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What did you do with your RV this weekend? (6/19 - 6/20/21)

SPX

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We had planned to fly up to Torrance, CA (TOA) to get some Indian food tomorrow. But due to a number of factors, I decided to head up there alone this afternoon and get the food to go, and eat it for dinner at home.

The marine layer was supposed to clear up around noon, but when I was ready to go, it was still overcast at TOA. I filed a quick IFR flight plan, but departed VFR, planning to pick up the flight plan in the air, if needed. That plan worked fine, and near Orange County, I received my clearance to TOA. I did the GPS 29R approach into TOA and then parked at transient parking, and walked over to the restaurant, calling them to place my order on the way there...

The food was ready when I arrived, so I picked it up, and walked back to the airport. Back in the plane, and by this time the marine layer had pulled away from the airport, but was still hugging the coast. I did a right downwind departure from 29R, and headed south over the Queen Mary, continued along the coast, and then landed back home...

Pretty nice to have an airplane to pick up dinner with. :D. Whether the food to go is any good is still TBD.

I've said it before, but it's worth saying it again... for those that are looking for somewhere in the SoCal area to fly, TOA is a good spot. Plenty of transient parking, a nice GA terminal to relax in, clean restrooms, and an easy walk (10 minutes or less) to probably 20+ restaurants. In addition, it's quite easy to fly VFR in/out of.
 

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90%done 90% to go

Wired up the baggage lights.

I know this is suppose to be a flying thread to motivate those of us who are still building, but I cant help myself.
 

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Wired up the baggage lights.

I know this is suppose to be a flying thread to motivate those of us who are still building, but I cant help myself.

Well, a few years back, I originated this thread/idea. My concept was to share what the flying RVs were doing, but also include the builders, so they could share what they were doing.. I think I can speak for most of us and say we'd welcome seeing what those still building are working on too!
 
As often happens at an airpark, the banter gets a little over the top. For several months, the resident trouble-makers have been contemplating formation mowing for the airport property. The day finally came, and we had 14 mowers lined up to turn blades. It took 25 minutes to mow 20 acres.

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Then, or course, since Oshkosh IS coming...It is time to be not only IFR legal but absolutely proficient. So, it was off for a few approaches to hone some of those skills.

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No flying this weekend, I'm in the middle of my annual. Should be up again before next weekend. I did fly the 1/2 hour to Springbank on Monday to meet up with an instructor to get some instrument training in. Revised TAF dropped while I was enroute and I was greeted by a storm threatening heavy rain and hail. After scrambling to find a hangar to pull into I watched the storm take a path north toward my home airport. A couple of hours later I headed home - no training flight.

The most significant part of my week was writing and passing the instrument written exam yesterday. 20 more hours of training and a flight test and I'll be rated. This summer hopefully.
 
Continued painting the fuselage. Joe Lucia painted this fantastic nose art for me in only two hours! I have a time lapse video of the process (or most of it) on my YouTube channel; I'll include a link below. Continued with the squadron lettering; discovered I only had one set of vinyl masks for the Stars & Bars instead of the four I'll need. Pressed on... and it's only a small part of the painting process, but unmasking the N-numbers is still a very special moment.
ACtC-3etKKrBg3tXHBy_MtiYsRc0VImgJj_gH0KgUKIkhyg5_GbG4svtKQjhz5fvbNLKSXAsuFsOpzZH6c2BcULm9bGd3FMFgLMxINC1UJDcX8cPCyTyFQMOalw3UAhhU9kQLTo5auWIFLNGdqkY66v_4--1=w900-h540

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https://youtu.be/_LyyNrrtgGU
 
Getting ready for 36th Annual Father’s Day Fly-in Breakfast from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm at Beach City Airport (2D7). Starting to check weather now at 3 AM. I've been going to this fly-in for over 25 years.
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Drove (sorry, but Harbor Freight was on the way) to breakfast at the local grass strip, then a friend drove to the big airport, got in the RV-9A and flew up to 3J0, Hampton County, South Carolina. They were having a ribbon cutting as they had just repaved everything and built 20 T hangars and two box hangars. All of the T hangars and one of the box hangars were rented before they were completed...

