Until Next Time, My Love: Talking to RV

For Zion's sake I will not hold my Peace,
And for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,
Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
And her salvation as a lamp that burns.

Isaiah 62:1

Maybe if I built her myself...

I never talk to the plane, but do usually refer to it as "her" or "she." Maybe when I build my -8 one day things will be different.

Non verbal Communication

Your poll does not have enough choices. I communicate with my plane through the control systems and switches that I built into it and not by talking. I do say they I am one with the plane especially with the lightness and harmony of the controls these RV's have been given by the designer.

One other point. I communicate with my wife but try to do that as well with out talking. Talking is over rated. We can tell a lot about what is going on with each other by just watching actions and expressions. The same is true with my RV. I hear little changes in the engine, small changes in the wind noise and I can tell the RV is trying to tell me something; "you're climbing", "get your feet on those rudder pedals", or "add more throttle". I feel a heaviness of the right wing and the plane is telling me to switch tanks to the right side. I feel roughness on startup and the RV is telling me to "use the mixture knob". All communication done with out being required to talk to the plane. Talking is very over rated.

Maybe it is just that I am not a big talker. I have an iPhone that I use as a communication device but never use the phone part (I think I average 5 minutes a month). I enjoy going into airports that I know has airplanes without radios (love watching the antiques fly). It makes me LOOK outside and communicate with flying proper patterns. I avoid tower airports like a the plague.

Communicate with my RV, YES; Talk to my RV, that's crazy!

Gender issues

Funny, but in the 13-year building process, I don't recall EVER saying anything to my project. However, once the engine ran for the first time, it was apparently like a baby's first breath. I suddenly found myself greeting the airplane when I opened the hangar door with, "Hey, Smokey!"

Now, that's where I break from tradition. Smokey is not a "her". Sorry, gents. I've named most of my vehicles for some silly reason -- Sidney, Carmichael, Shadowfax, Ruby, Lurch, Tonka, etc. Ruby was a Corvette and she was definitely a she. The rest, not so much.

So, while I may not speak romantically to my RV, we're definitely forging a great guy-friendship. Still feeling each other out, wondering who is going to challenge whom next, and who will emerge the Master ...

Yeah, pilots are indeed a goofy lot.

Every time I see her (okay, she's not an RV, but the idea is the same).

She's taking care of me, and I am taking care of her.

She once saved my bacon by throwing a number of unrelated freak little malfunctions at me during preflight (like stall warning horn going off for no apparent reason). I decided to listen to her by staying on the ground. And sure enough, one hour later, an un-forecasted storm with 25 knot crosswinds came passing by the airfield.

Yes, she's been good to me.

But then.... I've moved her into a new home rather unexpectedly. We flew over to the new airport to take care of the contract and before I knew it, I had the keys in hand. Grasping the opportunity, I parked her in the new hangar and hitched a ride back home with a buddy in his cub who happened to go the same way. She never forgave me for not telling her beforehand and she seems to be missing her former hangar mates. Ever since this incident, I've been bugged with small malfunctions after nearly every flight.

A stubborn old lady, my Josephine



Hans

I have had many enjoyable hours in the past ten years with my RV-6.

But my plane is a lifeless, cold, hunk of aluminum and steel that will kill me in an instant if given half a chance. It has no soul, no personality, no relationship with a human because it is merely a machine.

Sorry to be so unromantic, but to trust a plane to save my hide because it likes me is folly. Referring to a machine as a friend is amusing as long as we don't take it seriously. I have certainly talked at the RV-6 a few times but usually after a busted knuckle in the engine compartment.

Sam Buchanan said:

I have had many enjoyable hours in the past ten years with my RV-6.

But my plane is a lifeless, cold, hunk of aluminum and steel that will kill me in an instant if given half a chance. It has no soul, no personality, no relationship with a human because it is merely a machine.

Sorry to be so unromantic, but to trust a plane to save my hide because it likes me is folly. Referring to a machine as a friend is amusing as long as we don't take it seriously. I have certainly talked at the RV-6 a few times but usually after a busted knuckle in the engine compartment.

