Van's Air Force
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What are you doing with your RV this weekend? (June 10 and 11th, 2023)
- Thread starter DeltaRomeo
- Start date
Ed_Wischmeyer
Well Known Member
Lotsa flight test of AOA, airspeed, pitch, and all that.
Was number five for takeoff. Never seen that before...
Discovered that my EFIS which once was properly calibrated no longer is. Software update is the villain? And the beeps come on at the second yellow, book says it should be the first.
Power on stall came at 40° nose up. The probably out of calibration green dot showed 12° nose up, but that's not for stall.
A friend with a fixed pitch RV-9 does power off approaches at 60 kt and has plenty of energy for the flare. I tried it at altitude and (need to replay the video) don't think it works for my RV-9A with a constant speed prop, probably because the descent angle is steeper.
Was reading the manual and found new features in the EFIS. Those features haven't been missed, but finding those is more preparation for Avionics Trivial Pursuit. Marked down three new feature requests.
Was trying a new way of mounting the video camera to capture the left screen, full frame. Couldn't get the camera close enough because of the control stick, so we'll see how the video turns out. It's easy enough to remove the right side control stick, but I can't get a full screen EFIS over there because I don't have a switch for reversionary mode, and I'm not sure I want to turn off the left screen and do all that airwork and navigation with everything on the far screen and set up for making videos.
So now I'm downloading data for Foreflight and for the EFIS, and uploading video. Then maybe edit the video and upload to youtube if there's anything really interesting there.
Doing the test flights was really busy, with ATC telling me to stay south of whatever, turbulence, uncooperative winds.
Was going to try a technique for measuring stall speed based on groundspeed, but the winds aloft were so disorganized that I couldn't try it. The idea is to fly directly upwind and then downwind and use the speed difference to get twice the wind speed. Then fly directly up/downwind, stall the airplane, remove the windspeed from the groundspeed, and that gives the stall speed in TAS. Remove temperature, altitude and pressure and get stall speed in CAS.
Finished off with an ILS in VMC, just to keep in practice with the switchology and deceleration. This one was lots easier than the LPV approach the other day when I kept the speed up 160 kt till two mile final. However, on today's approach, tower asked if I could keep the speed up when I was already slowed down and only two miles out. I declined.
Videos looked good when I monitored them on the iPhone, but little or no actual recording took place. Grr. Maybe time to video the inside of a trash can.
Lotsa aviating in 0.9 hours...
Was number five for takeoff. Never seen that before...
Discovered that my EFIS which once was properly calibrated no longer is. Software update is the villain? And the beeps come on at the second yellow, book says it should be the first.
Power on stall came at 40° nose up. The probably out of calibration green dot showed 12° nose up, but that's not for stall.
A friend with a fixed pitch RV-9 does power off approaches at 60 kt and has plenty of energy for the flare. I tried it at altitude and (need to replay the video) don't think it works for my RV-9A with a constant speed prop, probably because the descent angle is steeper.
Was reading the manual and found new features in the EFIS. Those features haven't been missed, but finding those is more preparation for Avionics Trivial Pursuit. Marked down three new feature requests.
Was trying a new way of mounting the video camera to capture the left screen, full frame. Couldn't get the camera close enough because of the control stick, so we'll see how the video turns out. It's easy enough to remove the right side control stick, but I can't get a full screen EFIS over there because I don't have a switch for reversionary mode, and I'm not sure I want to turn off the left screen and do all that airwork and navigation with everything on the far screen and set up for making videos.
So now I'm downloading data for Foreflight and for the EFIS, and uploading video. Then maybe edit the video and upload to youtube if there's anything really interesting there.
Doing the test flights was really busy, with ATC telling me to stay south of whatever, turbulence, uncooperative winds.
Was going to try a technique for measuring stall speed based on groundspeed, but the winds aloft were so disorganized that I couldn't try it. The idea is to fly directly upwind and then downwind and use the speed difference to get twice the wind speed. Then fly directly up/downwind, stall the airplane, remove the windspeed from the groundspeed, and that gives the stall speed in TAS. Remove temperature, altitude and pressure and get stall speed in CAS.
