grjtucson
Well Known Member
Review - SportAir RV Assembly Workshop, Corona, CA Dec 3-4, 2005
The weekend was fantastic, worth every penny, and exceeded my expectations, which were quite high. My review may seem focused on things that could be improved, but I'm really picking nits. I am a fellow educator of adults (18 years teaching Scuba and 2 years teaching Real Estate licensing) so I know the value of detailed feedback; the most useful is usually what can be done better rather than what was done well.
There were 17 students and our instructor was Jack Dueck from Calgary, Alberta. Jack was assisted by Dan Checkoway, one of the more famous RV'ators at the moment. Dan was "in training" to teach this particular class in the future and seemed to be learning/watching and trying to hold off on taking any lead. Jack and Dan handled this brilliantly, integrating Dan in without seeming to put him in over his head or place him into a competitive role with Jack. Not a particularly easy thing to manage by the way. Well done, thank you very much. I could not be happier with both as people and as instructors.
Apparently, though, Jack would've done this whole thing by himself, which seems to me a bit much. A ratio of 1 instructor to no more than 10 students seems about right, we certainly did not lack attention.
We were at Aircraft Spruce from 8am to 5pm each day, though a few were students were done by the advertised 3:30pm on Sunday, there was no pressure to be done until you were done. Overall it was a nice balance of time; about 4 hours class and 12 hours shop. The class portion could've been a bit more RV centric and had less general stuff that we can read about elsewhere, but I'm really digging here. A lot of the classroom was aimed at building in general, and design in general, which is all extremely useful to know, but not as applicable in many cases to building an RV. I would've glady sacrificed a bit of the depth on choosing rivet sizes and layouts, legal issues about homebuilding, and some of the depth on bolts, nuts, and other hardware, all in favor of more depth on plan reading and interpretation, and pitfalls in the various RV stages of plans, kits, or assemblies.
When we got into the shop, we were pretty much turned loose, which from a learning perspective meant we made mistakes which we promptly learned from. However, there is a degree to which we could've done that by ourselves. Having some early coaching and demonstration of a structured approach to reading the plans, planning an approach to building, tool organization and choice, and smart ways to build rather than just diving in would've been better in my opinion. Build teams did many things differently, some much more efficient and effective than others, and there was no real group discussion/debrief on those specific time saving and project improving choices. There was, I think, a lot taken for granted (e.g. knowing what the best way is to layout a pattern and using it to drill multiple pieces to save having to do a second layout).
That said, there was extremely good handling of the variety of abilities that were present, a challenge for any instructor. It didn't seem as if anyone felt left behind or was bored with the pace, and everyone completed their projects. I am certain, though, that a number of the teams would've benefited greatly from learning some basic tool usage and being prodded with tips and pointers on faster/better/more accurate ways of handling the various tasks. Some of the finished projects were far better than others.
I think Dan has said that there are 47 ways to drive a given rivet on an RV, but I'm convinced now that there are definitely some "best practices" and key strategies that make the decisions about how to approach a particular problem much easier.
Through absolutely no fault of either, one apparent source of some issues was not only that this was Dan's first time altogether, but that this was Jack's first time with Van's new practice kits. Neither the training project (an angle and two skins) nor the practice project (a control surface with spar, two ribs, four stiffeners, an extrusion riveted trailing edge, and a rolled leading edge) matched what Jack had in the class manual. Thus we were using Van's drawings as our only guide (which is a good thing) and our instructors didn't have a structured approach to either assembly or teaching that assembly (which is not as good). A lot more learning could've taken place, especially for a number of the students that missed a number of opportunities to "build smart." In particular, when we first inventoried the practice project a number of us commented that we had 2 CP-2 skins and no CP-1 skin. We were immediately told they were identical and not to worry. They are not identical. The CP-1 was the drilled skin for both the leading and trailing edge, and while a number of teams had no significant problems adapting and laying out those holes manually, it was quite vexing for others. We later discovered the supply of CP-1 skins; I'm still not sure whether this was planned or inadvertent. Also, the rolled leading edge was very difficult as the dowels we had to do them with would have been more effective if they were a bit smaller in diameter. As various teams learned "best practices" though, the instructors appeared to as well, so this will likely be different in future classes with these instructors.
On the second day, we got a demo of a variety of tools that Dan brought in. This was great, though I'm now going to have to buy a pneumatic squeezer, but I'd have really liked to been able to use a few other tools such as a DRDT-2 C-Frame dimpler, a Main Squeeze, a grinder with scotch brite wheels, and even a simple scotch brite pad. The tool demo would've fit better at the beginning, or during a early discussion of "best practices". The tools we had were certainly adequate, but far from optimum. We also fought something of a compressor capacity battle for some of the time, fortunately to little ill-effect. This all said, Aircraft Spruce were great hosts and extremely friendly and helpful throughout.
So that's the nits I've picked, but as I mentioned, I was really digging. It probably takes no reminding to folks long involved in the RV community, but you do meet some really great people in this community. For those that are newer to it, like me, it is great to meet dedicated and capable instructors that clearly have a passion for this, and that are truly great people to get to know. Dan took the time to show me his plane Sunday after the class and it was very good to see firsthand what I, and probably many others, know so well from his website. Fellow students were no less enjoyable to meet and spend a weekend with. I can without reservation recommend this class to anyone even considering building an RV.
I'm going to Eugene, Oregon to take the day-long Synergy Air workshop in January, followed a day later by the week-long Empennage building workshop, reviews of both will be made, as well as some compare and contrast for the benefit of those that follow. I'm probably overdoing the training a bit at this point, I would have no reservation in starting my RV today, but I'm also sure it cannot hurt.
