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South Dakota Trip Report
by Darwin Barrie
Traveling to South Dakota by commercial airlines is a pain and expensive. It is also an inconvenience to relatives that would have to drive over an hour to pick me up. Driving would be a hard 2 day drive, especially solo.
The RV opens many doors to travel that were previously closed. I can go on my time, and to an airport much closer to the family. As you can see from the first photo, my uncle is not located in a booming metropolis. Keeping with my promise to stay in touch with relatives, I promised my uncle that I would make the journey this year to take in the pheasant season.
Formation Flying
I've had the good fortune to meet and fly with many pilots during my flying career. Over the last couple of years, I've been gradually learning about formation flying under the tutelage of several experts when I visit Boulder City, NV (61B) to fly my Extra 300L. I recently enjoyed a refresher as part of a four-ship fight. I was in my Extra 300L with two RV-6As and an RV-8.Our lead (in his RV-6A) was Mark DuLaney, an experienced Air Force fighter pilot and instructor (his last assignment was as commander of an aggressor squadron at Nellis AFB). "Dula" has been an excellent and patient instructor, and I've also benefited from the generosity, experience, and skill of several other former Air Force pilots (including Mike Smith, below in his RV-6A painted in Air Force colors) who have baby-sat me while I fumbled through the fundamentals of flying in close proximity to other aircraft. It's a demanding--and rewarding--discipline. [bruceairllc.spaces.live.com] (More)
Van's Nosegear Bulletin
Data from the field, and the results of NTSB Structures Study (CaseNo.ANC05LA123 dated June 21, 2007), suggest that increased nose fork axle-
to-ground clearance may reduce the likelihood of fork axle-to-runway surface
contact during nose gear overload conditions. The nose gear leg/fork
combination supplied in two-place tricycle gear RV kits after February, 2005
provides this increased clearance. Complying with this service bulletin will give
aircraft shipped prior to that date the same, increased clearance. [Vans Aircraft] (More)
Related Link(s):
Yahoo RV7A Thread
Yahoo RVSQN Thread
VAF Thread
RV-10 Blogging
The summer was spent working my way through the rest of the empennage kit. It is nearly complete with just a handfull of rivets and fairing to complete. It’s hard to believe, but within the next short while, all the pieces that came in the first crate will be fully assembled! I’ve also spent considerable time researching planning the systems that will be installed in my airplane. There are a huge number of options for equipment and even more on how to install and use those systems. Each decision also requires significant research and learning before proceeding. [noimnotcrazy.com] (More)Confessions of a non-builder
I flew my new airplane for the first time yesterday. It is an experimental airplane which simply means that it was not certified by the FAA like a Cessna or a Piper. It is called a Van's RV-10. This one was built by a guy near Huntsville, AL. I have to admit that he did a better job building it that I could have.For years, I have jokingly commented to Penny that I needed a bigger, faster airplane. I was actually pretty happy with the one that I had. It was fast, aerobatic and just plain fun to fly. The only downside to it was that it only had enough room for two people. Anyway, Penny would always roll her eyes and snicker when I talked about a bigger airplane.
(More)
Mel James RV-9A first flight report
We ordered a RV-9A “Quickbuild” kit from Vans Aircraft in October 2004 and 2 giant crates arrived in early January 2005. It took us at least 2 weeks just to unpack, identify and store the vast number of parts. In accordance with Vans instructions, we started by building the Empennage. 2 right elevators, 2 vertical stabilisers and 3 elevator trim tabs later we began to learn from our mistakes and realise the task ahead. (More)Related Link(s):
Video
