can over-flare
with a passenger." I have noticed the same in my RV-8, but I am
at a loss to explain aerodynamically why this occurs. This seems
only to occur when near the aft CG. Trimmed for landing with a
little forward pressure on the stick, as you slow and approach
flare the stick pressure goes to neutral and I find at touchdown
I am actually pushing forward to maintain the appropriate angle
of attack. Any thoughts about why are appreciated.
Upgraded RV-8 Panel ...N208ET I flew behind steam gauges for 300 hours and just
finished my upgrade. There is going to be a learning curve but I
have a couple hours flying behind this and am really liking it.
Factory Hobbs Meter
As of March 12, 2013 8,068 RV aircraft have been completed and
flown!
The National Transportation Safety Board adopted a set of
five “safety alerts” for GA pilots,
focusing on common causes that all have aeronautical
decision-making at their roots.
First Flight: RV-6A. 17yrs building. ...jpowell13
(Baton Rouge, LA)
Nice Wheel Pant Patch ...Aryana I've set less than 50 rivets my whole life, and I had a flush patch I
needed to get done on the wheel pant for my Cessna 170B.
Luckily, I have my buddy next door who built a beautiful -10 and he was
kind enough to bring his tools over and took the time to get me
up to speed with using the hand and pneumatic squeezer.
Countersinking, dimpling...I didn't want the fun to stop!
Anyways, my wheel pant is all fixed up and I am REALLY dying to
get my hands on an emp kit for a -8 now
.
I left the patch in primer because I didn't want to hide it. I'm actually
proud of my work and wish it was on the outboard side where it
would be more visible
.
Thu Mar 14,
2013
If you'll this permit this proud papa.... Yesterday afternoon our daughter's high school varsity treble choir
performed at the
Morton H.
Meyerson Symphony Center in downtown Dallas. This beautiful,
talented child. This gift from God. The 'AR' in my N-number.
The figure in the front row, right side, in the pic upper right is my
angel singing a solo on the stage of the hot dang Meyerson. Son and wife in
the row in front of me. You can imagine the size of our smiles.
We walked out afterwards to the ringing bells next door at
Cathedral Guadalupe -
news of the new Pope had reached us. A wonderful day.
An hour later Audrey called and said the bus got back to the high
school, and that just as she was about to start her car, the truck next
to her pulled out...turned a little sharp....and tore off her front
bumper. One of her choir mates driving the truck. I'll take that call
any day with a smile. Off to the Honda dealership tomorrow with
no worries. Time to shine, State Farm Auto. Audrey's in the
'ol Ford Ranger for a week or so, driving back to the high
school now as I type this - another performance today at the
AT&T Performing Arts Center (Winspear).
She can fly our RV pretty good, too.
Thanks for letting me brag about my
soon-to-have-a-fresh-bumper, amazing daughter. She raises my game,
and makes me a better person.
OK, back to RVs, and have a nice Thursday.
A notable day in the history of Van’s Aircraft....by
Van's Aircraft Inc.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013 may prove to be a notable day in the history of
Van’s Aircraft, Inc. An e-mail with a description, ordering
directions and an order form went out to all those who had expressed
interest in acquiring an S-LSA RV-12. About 10 minutes later the
fax machine whirred quietly and dispensed the first-ever order for a
fly-away-from-the-factory RV. We don’t know if Boeing or Cessna
are aware of the threat yet...(continue)
.
departed five different airports in Arkansas and Louisiana and headed
for Big Bend State Park.
What:
Factory NEW Lycoming XO-360 A1A for $24,000. (crating/shipping or
pick up at buyers expense – Located in
Knoxville, TN area)
.
I was replacing a Navaid A/P which never worked, turns out I wired it
wrong
When I tightened up the pivot bolt to clamp the aileron
bellcrank bushing between one set of my aileron brackets, the
bellcrank felt like it was binding; not much but enough that I
could put the bellcrank in any position and it would stay there.
I did grind the bushing to length and I have about 0.020 -
0.025" clearance between the end of the bellcrank pivot and
bracket with the pivot bolt tightened.
Left Logan at 4:10 ish KLGU- for a company meeting in SLC U42. No
problems during the flight. Unfortunately They route you pretty low
right over the middle of salt lake as you're passing by the tower- so I
was at 5500 ft as I squawked vfr and set up for a right base for the
field. So problem one- already lower than I like- field elevation is
4600. make my turn to final- pull the power back a bit more to get under
100 mph for flaps-- put the first notch of flaps in, and run through
landing check again- somewhere amidst this I go to add power because my
glide path is a little low- This is the tricky part. I still don't know
exactly how long my engine was out before i figured it out. You have to
understand- smooth airplane (I've had compliments on the smoothness and
quietness from other rv owners) power is supposed to be at idle anyway-
and the prop didn't stop, its windmilling. Lightspeed Zulu? not much to
hear. Anyway, so eventually pumping the throttle i realize that i am
engineless. This is how high? maybe 750 ft high? at that point my glide
dropped far below the runway and i am suddenly super concerned that i am
right on the edge of making the soccer field. I put my flaps back up as
this glide thing is going through my mind. I have maybe 10 more seconds
to try anything to get the motor going- put the mixture richer, confirm
carb heat, boost pump, fuel selector- pump pump pump throttle. Nothing.
No time. No more time. Fly the airplane. (south valley traffic 00Z going
down in a park just south of the runway) I am not going to make the
field. i do an intermediate level off to clear the building south of the
park, but only enough to clear (actually split the buildings that's how
close it was) and then pitch back down to try to maintain the rest of my
airspeed as possible for the flare. Flare- happened so fast, obviously
didn't have much airspeed left because i went full rear stick fast- was
hard but good enough- next problem. Trees. had one or two seconds- hard
rudder input, whack, (split trees but hit park sign) and go up a hill to
a level off where i jamb the breaks and keep elevator back of course.
wow i stopped fast. I stop just before the second sidewalk and a second
set of trees. I am alive! I am ridiculously lucky i made that field. I
didn't flip! I hit my wing.... I am ALIVE! GET OUT! gas is coming out of
my right wing- flip everything off and jump out. (
Attention European customers! Van´s Aircraft is sending their
two most senior employees this year to Germany's Aero
Friedrichshafen, April 24-27. Dick VanGrunsven (aka "Van"
himself), along with Daryl Sahnow will be manning the booth,
assisted by local builders Stefan Schroter and Klaus-Peter
Morhard. If you're interested in RVs and in the neighborhood,
this is a great chance to talk with people who know the
airplanes as well as any can. Feel free to stop by and visit,
maybe get your picture taken with Van, and talk to Daryl about
kits, ordering, and get your questions answered... 
.
.