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Gee, Sam ... you're cold. You party pooper, you ...

Ah, the infamous "shouting parts in place", Sam? Hardly ever worked for me

All kidding aside, yes it's silly to believe this pile of wood, glue and poly fiber is alive. I'm certainly not relying on it to save my hide. But hey, aren't we all a bunch of over-aged little boys?

My teddy bear was alive too, you know?

Sam Buchanan said:

..... my plane is a lifeless, cold, hunk of aluminum and steel.....no soul, no personality, no relationship with a human because it is merely a machine.....

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Sam,

On a purely rational and logical level, of course what you say is true. Cold and dispassionate, nevertheless true. It is also true "There is no such thing as a free lunch" yet that eternal truism has never stopped we mere mortals from constantly looking for one.

Whoever said all pilots, let alone most people are always rational? Heck, while reaching for a rivet, screw or other fastener from a bin containing of hundreds or thousands, I've thought to myself "Who among you is going to be lucky enough to spend the rest of your days experiencing flight with "Darla!?" If that is so crazy, so is praying for a miracle or even hoping to cash in on a Lotto ticket.

Of course you are right Sam, but some of us hang on to reality by occasionally suspending it. Just to get through a day in this sometimes crazy world, some of us need all the help we can get.

Rick6a said:

Sam,

On a purely rational and logical level, of course what you say is true. Cold and dispassionate, nevertheless true. It is also true "There is no such thing as a free lunch" yet that eternal truism has never stopped we mere mortals from constantly looking for one.

Whoever said all pilots, let alone most people are always rational? Heck, while reaching for a rivet, screw or other fastener from a bin containing of hundreds or thousands, I've thought to myself "Who among you is going to be lucky enough to spend the rest of your days experiencing flight with "Darla!?" If that is so crazy, so is praying for a miracle or even hoping to cash in on a Lotto ticket.

Of course you are right Sam, but some of us hang on to reality by occasionally suspending it. Just to get through a day in this sometimes crazy world, some of us need all the help we can get.

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Agreed.

And many have been the times I have gratefully looked back with wonder at the homemade contraption that has safely transported me thousands of feet above the hard earth.

Saying Thanks

After the flight is done and the ship is back in the hangar, I putz around perhaps a bit longer than I need to. Still bonding I guess. As I leave, I say thanks and maybe she even gets a pat. Call me a romantic if you will, but this little ritual somehow makes it complete. Now I don't walk around her three times clockwise mumbling some phrase or anything, but to me this small goodbye ends our meeting and confirms the great time I just had with her.

Us folks have gone so far as to ask where the soul of the ship is. But that's another thread altogether.

Sam Buchanan said:

Agreed.

And many have been the times I have gratefully looked back with wonder at the homemade contraption that has safely transported me thousands of feet above the hard earth.

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See Sam, YOU do have a bit of the romantic in you after all and didn't even know it. This John Pitre piece occupies a prominent position in my hangar because at least to me.... articulates why I feel as I do. For all its imperfections, I created the flying machine. Now, I depend upon that creation to get me home safely. Stop me if I am getting too deep.

Feelings

Wow, Rick. You look good!

Not a day go's by

I only have the VS together and I talk to it, touch it, I dream about what she will look like. Not a day goes by that I don't wish I was working on her instead of the task at hand. I have already produced the paint scheme and photo shoped it on the 3D drawing. I see it every morning and under the picture it says "DON'T STOP DREAMING" I use it for the motivation to get out there every night. Even if it's just to look at the plans and mentally prepare for the next step. I find that building her is addictive, yet relaxing. An escape from the draining day, and she energizes me at the same time. To see her emerge from a box of metal, and become something that will cary me away. WOW !!!! Some of the time, I feel like the mad scientist creating the plane of my dreams. The best looking, best flying, and the fastest RV 8 anyone has ever seen. If only the rest of my life was as easy as talking to her. I can't wait to fly her.....

