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Goin to Synergyair...any thoughts?

Harland E. [n.m. u.s.a.]

Well Known Member
I'm on my way on the 10th, wondering if i made the right decision and wanting to hear any suggestions and experiences anyone might have had with the workshop. Also...was wondering if anyone knows why the eaa Colorado rv class was cancelled, which I was considering but now its gone.
 
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Harland-
I took the basic and empanage class from Wally and had a great time. He and his employees pass on an incredible amount of information in a short time.
I was busy all day yet, each evening had a great sense of accomplishment.
On Friday I took away a RV-8 tail that was truly mine and that I was proud of. Enough so that I showed it off to my IA buddy and he said it was a good job. High praise coming from him!

Enjoy your class, take some earplugs and wear comfortable shoes.

Howie
 
Howie thanks...these are the things i really need to hear.This is all brand new territory for me and i want to start it off right...so far ive heard nothing but great things about Wally and his crew. any thoughts on affordable lodging?
 
Harland E. [n.m. u.s.a.] said:
Howie thanks...these are the things i really need to hear.This is all brand new territory for me and i want to start it off right...so far ive heard nothing but great things about Wally and his crew. any thoughts on affordable lodging?

While, I hope this only applies to the "big complex" kits like the EPIC LT, etc.... It certainly may have further reaching consequences. At this time it could go either way too...

Not suggesting anything, just make sure awareness exists.

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=84d3185a-26d1-4173-a6cf-180d8fae7cbb&
 
Harland-
Sorry, I stayed with relatives. However, any place within 25 miles should be okay. I always went early and waited; just enjoyed the morning at the airport. Traffic in Eugene seems to start at 0700, prior to that no problems
at all.
Heck, I even went back and took the fiberglass class. That was worth it too!

Howie
 
Sorry Alan, i am at a total loss as to what the heck you are talking about. Is that post a glitch or am i totally ignorant? Well i AM totally ignorant but im still confused.
 
Copy that Howie. My friend is on the glass on the canopy on his -8 and he's in total heck right now. Might be a good idea about 2 years from now for me to visit Eugene again.
 
Isn't synergyair like a "build assist" course. Don't they teach you how to build, in this case parts of an RV? The FAA has formally kicked off a program to look at "commercial" - (those that charge money to help or teach you, or offer you build type services) services that might effect the 51% rule.

Like I said, I hope this doesn't come all the way down to the "little" stuff, but it's something to watch.

That link, if it worked, was to an aero-news.net story about the FAA kicking off such a program. It stems from the issues that the FAA and EPIC had with the first customer built (mostly build in the EPIC factory) airplane, but it's gonna touch fully across this 51% rule..
 
Synergyair would be the first to say, [and do say on there website], that they are a learning center and are well within the spirit of the 51% laws. They dont build your plane for you.Guys like me dont have a big aviation community to lean on so a place like Synergy teaches me some do's and don'ts .Some of these guys are a and p's some are eaa technical advisors so they sure as heck better be followin the rules.This is an empennage only school..not a "2 WEEKS TO TAXI" type operation. thanks for your thoughts
 
Exactly what i needed to hear

Thanks George, that was totally informative. Just what i needed to hear. I wondered what the heck the extra $350 was for as far as prep was concerned,now i know.I am a little concerned that i might not get the prep experience that i will need but it sounds like its covered anyway later in the week.One of the biggest thing i hope to get out of this is what tools to invest in, i assume i get to use almost everything im going to need in that week...was that your experience?
 
Tools, etc.

Harland E. [n.m. u.s.a.] said:
Thanks George, that was totally informative. Just what i needed to hear. I wondered what the heck the extra $350 was for as far as prep was concerned,now i know.I am a little concerned that i might not get the prep experience that i will need but it sounds like its covered anyway later in the week.One of the biggest thing i hope to get out of this is what tools to invest in, i assume i get to use almost everything im going to need in that week...was that your experience?

Wally is a hand squeezer aficianado and so I didn't get to use a pneumatic while there. I have a pneumatic and not a hand squeezer and I wouldn't consider building without it. Wally also only has 3" std yokes - I wouldn't be w/o my 4" no-hole yoke nor my longeron yoke.

Wally loves to back-rivet using a c-frame. I don't have a c-frame but most of what he would use it for back-riveting, I use a pneumatic squeezer on. Different strokes, you'll need and want and get both sets of skills.

You'll get plenty of experience with all the tools you need though but I've found that I'm always learning and adding to my skill set. Think of Synergy as a very rapid start and massive confidence builder, along with a quick-build empennage.

Anything you want to learn, speak up. As I said in the review, the focus is on building so don't be afraid to "shift" the focus to learning when you need it.

George
 
Synergy Air

You're going to have a great time with Wally at Synergy. My wife and I went out for the empanage build and also when I went up and picked up my wings and fuselage we spent a week with Wally doing misc work on the wings and fuselage. What a way to get started right!!
I can't say enough about Wally and his teaching ability! We had so much fun and got alot done.
We stayed at a couple of motels right on hwy 5 near the mall. I also stayed downtown at a couple places near the college and didn't like it there at all. The ones out near the mall on hwy 5 were fairly inexpensive and easy to get to and from the airport.
Hope you have lots of fun ( I know you will),
Rob
 
My wife and I attended the empennage class with Wally in April. We left after 10 days with our RV-10 vertical stab, rudder, horizontal stab, elevators, and trim tabs completed. More importantly, we left with a ton of basic knowledge and skills that gave us the confidence to tackle this project. We learned a lot about the tools and got some guidance from Wally on which tools we would need to finish the QB. It was a great experience and I cannot imagine starting this project without this class. We got the rest of our kit on June 20 and are slowly making our way.
SynergyAir is definitely not about Wally and his staff "building" your airplane for you. The days are long and we left tired but pleased every night.
We stayed at the La Quinta Suites near downtown. OK but fairly expensive. We did have a kitchenette which was nice. Great walking/biking paths for miles in both directions along the Willamette River.
 
excellent experience

George and I finished the Synergyair class in Eugene about 2 weeks ago but i had to go straight to work when i got home to Santa Fe so I couldnt post.Here's the deal...we worked our butts off! This is a real hands on kinda class...go go go go, I loved it, so did George my partner.There is no question it was the right way to go before starting the plane on our own.We may have been sucsessfull on our own but it would deffinetly have taken a lot longer and without the quality of craftmanship we learned under Wally's watchful eye.We lucked out because it was a very small class and we ended up having Wally and Eric as our personal teachers for the whole week.Wally's an award winning builder and eaa tech counseler and his son-in-law Eric has been building these planes for a long time so we were in the best of hands.Eugene, by the way, is a fantastic town. Great food and very pretty and reasonably priced everything.So ,in the end, we have a professionly supervised empannage in our shop now that will be our benchmark to hold the rest of our work up to.I am very proud of our work and believe that we have all the metal skills we will require for the rest of the job.If you are wondering about taking the workshop let me tell you I am VERY glad i did it and you will be too. Wally has a fiberglass class also,I'll be taking it next summer.
 
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