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What did you do with your RV this weekend? (11/6/21 - 11/7/21)

I got proselytized….

I got my prop dynamically balanced today…………
I am blown away from the results.

This morning i thought my plane runs almost “turbine smooth”,……….can’t believe how wrong i was.

On the short hop, 15 minutes hop from my homebase to the balancing location, i thought: There ain’t much to do for them but let’s give it a try.

Started out 0,6…..(which is quite bad according to the documentation),
Ended up with 0,04…..!

On the way home it felt like a different aircraft.

I was hesitant about the whole thing.
Now i am a believer!

If you did not get a dynamic prop balancing done on your ride, do it!

Prepare to be impressed!
 
Biannual flight review Saturday. Smooth air and nice colors Sunday.
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If you are waiting for a Chevy Colorado or GM Canyon truck I found where they are hiding them all. These are new parking lots created very recently next to Greensfield airport (M71). I fly over this airport regularly and had not seen any of these before. Greensfield, just out of the left side of the picture below, is about 10 miles north west of the GM Wentzville plant. Looks like they are all red, white, or blue.
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Daytrip to Denver on Friday for a few hours - I departed at 7:30am and landed back home at 7:30pm, never would be able to do that without these RV's.

Bonus - with my longrange tanks I was able to avoid the $6.40 fuel at Centennial, fill up full at home and landed back home with an hour and a half still in the tanks. 7.1 round trip on 55 gallons of 93E10, at $3.25 per gallon :cool:

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N16GN/history/20211105/1220Z/73XS/KAPA
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N16GN/history/20211105/2105Z/KAPA/73XS
 
Lunch at RYY with wife and daughter
 

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I'm in a brief holding pattern on my canopy frame work (misdrilled the slide block), so I decided to work on the engine mount today. Got the two upper attache holes drilled in the firewall, which was pretty easy - the mount was pretty much bang-on with the pilot holes. The bottom two, I'm not so lucky - got to work out a method for stretching the mount a bit to get it to line up properly so I can match-drill those.

Hopefully by the time I get this worked out I'll have my replacement block and I can get back to the canopy frame. I'd really like to get the bubble fit and trimmed before what passes for winter in Houston arrives.
 
Flew loose formation up to Blairsville GA KDZJ . Tim Goddard in the 8 and Mike Beasley in the LongEZ. Lunch, where else - the Aviators Cafe.
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Field Of Honor - Formation Flights

For the past few years, the Rotary Club of Georgetown, TX has hosted a Field of Honor. It is a display of up to 1500+ 3′ x 5′ US flags that honors military (past and present) and first responders. This year, they asked our formation group to conduct some flyovers. Two of them were this weekend. I had the honor of taking up a marine on Saturday and another friend on Sunday. It's a small gesture compared to what they have given to us, but I can at least do something tangible to show our appreciation.

Oscar - Love the flag reflection on the canopy. He picked the correct hat for the day.

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Flight 2 - Scott

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Mine’s boring compared to the previous weekends!

The RV turned an 8+ hour drive into 2-50ish minute flights. I was able to arrive in time to service and winterize our boat and have dinner with my parents in about the same time it would take to drive. My kiddos were able to have a friend over for a day/overnight and I was able to accomplish some housework tasks while they played.

Arriving back home at sunset gave me enough time to cook dinner for the wife after a long Sunday shift. What a time machine!
 

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Just for a minute

Mine’s boring compared to the previous weekends!

The RV turned an 8+ hour drive into 2-50ish minute flights. I was able to arrive in time to service and winterize our boat and have dinner with my parents in about the same time it would take to drive. My kiddos were able to have a friend over for a day/overnight and I was able to accomplish some housework tasks while they played.

Arriving back home at sunset gave me enough time to cook dinner for the wife after a long Sunday shift. What a time machine!

Re 2nd picture
Just for a minute, I thought you were flying inverted, then I realized you were flying south of the equator.
 
Handing out RV Grins

Randall is building a Sonex.

In theory, at least. In practice he's been moving unfinished bits of Sonex kit out of the way in his garage for about a decade. Carried them across two house moves.

One of his friends in his support network hooked him up with me, suggested he could do with some inspiration.

Morning 2-ship with Glenn: First confirmed appearance of Randall's RV Grin during climb-out.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/eJ8UpKqKnZYASoHB6

Return to base, formation landing at YSBK.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/gub2xrxFVE2HjYXTA

Four other RVs arrived - Mal, Pete, Ryan, Brayden, Martin. Kevin and Lee came by road. Quick trip to the supermarket to acquire supplies to grill-up an impromptu hangar BBQ.

Lots of folks asking Randall about his build, handing out advice, and giving him a kick up the butt to get 'er done.

With six RVs and six formation-rated pilots, a plan was hatched to do a 6-ship "delta" formation pass up the runway at Warnervale (YWVA) at 500' AGL. Briefing, dirt-dance, then light-up and taxi for six-ship departure to the North from the centre runway.