Rich

I have to

I have to talk to her. Before "Baby" - (Chris, a hangar mate had his 3 year old at the airport back a the end of last summer and introduced the RV to her as "This is Daniel's Baby". She looked at it very seriously and said "Hello Baby", so the name stuck ) - came into my life, our family had a Cessna 340. I'm the only pilot in the family so I'm the only one that flies it and developed quite the relationship with the ol' gal. Everywhere I went was in that plane and I've flown it 1,000 hrs now, and she's never given me a lick of trouble - gotten me outa trouble a few times. So before I brought the RV down to the hangar, I went over and had a talk with her and told her that we were getting a new family member and that I would probably be spending quite a bit of time with her to make her feel welcome. I told her she'd always be my first love, and after a little jealousy (read small issues to remind me who's really in charge ) everything has been great.

Everytime I leave the hangar, I rub the left wing tip of both the RV and the 340 and say a quiet thanks. I guess its alot like Nicholas Cage in Gone In 60 Seconds with Eleanor....

I always say thanks, whether it's the CT, Glider, Boeing, 'Bus, whatever. The aircraft has helped me get off the ground with no visible means of support and get back safely again. It doesn't matter to me whether it's mechanical, spiritual, magical, pharmaceutical, whatever; it's still the coolest thing I know, helping me transcend the ground-bound existence of daily life. For that I am thankful, and the aircraft deserves at least a little pat on the fuselage, a word of thanks, and if I've been flying low, a quick wipe-down for bugs.

TODR

Aluminum Dust Syndrome?

I'm with Sam on this one, mine is just a machine that has no name. A delightful machine that I frequently fly, but never fully trust. I don't care if others want to name their planes or other such things; just not my cup of tea.

Could those who like to personalize their planes be victim of some sort of aluminum dust syndrome perhaps?

Never

Our airplane is special to me and there is a private moment of admiration every time I open the hangar door or return to the ramp and see it for the first time. I love the plane as a functional device that is beautiful. I learned long ago that the two need not be mutually exclusive. My response to seeing the Blue Bird is a reaction to its beauty. When I pull it out to begin a trip there is a transition from the admiration phase to getting to know its readiness for flight - I'm looking for flaws. When I start the engine we are a team, we work well together and the whole operational experience takes me to another level physically and in a way that I can't come up with a word for. When the weather gets marginal I have to make the right decisions to bring the flight to a safe conclusion. When I leave the plane after completing a flight I look a it in a private moment of warm appreciation and a little sadness at the parting. However, my plane can't hear or talk so there is no point in talking to it - it's systematically impossible - we communicate in other ways.

Bob Axsom

Sam Buchanan said:

I have had many enjoyable hours in the past ten years with my RV-6.

But my plane is a lifeless, cold, hunk of aluminum and steel that will kill me in an instant if given half a chance. It has no soul, no personality, no relationship with a human because it is merely a machine.

Sorry to be so unromantic, but to trust a plane to save my hide because it likes me is folly. Referring to a machine as a friend is amusing as long as we don't take it seriously. I have certainly talked at the RV-6 a few times but usually after a busted knuckle in the engine compartment.

Click to expand...

Change ten years to twelve years and I can say DITTO.

"Scooter" started this thread. Everyone should know that he has an AWARD WINNING RV-8 that is the NICEST one that I have ever seen. On par with Rick Gray's work. IMHO, it is just as nice as Rick's Rocket in appearance. Everyone will get to see his RV-8 at LOE 2009. If there is a one nicer, I hope someone points it out to me at LOE.

Sam Buchanan said:

...But my plane is a lifeless, cold, hunk of aluminum and steel that will kill me in an instant if given half a chance. It has no soul, no personality, no relationship with a human because it is merely a machine...

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Uh, that would be why I call her the B!tch.

Beautiful, Scott...

...couldn't have said it better.

Hope to see you in January..

Regards,