How many toys can an RV-10 hold? Yes, Santa flies an RV-10.

On Wednesday the RV-10 transformed into a cargo plane with the mission of delivering toys and clothes to the four corners area to children on the reservation. This was a Toys for Tots donation using the Angel Flight group.

I received an e-mail late Tuesday night that Angel Flight needed more planes and pilots to deliver toys to the Indian reservation so I made a quick call and was told to be at Salt Lake international at 7:00am.

There were approximately 20 planes that showed up. Most of the planes were four seat’ers like 182's, 185's, Cherokees, Bonanzas, and one PC-12. After a quick briefing we started loading. The temps were around 15 with a good wind blowing so loading went very quickly. So before I go much farther, here is the answer to how many toys an RV-10 can hold.



My friend Mark Patey showed up in his newly purchased RV-10 and we flew together from Salt Lake City to Bluff, UT (239 nm). Here we are on the ramp at Salt Lake loading the planes.



Mark brought two of his boys and they got to hold some gifts in the back. There were also three Marines that flew down to help unload and organize.

Before we left Salt Lake, all the planes were blessed by an Indian who was blowing a bone whistle and held a feather. I need to learn more about this blessing ceremony.


It was a little difficult getting clearance out of Salt Lake at 8:00am when 20 planes all want VFR clearance at once and there are tons of commercial IFR flights occurring. After about 20 minutes Mark and I received clearance as a flight of 2 and departed Salt Lake. The flight down was amazing. We even had a 25 knot tail wind and we were showing 190 to 200 knots GS the whole way to Bluff.

San Rafael Swell



Colorado River


We cruised at 11,500 and arrived in about 1:20 minutes with the great tail wind we had.

Here's the pile that Larry Swanson carried in his 182. OK, he beat me on volume but not on speed.


The RV-10 delivery crew!

Here are most of the toys and clothes that were delivered. There were more coming in as we were leaving but were able to get all of it delivered by airplane with nothing left behind.

After we unloaded and prepared to leave there was a person left behind, an attorney no less (there has to be a joke there). I offered to take her back but I wasn't going to tell her that I built this plane until after we were in the air. The flight back was great and she had a great time seeing Southern Utah from the air.

Navajo Mountain


Lake Powell


The base of Boulder Mountain and Capital Reef

Fish Lake


Plateau near Richfield


Mark and I flew to Richfield UT. where we borrowed the courtesy car and went to Wingers for lunch.

As you can see it was a beautiful day and it was really fun to help bring a bunch of toys to the kids. We talked with one of the local leaders and he was very appreciative to everyone who donated and delivered the clothes and gifts. There is another run on Saturday morning at Salt Lake International as well if anyone is interested.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas.

What a fantastic way to share some of your good fortune! Keep up the good work!

Michael

P.S. AWESOME PICS!

Very cool dude. You got me in the holiday mood finally

erich weaver

You rock. Holiday spirit embodied.

How much stuff did they get in the PC-12?

the_other_dougreeves said:

How much stuff did they get in the PC-12?

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Here is a shot of the stuff that was unloaded from the PC-12. The PC-12 was on take-off roll. I think it was heavy stuff but I thought it would have been loaded more.

You are a great Santa, with a huge heart. Merry Christmas!

Great job guys... that's the kind of service you love to do, they probably didn't have to twist your arm too hard.

I love all your posts. Seeing the Utah landscape makes me homesick. Keep it up!

Say hi to Mark for me... he did always like to buy the best - and brag about it, maybe that was his brother... anyway, IF he remembers who the **** I am tell him I'd love a ride.

cln1owner said:

Great job guys... that's the kind of service you love to do, they probably didn't have to twist your arm too hard.

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Your right they didn't have to twist too hard. It is always fun to help out kids. I was told that there will be a bunch of kids at the airport when we landed but for some reason they weren't there this time. I really wanted to see the kids and maybe take a few for a ride. Hopefully next year.

Nice job Scott. Thanks for sharing the photos too.

The REAL Santa's

Scott,
You guys are the REAL Santas. What a tearful read...I mean it.. WOW, you're so gracious doing this for those less fortunate.

May God richly bless you and the guys,

Pierre

Great Pics

These are really great pictures!! I'm in the process of building a RV-10. already built a RV-6. Does anyone want to share experiences in their builds? I'm 60% into the build.

Zulo said:

These are really great pictures!! I'm in the process of building a RV-10. already built a RV-6. Does anyone want to share experiences in their builds? I'm 60% into the build.

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Hey Zulo where are you located? There are two places to discuss the build process, here on Van's Airforce and the Matronics list. They have a pretty active RV-10 e-mail list.

I actually prefer this list because of the ease of use but both places are great for asking questions or making comments.

Good luck with the build.