Was going to shoot better video of some of the Expanded Envelope Exercises® on the way back, but the weather was about 2500 overcast with a hazy background. From experience, those lighting conditions make the video have low saturation, i.e., almost look like it was shot black and white.

Also wanted to explore Low Speed Spirals as a possible accident mechanism following a failed Impossible Turn, but wanted more altitude for safety and better lighting for the video. Also wanted to document flight characteristics of an abrupt power chop at Vx, but...

The worst part of the South Carolina trip was that I was parked next to a brand new, unpainted RV-7A, and then an old Piper Tomahawk with a nice paint scheme parked next to us. Folks walked by the two RVs to look at the Tomahawk...
 
Beautiful day so I went up for 1.5 hours to practice the "Possible Turn" for the first time, in the hopes of establishing a min altitude for a turnback.
 
One week late... I forgot to jump on this thread last weekend. We fly to Neil Armstrong (AXV) for new terminal building dedication. Weather was perfect. Had a great time...
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CELEBRATED 16 YEARS OF FLYING MY RV-8

I can’t believe it was 16 years ago that I first flew my RV-8 (officially May 30, 2005). Talk about time flying (pun intended). While the total hours aren’t all that high (about 900), every one of them was fun. The great thing is that I like the airplane even more now than when I logged that first flight hour. Thanks again to Van and the crew at Van’s Aircraft for designing and supporting such a great machine.

I figured after 16 years the plane deserved a little polish. The paint has held up well and I’ve always just washed it, but the polish definitely made it shine a bit brighter. I used a bottle of NuFinish since it’s quick to apply and wipe off. (See “Waxing Your RV” thread started on February 5, 2020).


BEFORE


AFTER


I thought for her Sweet 16, a few new photos were in order. Thanks to Dylan Phelps for the air-to-air session. Dylan is a local DFW resource and did a great job. Enjoy.


I sure am glad they buried the telephone lines at the south end of T31.


Over Lake Lewisville just north of Dallas, Texas.



Late afternoon light shows airplanes at their best.



Propeller discs always look cool in photos.
 
I used the RV to see my dad for an early Fathers Day, he was recovering at a clinic after hip replacement surgery. Thankfully everything went well and I flew back home for an overtime shift. Jumped back in the RV for a flight to the lake for a day and a half. 2 1/2 hours flying vs 9 hours driving.
 
Sale of my RV-10 closed. Wire delivered yesterday.
Now looking for an RV-14A.
Oh and broke up with my girlfriend.
 
Mistress

The photo says it all..
 

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Transition Training

Just returned from Oregon after receiving my third round of transition training in the 14A with Mike Seager. The weather, the aircraft and Mike were amazing. Expect this to be my last round with Mike if I get my QB wing anytime soon. Otherwise, getting very close.
 
Santa Catalina - KAVX

My bucket list included flying to Catalina Island, and I checked that one off this weekend. A friend was buying a car in Lancaster, CA and needed a ride. I dropped him off Saturday AM and flew over to my daughter's house near Fullerton. Spent the night with her and we went to Catalina on Sunday. The clouds were low and they just broke at Fullerton around 11 AM. KAVX continued to show VFR, so I knew if I could get over the cloud layer, while staying out of the Bravo, I could make it. Of course we did, and as you can see the airport is just above the layer. We had a great day hiking around. One more thing checked off...
 

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Cruising at 9500, summer is here

Northbound in the Kananaskis area towards Banf, Alberta
 

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Nehalem

Took a lovely trip in the RV-12 to Nehalem Bay State Park on the Oregon coast. One of my favorite airports to land at, within easy walking distance to a beautiful beach (and you can camp there, too, but we didn't this time).

