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Cal’s RV-9a (#2)

cgeyman

Well Known Member
Starting new build. Sadly my just completed rv-9a crashed on hour 6 of phase one. Engine stopped. NTSB tear down end of month. Occurred two months ago and just now recovering enough to start over. A shame. But, enjoy the Van’s kits and precision. Wife still has banished me to the hanger. Not sure yet why engine stopped. Will have lycoming on hand.
 

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Happy to see you have recovered to the point you can get back to building the new 9A. Best wishes on the next build, now that you know the 9A well should be an easy project this go around.
 
I'm probably about a month or maybe 2 from my first flight of my 9A and can't imagine losing the plane after 6 hours. Glad you're well enough to be building. Good for you!!! Do you have any details on how you set the plane down and where?
 
My thoughts

I think I ran the right tank dry but switching tanks didn’t help. I am thinking my lightweight composite prop stopped and I should have started the starter ( not on my mental engine out checklist). We will see. NTSB has full garmin g3x data so hopefully it will be definitive. The crash photos showed no prop rotation, meaning the left prop fragmented and the right prop was fine. Thanks for asking. The photos are grisly. 😊 . I lost LOC at 30 feet. My mistake. Trying to avoid civilians.
 

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Phase 1

Next time I will fly with full tanks and do one gallon increment fills on my garmin g3x. Also forget the “ground” tank fill out calibration. This is for taildraggers. Should have used “in flight” tank calibration throughout. Live and learn.
 
Hi Cal,
The main thing is that you are OK and recovering, even though it must be greatly disappointing that the first build is lost. Hopefully some of the items can be re-used. Good on you for getting back in the saddle again!
Cheers
Paul.
 
my crash

i was a participant in the NTSB “autopsy” of my crash. it was an air lock in the fuel line after unporting the left tank. i was low to the ground and manuevered to land rather than switch hands on the stick and flip on the boost pump. Apparently in low wings you need a good fuel pressure head to clear an air ingestion- on mynext/current build I will place the boost pump right next to the throttle, so as to reach it in the blind and without changing hands. 😊

hard lesson to learn. the plane was a joy to fly.

on to the “re-do”
 

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sorry

sorry to hear about the crash, but glad to hear about the restart.

Maybe for phase 1, we all should just leave the fuel pump on when lower than 500 feet? one less thing to think about in emergency.
 
Agree with John, my fuel pump is always on below 1K feet regardless of it being in phase 1 or just another flight. It costs us nothing to run the pump and if it's needed, it's already on.

Good luck Cal, wish you the best! Hope to make it out to Montana next year and experience the beautify it offers pilots.
 
Agree with John, my fuel pump is always on below 1K feet regardless of it being in phase 1 or just another flight. It costs us nothing to run the pump and if it's needed, it's already on.

+1. So many are taught ‘aux pump on for landing and take off’ but in reality the rule should be ‘aux pump on anytime close to the ground’ (e.g., 1000’ or less).

I didn’t quite understand the ‘switch stick hands to activate boost pump’ comment. I’m a bit surprised the A/W inspector would accept such poor ergonomics.
 
Cal,

Sorry about your first RV-9A, but glad to hear you're building again.

Something else to consider if a tank is run dry or unported. Excerpt from the Airflow Performance Auxiliary Pump document:

i-JLK8nmz-M.jpg
 
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Hey Bob

Thanks all for the comments. I agree the boost pump should be near the throttle, right hand in my RV-9. Also that boost pump at 1,000 feet or less as a good practice. My boost pump switch was in a row on the left lower panel, just because I copied my prior plane setup. My mistake. I also wasn’t diligent about using it always as I had never run a tank dry. Flying often has lessons in blood. I trained in high wing Cessnas and a “both” fuel selector so never trained well enough for a low wing (I had an rv-12 that had the aux fuel pump on continuously). Every plane has its best practices.
Cal
 
beauty in design

simply wonderful design and company fabrication
 

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Hey Johny

Hey Johny and Mike- hope u r both flying alot!

a very strong box:
 

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back-riveting bottom skin

progress in center fuselage
 

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Starting to join structures

Pretty cool when it all lines up
 

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dressing the mannequin

starting the multiple steps on dressing and fitting. amazing when it lines up.
 

