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First Time RV Grin
by Rob Riggen
Soaring at 3,000 feet over the Champlain valley in Northern Vermont, Dick Axelrod kept tapping the face of the Dynon EFIS display on the panel. He was trying to draw my attention to the impressive cruising speed of his newly acquired Van's RV-7A. I hadn't noticed. I couldn't. I was too overwhelmed by the feeling of flying his wonderful airplane. He was generous enough to offer me the controls shortly after takeoff (which he would have let me do, too but I was chicken). Now I had the stick in one hand, the throttle in the other and my gaze fixed outside on the gorgeous panoramic view. Amazing! My mind was racing as I tried to get a feel for this slick machine.
(More)Related Link(s):
Living La Vida Chapter [EAA Sport Aviation]
Flying With Passion [AOPA Pilot]
RV-9A First flight
Mel James and Bob Littledale enjoyed the first flight of their Van's RV-9A across the pond on September 2nd. They've uploaded this video. Watch how fast she takes to the air. It looked like a great first flight!
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Baffling Issues
Several months ago I saw an e-mail list post about a gap between the right aft cylinder and the aft baffle wall. I looked at my baffling, and sure enough, there was an area at the base of the cylinder with a gap an inch wide. A whole bunch of air could escape through that gap rather than going between the cylinder fins. Not good. There was a tab on the baffle that was supposed to have been bent over to fill that gap, but I missed it.
I decided that it would be a major pain in the butt to remove that baffle piece to bend the tab, so I decided to save some time and effort by bending it in place. But, there was very poor access, so I was only able to get it bent a little bit. I found a short piece of wood to use as a tool, and managed to get it bent a bit more, but still not enough. I probably spent three hours fiddling with this problem over several different evenings.
[kilohotel.com] (More)TIPS/Q&A
Avoid costly exhaust cracks
I want to share a few lessons learned from the annual condition inspection I am doing on my RV-8. This was my first homebuilt and I am still learning how to do things correctly. I share this information in the hopes that someone can be spared the expense, downtime and potential danger.I found a large crack on the #4 exhaust. The crack began in the weld where the flange bolts to the cylinder and progressed down and around the pipe 180 degrees. I sent the exhaust back to Larry Vetterman for repair. Larry called me and gave me some much needed insight to exhaust maintenance. (More)
I am not afraid to fly; I don't believe I'm a bad pilot. My failure to get my certificate years ago on my first checkride has, I think, made me want to prove that day wrong. So I think a lot about flying, I read as many articles as I can, I go to safety seminars, and I constantly think about what I would do in various situations.
