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What did you do w/your RV this weekend? (4/29-30, 2023)

DeltaRomeo

DeltaRomeo

doug reeves: unfluencer
Staff member
Friday (close enough)


Flight from DFW area to San Angelo for the funeral of a friend’s dad.

Turned 8 hours of driving into 2.3 hrs of flying.

(click any image for a much larger version)

Forecast headwinds so I’m staying low. This is near Grandbury (sandbars and looking over at the RV-15 prototype….)


The more I climbed the more my ETE grew. 53kts on the nose in this shot, so I took it from 4,500 down to 1,000’agl.


Blue area. Tried 4,500. Nope. Went low. Not how every few minutes I’d bump it up 100’ or so as the terrain rose. Got the headwind down to 36 from 54.


The nice folks at Skyline FBO were kind enough to keep my plane in their WWII era hangar during the funeral. Gusting 40kts in west Texas Friday….


Coming back had a better wind situation.


The shot of the day. Between layers coming home. 58*F. Monitoring center and enjoying 1.1 of flying instead of 4 driving. Lovely machine.
 
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First time crossing the snowy mountains!

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What a thrill this was!
 
No more snow on ground!

Flew mostly in orbits exploring Skyview's Autopilot behaviour versus a Foreflight flight plan and hold, with findings in this thread.
No more snow on the ground :cool:, compare these 2 photos taken 2 weeks apart !!
 

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Dog Rescue Flight #39

I picked up Beau in Anniston, AL (KANB) and Sherman in Auburn (KAUO) and flew both of them to Enterprise (KEDN). This was part of a larger effort on Saturday with 4 pilots/planes picking up dogs in various parts of Alabama and then converging on Enterprise to meet up with other pilots/planes who would take a total of 19 dogs and puppies to rescue organizations in the Orlando and Tampa, FL area.

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Hit 100 hours

After many weeks of wind, rain and cloudy conditions, decent flying weather that accommodates my schedule has returned to SoCal. Finally able to achieve the 100 hour milestone. A beautiful day at KWJF where I did the Phase 1 flights last year.
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Hopped over the Cascades on Thursday to have lunch at Richland, WA at Ann's Best Creole & Soul Food Cafe.

Mt. Stuart and the Stuart Range:

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The Wanapum Dam on the Columbia River, south of Vantage:

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Jambalaya with Red Beans and Rice:

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No pictures but flew my first COPA Discover Aviation event (formerly COPA for Kids). It was based at an airport 80 NM away from home base, 150+ kids, 15 aircraft (3 of them RV-9A). I did 5 - 25 minute flights in increasingly bumpy air. Last flight was the roughest, gee meter hit -0.1 and 2.0 on descent, lots of lateral gee too. The young lady who was my passenger on that flight loved it, had a massive smile the whole time. That alone made the day worth it.

I'm not flying a lot these days, only 9 flying days in the last 10 months. It was great getting back out there and proving I can still do it, even on the tricky days. 7 of the 10 landings this weekend were in the sporty to very sporty range. All of the landings were decent, my confidence level is right where it needs to be.
 
Took up smoking.
Finally got my homebrew smoke system installed. Front baggage well custom fiberglass tank with spill lip, in-tank fuel injection pump, cut down needle valve, firewall mounted distribution manifold, Smoke System Helper injectors. I wanted a cleaner installation. Wheel fairings are off until my landings improve, LOL. (it turns out I need a little more sidewall clearance on the fairings...:rolleyes:)
 

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Smoke.....!!

fl-mike said:
Took up smoking.
Finally got my homebrew smoke system installed. Front baggage well custom fiberglass tank with spill lip, in-tank fuel injection pump, cut down needle valve, firewall mounted distribution manifold, Smoke System Helper injectors. I wanted a cleaner installation. Wheel fairings are off until my landings improve, LOL. (it turns out I need a little more sidewall clearance on the fairings...:rolleyes:)
Click to expand...

Good smoke! Nice looking bird as well!
 
RV-9A was just out of the shop, no fault found with the alternator. Rigged up the video camera to show the right side screen full size, had a full agenda of test points to document AOA behavior in dynamic flight and... the alternator quit working in the runup area. Better there than in flight.
 
AOPA NZ Fly-In at Omarama, a very small village that is one of Vans' favorite gliding locations (Yes, the man himself has been there a few times...). A couple of other RV's in attendance but mainly spam cans.

My wife and I had and outstanding day, flying into a number of airstrips around the Maniototo region. This was our first opportunity to take XTC onto some strips so I took it easy with nothing under 500 meters (1,600 feet) this time around. Poolburn Dam was probably the most challenging due to the narrowness - literally a couple of wheel tracks in the tussock. Departure with a quartering tailwind had the feet working because getting off the track wasn't an option I wanted to explore.
 

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Almost R14 mod

Feel like I just got out of the Royal Rumble, but the old is out and the new is fitted and clamped into position.
 

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Spent all day Saturday preparing and priming all of the tailcone parts!
Also got the bulkheads put together!
 

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More painting

More painting before the big move in June….. hopefully!
 

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Took care of a few cosmetic issues with the cowl.

One of those little jobs that seems to get larger, the more you get into it.
 