The coastal fog usually burns off around 9AM (at least according to the TAFs) so I timed the flight to land around 9:30. As we were getting to the coast, I started to feel pessimistic. Tillamook is down in this valley somewhere...

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But when we reached Nehalem Bay, the fog had cleared off just enough to let us land.

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You can't tell in this small version of the photo, but that's a Wilga all the way in the back. You don't see that every day!

(Within an hour or so, we were joined by an RV-4 and an RV... 7A or 9A, I forget).

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A quick walk through the trees and...

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We made it!

Had a little picnic, which was not easy due to the strong wind. We talk about hundred-dollar hamburgers; Here's a hundred-dollar bagel! Well, in the RV-12 it's more like a forty-dollar bagel...

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Things looked much clearer on the way out.

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Rural Oregon, with its patchwork-quilt of small farms, is really beautiful. And note Mount Rainier in the distance. In fact, all the volcanoes were "out" despite a wildfire that created some slightly-brownish haze. Once we got up higher, it was easy to see Rainier, Helens, Adams (below), and Hood and Jefferson a little further right.

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Have a good week, everyone!
 
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Took my 87-yr-old dad for a ride in my -6 out of TOA. As noted, there was plenty of stratus the past few days which means it's hot above the clouds (80+F). But, the awesome A/C took care of that problem.
 

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I was able to fly my RV4 this weekend, just because I wanted to. This RV4, or any RV4, could be the best flying airplane I’ve ever owned. Then I prepared my hangar for my next project. I swore I wouldn’t do this again, but here I am. It was delivered today (Monday):

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I now have an RV6 to complete. I’ve come full circle. RV6 #2 - (my #1 RV6 build was in the late 90’s), 2 RV8’s after that, and 2 RV4’s that I didn’t build, but ‘modified’ extensively. This airplane will be for my wife (primarily), and for jumping rides with my grandkids, and others. A side by side is better for that. I’ve said that I wouldn’t do this again, but here I am. I’m approaching the age where this may become difficult, but you know what? It’s something that I love to do, and that’s good for me (and others too, maybe).
I purchased this kit from Vans employee (engineer) Taylor, who is not the original builder of this older kit, but put some very good effort at bringing it along. It’s about time she sprouted some wings, and ‘defied a little gravity’, (Beach Boys), not my method, but you get the drift. Hope to bring it to Sun-N-Fun next spring, definitely Oshkosh ‘22. I’ll be at KOSH ‘21 in my RV4 if anyone is interested in an extremely well built O-360 powered pocket rocket.
 
Amazing little machine...

KMAN to KMFR and back. 28.1 gallons. 590nm. Averaged about 160ktas. Still amazed by this wonderful airplane. Plus, you get to do this along the way...
 

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The most significant part of my week was writing and passing the instrument written exam yesterday. 20 more hours of training and a flight test and I'll be rated. This summer hopefully.

Nice! That's a big step, not to be ignored.
 
Unforgettable weekend

So I’m a little late, this happened a few weekends ago but this one will stay with me.

My good friend Don and I flew our RV’s to meet another friend as he brought his newly restored P51 back to Canada from Florida. We flew formation for an hour back to our home airfield and did a couple of low passes at various airfields along the way. We could hear his engine roar even through our ANR headsets. Don and I were at 2400 rpm and Hannuh was at low power with 2 stages of flap.

What a day.

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PAEN to KFFA

Arrived at KFFA June 20, 2021:
29.8 hours/4481.5 miles.
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20 gallon AUX tank can be seen sitting in passenger seat! Big help on a trip like this. Modified with Velcro, big help keeping pens/snacks/notebooks etc. handy.

Installed the echo-UAT ADS-B system for this journey.

Flew back to Alaska yesterday 6-27-2021, one day flight from KORS to PAEN took 9.9 hours and covered 1558.8 miles. Refueled at PAPG. Had to divert, Prince William Sound was IFR, flew north to PAGK then under the clouds back to PAEN.

Best regards,
Mike Bauer
 
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