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What did you do with your RV this weekend? (4/1-4/2, 2023)

DeltaRomeo

doug reeves: unfluencer
Staff member
....getting it started.
v/r,dr

Sunday the WX and scheduling gods allowed me to get the RV-6 off the surface for the first time in 28 days. Mental gyros recalibrated <g>. 39kts at 1,000’ with TSRA a few hours away (and a racing TFR), but got .5 in under the wire. All better.

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About to launch…

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Lake Lewisville looking east not too long after sunrise.

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Obligatory shot of panel in flight. (Full size)

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Sailboats…looking like a sleepover.

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Back on deck 0845 before the 1000 TFR goes hot.

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Groundtrack afterwards…..


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World’s greatest hobby!
 
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Flyover

Enjoyed a private fly over at my 55th from my friends at Falcon Flight -- shout out to Shorts, Scroll, Luke, Rippster, Mills for the 5 ship/2 pass.
 

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Not quite the weekend, but a little mountain tour on Wednesday. Pics of Glacier Peak:

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California flooding...

After all the rain we've been having here in California, I decided to check up on a local bridge on one of the first clear days we've had ... seems to be doing fine, but lots of water everywhere ...

Quick trip to KDVO and back to KHAF .. 16 mins by RV; 1:20 plus by car per google maps. Love these planes!

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Mackinac Bridge

I took the chance for a nice 3 hour flight this morning up to northern Michigan. It was pretty bumpy up to 3500 but at 5500 going and 6500 coming back, it was nice and smooth. But, it was cold!!!

I did flight following both ways. I dont normally use FF but trying to get better at communications. I have some towered airports I want to go to this spring so I need the practice!
 

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I didn't get to fly, but I did complete all the repair work associated with SB-00036 and didn't have to completely unzip the skin to get'r'done.

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More details here.
 
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Two more Young Eagles

Introduced two brother and sister teens to flying this Sunday at EAA 66’s monthly breakfast and Young Eagles event. Flew the sister first, and when the brother came down, the sister told him she’s never seen him smile so much! Hook set!!
 

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Saturday did three Young Eagle flights at EAA #14. Always a fun time!

Earlier in the week the weather was nice, and I was on Spring Break, so I flew up to the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve near Lancaster, CA. All of the rain we have been getting here has really greened up the desert areas and lots of color was just starting to show up.

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Diving into fitting the cowl. Today I figured out how to stabilize the sort-of-free-floating portion of the -8 firewall by temporarily putting the baggage door in place. Also added some adjustable vertical supports for the front of the cowl, and did an initial trial fit with the upper cowl half.

Pro tip for -8 builders: don't remove the baggage door cutout from the forward upper skin until after fitting the cowl.

Edit: Hm...what happened to nice image resizing on my build log? Oh well, here's a link to the post instead, so I'm not responsible for destroying this page layout: https://rv.squawk1200.net/2023/04/02/more-cowl-fitting-prep-work/
 
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Saturday did three Young Eagle flights at EAA #14. Always a fun time!

Earlier in the week the weather was nice, and I was on Spring Break, so I flew up to the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve near Lancaster, CA. All of the rain we have been getting here has really greened up the desert areas and lots of color was just starting to show up.

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WOW,I worked at Northrup Grumman in Lancaster and never saw the desert like that. Wow.
 
Pro tip for -8 builders: don't remove the baggage door cutout from the forward upper skin until after fitting the cowl.

Or fabricate/install some simple ribs and then cut out the door. The lower end anchors to the topmost and 801-F angles. Floppy no more.
.
 

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KLAL to KHWY with a fuel stop at KMAO. 4.52 on the tach. I love this machine.
 

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I got out of my comfort zone and took my 14A out into the CA central valley to start building real test time. Went Oakland - Harris Ranch for lunch, over towards Mariposa before getting a text about being late for dinner. Stopped for fuel at Oakdale before returning to OAK.
 

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Updated cowl heat shields

Decided it was time to attack the lower cowl interior- definitely time for update/upgrade of heat protection. I researched threads on VAF and decided to go with several coats of epoxy w/white pigment, aluminized heat barrier from ACS, covered the barrier edges with aluminum tape for protection and then applied neat epoxy to the tape edges.
 

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Cowl work....

Decided it was time to attack the lower cowl interior- definitely time for update/upgrade of heat protection. I researched threads on VAF and decided to go with several coats of epoxy w/white pigment, aluminized heat barrier from ACS, covered the barrier edges with aluminum tape for protection and then applied neat epoxy to the tape edges.

Wow! Nice job! Looks like a new cowl! I like your heat barrier pattern! That should help with your heat problems!:)
 
Pilots N Paws mission on Sunday. 994 Nautical miles OKV-DMW-CUB-SPA-DMW-OKV. 2 pups down to South Carolina, pick up 3 more and bring them North. All possible with an RV's speed and efficiency :)

Unfortunately, there is a never ending supply of these poor animals that need help.

No clue why the thumbnail pics are rotated but if you click on them they are correct...
 

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Flew half of the "America is Square Tour"

Flew from Key West (KEYW), FL to Eastport and Frenchville, Maine (KEPM/KFVE). The idea of the trip was to fly to the farthest airports of the corners of the US in one trip. When we left Frenchville, Maine and headed towards 11S in Washington I decided the nasty PNW weather would cause the fun meter to peg on ZERO so headed back to Florida and postponed the second half off the four corners trip.

Once the weather gets better on the West Coast the trip will continue and we will hit the remaining corners in Washington and California.

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Chris,

upon looking closely at your photos, I just realized that when you were standing outside holding the pup at KCUB, you were RIGHT IN FRONT OF my hangar at KCUB!

I always try to "Welcome to Columbia!" anyone that I see that land in an RV so I must not have been there when you came through.

If there is a next time, feel free to stop by.
 
After pulling up the stakes at Sun & Fun I shot this ghost plane photo of Van's Booth - we had lots of foot traffic and no rain this year. It was a great show - even if I had to answer the "Where is the RV-15" question a million times. ;)

Taxiing out to leave S&F I had a couple of F-35s hot on my tail.

I made an overnight stop at Spruce Creek to visit with some old friends and I headed back home on Tuesday. After climbing to altitude and leaning out, I was seeing 195 MPH ground speed and 29 MPG. Southern Michigan to central Florida in 6 hours (including 1 stop). I love my magic carpet.

I had to move Mr. Lindy over a little bit to make room for another award on the shelf. :cool:

I know it's an old saying but if you're still building - Keep pounding those rivets, it's all worth it!
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