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Simply dreamed about where I'll take my RV next, as I flew the work plane..
And wondered why the tailwheel doesn't lock anymore. :confused:
 

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West Coast Formation Clinic

What a weekend - attended my first official formation flight clinic with the folks out on the left coast, and had a great time. I got my clearance for solo 2-ship as well, so no more "rookie stink" on this Texas boy!

I departed from my home strip Friday morning and went nonstop 7.4 hours (1047 nautical) to Madera, CA and landed with about 2 hours still in the tanks. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N16GN/history/20230428/1245Z/73XA/KMAE

Once I got there I got a demo flight that evening to "show me what it's supposed to look like", and give me a chance to run screaming for the door, which I politely declined. Then came ground school until just after 10pm local time - and I was still running on Texas time, so that was a little tough. I got about 6 hours of sleep and Saturday we flew 4 sorties with full brief/debrief in between, and the final hop was recovered at E79 where there was a large dinner held for us there at Skypark, and then a sunset flight back over to Madera.

I started as a Rookie and finished as Novice, so it will at least be easier for me to get into future formation clinics now - I've been turned away 3 times because the clinics were full and they cut off any new rookies.

Sunday we gathered back at Madera for the all-up large formation flight, we got 26 airplanes up plus a photo ship (lots of good photos on the WCFC2023 site), and I managed to bag a back-seat ride for that one and see the chaos of a large formation flight up close and personal - quite a show.

Immediately after we landed from that flight it was time for me to roll, if I was going to make it back home to Texas and my unlit home strip before dark, so I fueled up and launched for a 7.3 hour (planned 6.5 with forecast winds - forecasts always lie!!) nonstop back home, and landed about 2 minutes ahead of sunset and 30 minutes ahead of an approaching cold front, perfect timing - https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N16GN/history/20230430/1810Z/KMAE/73XA

On the way back home I got lucky and got shortcuts through both the Edwards and Twentynine Palms Restricted areas, and may or may not have seen some super-secret-squirrel stuff. :eek: (Hard to see anything from 17,000')

WCFC put on a tremendous event, thanks to all involved! I really enjoyed the trip as well as the training and I'll definitely be back.
 

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airguy said:
What a weekend - attended my first official formation flight clinic with the folks out on the left coast, and had a great time. I got my clearance for solo 2-ship as well, so no more "rookie stink" on this Texas boy!

I departed from my home strip Friday morning and went nonstop 7.4 hours (1047 nautical) to Madera, CA and landed with about 2 hours still in the tanks. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N16GN/history/20230428/1245Z/73XA/KMAE

Once I got there I got a demo flight that evening to "show me what it's supposed to look like", and give me a chance to run screaming for the door, which I politely declined. Then came ground school until just after 10pm local time - and I was still running on Texas time, so that was a little tough. I got about 6 hours of sleep and Saturday we flew 4 sorties with full brief/debrief in between, and the final hop was recovered at E79 where there was a large dinner held for us there at Skypark, and then a sunset flight back over to Madera.

I started as a Rookie and finished as Novice, so it will at least be easier for me to get into future formation clinics now - I've been turned away 3 times because the clinics were full and they cut off any new rookies.

Sunday we gathered back at Madera for the all-up large formation flight, we got 26 airplanes up plus a photo ship (lots of good photos on the WCFC2023 site), and I managed to bag a back-seat ride for that one and see the chaos of a large formation flight up close and personal - quite a show.

Immediately after we landed from that flight it was time for me to roll, if I was going to make it back home to Texas and my unlit home strip before dark, so I fueled up and launched for a 7.3 hour (planned 6.5 with forecast winds - forecasts always lie!!) nonstop back home, and landed about 2 minutes ahead of sunset and 30 minutes ahead of an approaching cold front, perfect timing - https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N16GN/history/20230430/1810Z/KMAE/73XA

On the way back home I got lucky and got shortcuts through both the Edwards and Twentynine Palms Restricted areas, and may or may not have seen some super-secret-squirrel stuff. :eek: (Hard to see anything from 17,000')

WCFC put on a tremendous event, thanks to all involved! I really enjoyed the trip as well as the training and I'll definitely be back.
Click to expand...

Congrats Greg! You've stepped into a challenging and rewarding segment of aviation that will greatly expand your pilot skills.
 
airguy said:
What a weekend - attended my first official formation flight clinic with the folks out on the left coast, and had a great time. I got my clearance for solo 2-ship as well, so no more "rookie stink" on this Texas boy!
Click to expand...

Ditto for me... well, minus Greg's amazing endurance, long flight to/from home base, and time zone adjustments. :)

I had some previous formation experience, so they started me off at novice with two ship solos and ended the day with some three ship work. Slick hosted an amazing BBQ as always, and everyone from wingmen to admins to flight leads were welcoming, professional, and generous with their time.

After the all-up flight on Sunday, I hooked up with a pair of pilots who were from San Luis Obispo and we flew formation to KSBP. The coastal stratus was hanging over the airport, so we killed time by practicing our skills (or lack thereof in my case) until it cleared. Had lunch with my mother-in-law and then scooted down the coast to home base.

An excellent weekend all around.

--Ron
 
Inching closer to first engine start, inspection and first flight. Placards, N number and data plate attached.

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