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firewall

need lots of bandaids dealing with this sharp item
 

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coming together

so much fun when parts start to come together. still amazed at the kit design and production.
 

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Keep plugging away. If you keep working consistently, things start going together really fast once you roll the canoe upright.
 
thanks Ryan

i also finally figured out how to drill the SS firewall- when they say drill slow, they mean really slow. watch the flutes turn slow with cutting oil and ? 5 to 7 pounds of pressure. i also found using a 3/32 Milwaukee cobalt bit (home depot $4) worked better than my jobber bits. thanks for the inspiration.
Cal
 
I still hate drilling steel. You'd think that thin stainless would be easy but it's not. Be careful when you debur, as the burs are sharp.
 
jslow- thanks

hey, good catch. i did put the outer rib outside, then found this didn’t work and had to lay it inside. thanks for the good eye.
 

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fuselage coming together

pretty fun when it actually resembles something.
 

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landing gear mounts on

very satisfying when the holes and bolts line up. always takes a little jiggling.
 

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starting on control systems

much more fun when get to control systems.
 

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Thanks Johny

indoor plumbing, a little tricky at first.
 

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more fun as you get more systems in

one air vent done (other is on order). got aux fuel pump/ boost in. still deciding on simple panel layout.
 

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roughing in the panel

much easier before riveting it all in. Using ipad for my moving map/foreflight.
funny how my delicate garmin radio package was delivered by UPS.
 

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Hey Ryan

I want to be back in phase 1. the fun part.
finally getting around to building the tail. on right elevator now. ?engine in December if Lycoming can come through.
 

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elevator FUBAR

Oops on the right elevator trailing edge. Didn’t use hard table surface when drilling Alex wedge and both skins. Got a bow in it that was unfixable. Oh well. Penance comes with rework. Can’t show photo as too unsightly.
 
Just wow!

Your resilience in this is unbelievably impressive. I don't know what your life experiences are, but somehow you became a very strong person with a crazy-positive mindset.

I would be wringing my hands over all the lost time, effort, and money and stressing over my near-death experience for a long time afterward.

I can almost see you in the cockpit there, waiting to be cut out by the firefighters, reaching for your cell phone,

"Hello Vans?", "Yeah, it's Cgeyman, I'm gonna need another plane."
 
You are an inspiration to other builders. I don’t know what I would have done if this happened to me under phase 1. You are making awesome fast progress. If I was closer to you I would definitely help on getting you back in the sky again on your build. Keep up the awesome work.
Blake

Ps. If you know of any cheap places over there for sale send me info. Washington is going to **** over here.
 
Hey Gary

really just very embarrassed to ruin a perfectly good plane. The crash was all my fault and the plane was flying great. Once you fly a vans kitplane it is hard to go back to Cessnas and the crazy expensive certified world. Thanks for the positive comments.
Cal
 
Hey Blake

Montana is being gentrified but lots of rural spaces still with wonderful mountain views.
 
tail on, Hey Jared

Hi Jared,
i did rivet the floor stiffeners to the firewall angles. this is a later photo. good eyes.
 

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awaiting finish kit

sitting on thumbs. hopefully finish kit will be here late this month.
 

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Thanks Johny

thanks. hope it isn’t too hot in the central valley. thank goodness I got QB wings. They take a lot of room attached, so I doing them after the canopy and fiberglass work.
Cal
 
finally going again

whew. a four month wait for an overdue finish kit. But then again the LCP saga is so important and challenging for Vans to correct course that I am not complaining at all. Still very impressed with Vans overall quality in design and materials (other than LCP trouble). Super happy to be back building:
 
LED Metar maps

during my four month hiatus, awaiting parts, I made many Metar maps that use an arduino-based tiny computer chip to wirelessly get metars for selected airports every 15 minutes from aviationweather.gov. Quite fun for a Young Eagles workshop.
 

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