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What did you do w/your RV this weekend? (3/4/2023 - 3/5/2023)

DeltaRomeo

doug reeves: unfluencer
Staff member
Sunday had the privelage of giving one of the IPs at the sim his first RV flight. Just like pretty much everyone, he dialed it right in after a couple of minutes. Met up with Monk in the -8 he was flying over toKXBP for fuel. We briefed a little formation for the way back and Travis got to experience a join up, some cross unders, in trail and a pitch out…..all on his first RV flight. Not the worst first RV introduction for someone asking about the hobby. <g>. After landing some Q&A on tools, what's really involved when building and the 'RV lifestyle'. Fun had by all.

Solar farm west of Denton, TX:


Travis logging his first RV time:
 
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Watched the sunset over eastern NC.
 

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First solo in my new 9A

On Friday(OK not technically the weekend yet) I made my first solo flight in my new 9A. It flies beautifully, but this low time Cessna pilot still has some work to do on the landings.
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Sonoma County

Formation Practice
 

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On Friday(OK not technically the weekend yet) I made my first solo flight in my new 9A. It flies beautifully, but this low time Cessna pilot still has some work to do on the landings.
You have to really start to get comfortable with going slow enough on the landings to not float all the way down the runway. I aim for 60 knots over the numbers, then just keep it off the runway as long as you can. It starts to settle at less than 55 knots. My first landings were 70 knots and that was WAY too fast. 65 knots was getting better, but still too fast for short fields. Full flaps at 60 knots has a pretty high sink rate, so I will keep around 1300 RPM on short final.

Good to see you flying your -9A!
 
Starting my Conditional

Another service bulletins that recently came out that required taking the horizontal stabilizer off to put stiffeners on the counter counterweight. This process would require taking off the horizontal stabilizer re-rigging after the repair was complete. That method would have been a major pain and time suck. The other option is remove it from the inside. With the help from Jasmine my hanger neighbors’, daughter. She crawled in the tail as I released it from the outside, she pulled it out of the attachment point and handed it to me through the bulkhead opening. Once I completed the SB repair she crawled back in and then we attached it back. Total time was about 45 min and very easy with her help. Better than 1 - 2 hours of work. :)
 

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Flew some Young Eagles and look what showed up

Some things only happen once and you have to be lucky to be there. Not one, but TWO P51’s came to our EAA 66 Young Eagles breakfast. Now those are some expensive eggs!!
 

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Thin fuselage help....!

With the help from Jasmine my hanger neighbors’, daughter. She crawled in the tail....

I could have used Jasmine's help today! I was back in the tight confines of SuzieQ's fuselage securing wires for the remote compass and ADS-B. Gets REALLY small back there.....BUT it might be my last trip back there for a while except for running the shopvac to clean out all the junk that accumulates when one is doing things in the back of the airplane...:) I'll use the L O N G extensions...:p
 
You have to really start to get comfortable with going slow enough on the landings to not float all the way down the runway. I aim for 60 knots over the numbers, then just keep it off the runway as long as you can. It starts to settle at less than 55 knots. My first landings were 70 knots and that was WAY too fast. 65 knots was getting better, but still too fast for short fields. Full flaps at 60 knots has a pretty high sink rate, so I will keep around 1300 RPM on short final.

Good to see you flying your -9A!

Thanks Bruce! I have many reasons why landings are taking me a bit to get used to. 1. A brand new plane that's totally different from the 172 I flew, 2. I'm a low time pilot 3. It's winter here and the weather is making it REALLY difficult to string together 2 flying days within a month of each other. Tips like yours are a great help. I also have a terrific pilot that's helping me keep on the straight and narrow with transition training. The sink rate you talk about definitely takes some getting used to.
 
Flew my bride to KCLL for lunch

She LOVES to fly with me. After an appearance at the EAA Chapter 1246 gathering at KTKI, we went to College Station to the Gate 12 Cafe.
I'm still impressed it only took an hour...

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Quick run to east TN and back. Beautiful night ride home. Doesn't get any better than this...
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Thanks Bruce! I have many reasons why landings are taking me a bit to get used to. 1. A brand new plane that's totally different from the 172 I flew, 2. I'm a low time pilot 3. It's winter here and the weather is making it REALLY difficult to string together 2 flying days within a month of each other. Tips like yours are a great help. I also have a terrific pilot that's helping me keep on the straight and narrow with transition training. The sink rate you talk about definitely takes some getting used to.

Same here!! Low time pilot (all C172), new RV-7A, not a lot of time to fly due to weather. Slowing down in the pattern and keeping it even slower over the fence has been a struggle. I know how to do it but just disciplining myself to do it consistently has been a challenge. These things really get away from you if you don’t seriously concentrate on a good pattern.

My first landing at my home airport (downslope runway) I was screaming in at 75kt over the fence! I floated over half the runway belatedly slowing it down. Nearly a go around.
 
Glued canopy to frame

Hung the engine last weekend
Glued the canopy to the frame this weekend
On both occasions invaluable help from my friends Brady and Cameron
Making real progress now.

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Started Painting my RV4 Tail

I started paint prep and finished painting my empennage. I had the tail cut off at OSH as I was getting ready to depart Air Adventure last July. After rebuilding the empennage and a test flight, I removed it for painting. Just painting in the driveway.
Still have not taken pictures of the final finish. What is shown is the base coat. I did have an issue as the paint was curing, one of the parts slid off its mount and impacted the other parts and ended up with some blemishes. A few choice words escaped!
 

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Ahem-this requires more expanation...:eek:

I had been at OSH for a few days and had packed up and was taxing out. The marshalers had me stop at the intersecting taxiway and I had been sitting for a minute. All of a sudden, the control stick shook. I looked down at the stick, and then up at the instruments. Every thing was ok, and then I thought, oh no! Looked behind me, there was an RV-8 a little closer than he should have been. After we both made out way out of the planes, he walked up and said; I'm sorry, I did not see you. I replied, that's ok, I did not see you either. That is how you make confetti out of a empennage.

Within three minutes we had the FAA, NTSB, OSH insurance, my insurance, his insurance, OSH ground crew, and a host of other interested parties joining us. Everyone was primed and ready to go. Sure was glad I had all my paperwork in order.
 
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