George Jenson
www.georgejenson.com
RV-7 Empennage in Boxes
Tucson, AZ
The weekend was fantastic, worth every penny, and exceeded my expectations, which were quite high. My review may seem focused on things that could be improved, but I'm really picking nits. I am a fellow educator of adults (18 years teaching Scuba and 2 years teaching Real Estate licensing) so I know the value of detailed feedback; the most useful is usually what can be done better rather than what was done well.
There were 17 students and our instructor was Jack Dueck from Calgary, Alberta. Jack was assisted by Dan Checkoway, one of the more famous RV'ators at the moment. Dan was "in training" to teach this particular class in the future and seemed to be learning/watching and trying to hold off on taking any lead. Jack and Dan handled this brilliantly, integrating Dan in without seeming to put him in over his head or place him into a competitive role with Jack. Not a particularly easy thing to manage by the way. Well done, thank you very much. I could not be happier with both as people and as instructors.
Apparently, though, Jack would've done this whole thing by himself, which seems to me a bit much. A ratio of 1 instructor to no more than 10 students seems about right, we certainly did not lack attention.
We were at Aircraft Spruce from 8am to 5pm each day, though a few were students were done by the advertised 3:30pm on Sunday, there was no pressure to be done until you were done. Overall it was a nice balance of time; about 4 hours class and 12 hours shop. The class portion could've been a bit more RV centric and had less general stuff that we can read about elsewhere, but I'm really digging here. A lot of the classroom was aimed at building in general, and design in general, which is all extremely useful to know, but not as applicable in many cases to building an RV. I would've glady sacrificed a bit of the depth on choosing rivet sizes and layouts, legal issues about homebuilding, and some of the depth on bolts, nuts, and other hardware, all in favor of more depth on plan reading and interpretation, and pitfalls in the various RV stages of plans, kits, or assemblies.
When we got into the shop, we were pretty much turned loose, which from a learning perspective meant we made mistakes which we promptly learned from. However, there is a degree to which we could've done that by ourselves. Having some early coaching and demonstration of a structured approach to reading the plans, planning an approach to building, tool organization and choice, and smart ways to build rather than just diving in would've been better in my opinion. Build teams did many things differently, some much more efficient and effective than others, and there was no real group discussion/debrief on those specific time saving and project improving choices. There was, I think, a lot taken for granted (e.g. knowing what the best way is to layout a pattern and using it to drill multiple pieces to save having to do a second layout).
That said, there was extremely good handling of the variety of abilities that were present, a challenge for any instructor. It didn't seem as if anyone felt left behind or was bored with the pace, and everyone completed their projects. I am certain, though, that a number of the teams would've benefited greatly from learning some basic tool usage and being prodded with tips and pointers on faster/better/more accurate ways of handling the various tasks. Some of the finished projects were far better than others.
I think Dan has said that there are 47 ways to drive a given rivet on an RV, but I'm convinced now that there are definitely some "best practices" and key strategies that make the decisions about how to approach a particular problem much easier.
Through absolutely no fault of either, one apparent source of some issues was not only that this was Dan's first time altogether, but that this was Jack's first time with Van's new practice kits. Neither the training project (an angle and two skins) nor the practice project (a control surface with spar, two ribs, four stiffeners, an extrusion riveted trailing edge, and a rolled leading edge) matched what Jack had in the class manual. Thus we were using Van's drawings as our only guide (which is a good thing) and our instructors didn't have a structured approach to either assembly or teaching that assembly (which is not as good). A lot more learning could've taken place, especially for a number of the students that missed a number of opportunities to "build smart." In particular, when we first inventoried the practice project a number of us commented that we had 2 CP-2 skins and no CP-1 skin. We were immediately told they were identical and not to worry. They are not identical. The CP-1 was the drilled skin for both the leading and trailing edge, and while a number of teams had no significant problems adapting and laying out those holes manually, it was quite vexing for others. We later discovered the supply of CP-1 skins; I'm still not sure whether this was planned or inadvertent. Also, the rolled leading edge was very difficult as the dowels we had to do them with would have been more effective if they were a bit smaller in diameter. As various teams learned "best practices" though, the instructors appeared to as well, so this will likely be different in future classes with these instructors.
On the second day, we got a demo of a variety of tools that Dan brought in. This was great, though I'm now going to have to buy a pneumatic squeezer, but I'd have really liked to been able to use a few other tools such as a DRDT-2 C-Frame dimpler, a Main Squeeze, a grinder with scotch brite wheels, and even a simple scotch brite pad. The tool demo would've fit better at the beginning, or during a early discussion of "best practices". The tools we had were certainly adequate, but far from optimum. We also fought something of a compressor capacity battle for some of the time, fortunately to little ill-effect. This all said, Aircraft Spruce were great hosts and extremely friendly and helpful throughout.
So that's the nits I've picked, but as I mentioned, I was really digging. It probably takes no reminding to folks long involved in the RV community, but you do meet some really great people in this community. For those that are newer to it, like me, it is great to meet dedicated and capable instructors that clearly have a passion for this, and that are truly great people to get to know. Dan took the time to show me his plane Sunday after the class and it was very good to see firsthand what I, and probably many others, know so well from his website. Fellow students were no less enjoyable to meet and spend a weekend with. I can without reservation recommend this class to anyone even considering building an RV.
I'm going to Eugene, Oregon to take the day-long Synergy Air workshop in January, followed a day later by the week-long Empennage building workshop, reviews of both will be made, as well as some compare and contrast for the benefit of those that follow. I'm probably overdoing the training a bit at this point, I would have no reservation in starting my RV today, but I'm also sure it cannot hurt.
George Jenson
www.georgejenson.com
RV-7 Empennage in Boxes
Tucson, AZ