Glenn got an SMS enroute from a friend on the ground who noticed six airplanes flying over his house and wondered if it was us. The flying school at Warnervale got on the CTAF and gave kudos for being tight, symmetrical, and making a good noise. If you want to get noticed, fly with friends :)

We all separated on the way home. Randall and I continued by ourselves for some acro west of Sydney, a look-see on the way past Wedderburn, and a return to base via TWRN.

My aim for the day was to hand out inspiration. I think we did that. He's been reminded that he's on the hook for giving me a flight in his Sonex. Just get on with it, man!

- mark
 

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50 minute run into Mississippi to visit my friend Joel, who has been working on a project. In this case, it's a whole new home base starting from bare dirt....runway, hangar/shop, and a house, a lot of it done by himself or with one helper.

Being an RV-10 guy, he built the runway before the house. Couple thousand feet of grass, and fun, because it's not dead level, but high on both ends, with a flat stretch at the thresholds. Put in a little flap and an RV will STOL off the flat when the ground drops away.

Hangar/shop is done, lacking only some interior office framing. Big job now is grading and growing grass.

The house is going to be real nice. Patti and I hope to start one next year, and I picked up more than a few good tricks. Check out the patio. I predict a fly-in barbecue in our future.
-
 

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Replaced my Shorai LFX18L1-BS12 LiFePo battery with a mirror image model (A1). This allows me to use the charger port on the battery. Had to be a little extra careful with the mounting as the retainer strap goes right over the battery terminals. The A1 model was much easier to find, I cancelled the L1 order since it still had no clear indication of when it would ship. I had the A1 in less than 48 hours after ordering it.

I went up for 0.9 hours of rust avoidance as well, not flying nearly as much as I'd like this fall. Resuming my IFR training this week, 6.7 hours to go before I can do my flight test.
 
Beautiful November Saturday in Minnesota. Took the opportunity to fly down to Lakeville for a final round of golf with a buddy before the long winter sets in. 10/10 flight on the way there, smooth flight into the perfect sunrise with a 20kt tailwind. As usual, the picture doesn't do it justice. The only thing that could have made it better was to leave 10 min earlier so I wasn't staring at the sun for the final stretch. Great day with a great friend!
 

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Looked inside another tired cylinder. I don't think it will make it three TBOs it's exhausted. Anyone has a new O-320-D2G for sale? :)

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Looked inside another tired cylinder. I don't think it will make it three TBOs it's exhausted. Anyone has a new O-320-D2G for sale? :)

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Those look pretty good to me. How many hours do you have on them?
 
c'mon Vlad, they sure can go some more :D

What about sharing all the experiences you and this engine had? It would be a very popular thread, no doubt.
Even better, why don't you write a book (in E form please) about your RV flying adventures? I'll have one, thanks :cool:
 
Flew my nephew

I got 1.5 hours of quality time with my 15yo nephew. He has high hopes for the Air Force Academy. For me, it was one of those rare opportunities to look out the window and let him fly. We were westbound at 4500’, Lake Erie off his wingtip, just above a thin glass smooth haze layer.
 

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What did I do.

Finished another 8 build. I was lucky to get this kit from a friend who had done much work on it.
 

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I finally got around to the project of re-doing my oil cooler air supply. My previous installation was kind of marginal, and would not have supplied enough air as I start to close down the cowl exit.

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So, I cut out the top of the oil cooler mount box and attached a fiberglass inlet diffuser/adapter. That accepts 4" SCAT tubing in place of the previous 3.5" SCAT tubing. (I was hoping to use Scott McDaniels' trick of using a 600x6 inner tube as the duct, but the turn radius is too tight, and is not in a single plane - would have required two 45-turns with a joint in the middle to allow the change of plane. )

The air comes from a butterfly valve on the back of the #3 rear baffle. The previous butterfly valve was 3.5", replaced now with 4".

Flow data comparing the pressure at the oil cooler inlet for both installations to follow, as soon as it warms up to a representative temperature to compare with the data from the old system.
 
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Spanish Peaks

We decided to fly down and circumnavigate the Spanish Peaks in Southern Colorado. The peaks sit about 5 miles off the southern end of the Sangre de Cristos. There is an absolutely beautiful road that runs around them, that makes a natural pass.

We had been turned back in the past due to weather, but Friday was a beautiful day, and we made it with no problem.

Here you can see the approach, with the twin peaks sitting out by themselves.
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The peaks have these really striking ridges of rock that point radially into the mountains. This photo shows one of the ridges fairly well.

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As you come around to the south, you come out over Trinidad Colorado, so we said goodbye to the Spanish Peaks and went and did a touch and go in KTAD and then flew back.

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What wonderful planes the RVs are. What wonderful memories they provide us. Blue skies.

Geoff
 
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