Finished off with an ILS in VMC, just to keep in practice with the switchology and deceleration. This one was lots easier than the LPV approach the other day when I kept the speed up 160 kt till two mile final. However, on today's approach, tower asked if I could keep the speed up when I was already slowed down and only two miles out. I declined.
Videos looked good when I monitored them on the iPhone, but little or no actual recording took place. Grr. Maybe time to video the inside of a trash can.
Lotsa aviating in 0.9 hours...
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Scott Hersha
Well Known Member
Big weekend here in Ohio. The Air force Museum is celebrating their 100 year anniversary, and the T34 Association was invited to show up at the museum/former Wright Patterson AFB airport for a static display an airshow. This was only done once before in recent history, when the B-25’s were allowed to land at the museum a few years ago in celebration of the anniversary of the Doolittle Raiders. The T34’s staged at our airport - HAO just north of Cincinnati. There were 44 T34’s on our ramp at HAO - the largest collection of T34’s in one place in history according to what I was told. Pretty cool:
My favorite T34:
Then we flew up to the 72nd annual Randolph County Indiana Flyin Breakfast. I was one of the first arrivals. The first 100 pilots flying in got free breakfast and a fuel discount. More than 50 airplanes flew in for this annual event.
This was Indiana farm country, so lots of tractors, plus some interesting airplanes: a perfectly restored 1946 PA-12, a vintage Monocoupe, and a Corbin Baby Ace, like the one Paul Poberezney built when he started the EAA movement, and another wood and fabric taildragger that I can’t remember the name of, but pretty cool.
Then a few of us flew over to Sporty’s (I69) for their usual Saturday hotdogs/brats/& mets - like they do every Saturday (no pics from that stop). So - a free lunch after a free breakfast. A perfect weekend of flying in Ohio (aside from the thick haze from the Canadian fires).
The freedoms we enjoy in this country were in full bloom this weekend in Ohio.
My favorite T34:
Then we flew up to the 72nd annual Randolph County Indiana Flyin Breakfast. I was one of the first arrivals. The first 100 pilots flying in got free breakfast and a fuel discount. More than 50 airplanes flew in for this annual event.
This was Indiana farm country, so lots of tractors, plus some interesting airplanes: a perfectly restored 1946 PA-12, a vintage Monocoupe, and a Corbin Baby Ace, like the one Paul Poberezney built when he started the EAA movement, and another wood and fabric taildragger that I can’t remember the name of, but pretty cool.
Then a few of us flew over to Sporty’s (I69) for their usual Saturday hotdogs/brats/& mets - like they do every Saturday (no pics from that stop). So - a free lunch after a free breakfast. A perfect weekend of flying in Ohio (aside from the thick haze from the Canadian fires).
The freedoms we enjoy in this country were in full bloom this weekend in Ohio.
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Kyle Boatright
Well Known Member
Doug's post is one of several reasons I was very relieved to retrieve my RV-10 from an AOG situation in Sulphur Springs Texas that began the previous Friday with a mag failure.
Luckily, there was no significant weather while the airplane sat out on the ramp for a week (although there was a lot of hail nearby last weekend). Anyway, on Friday I flew back to Dallas via the people tube, was picked up at the airport by my wife Kelly (who'd planned to be in Dallas this weekend anyway), and she carried me out to KSLR where I installed a new mag on the nice warm ramp that afternoon. That did the trick and with a bottle of water and part of a Diet Coke (TM) to re-hydrate, I headed East and got the airplane home right at dark.
Thinking about it in hindsight, Friday afternoon isn't the time to be making an AOG recovery. Why? Because by the time you do your magic (or fail to do your magic), every airplane parts store is closed and all the mechanics have gone home for the weekend. A better plan would be to try to rescue the airplane on a Sunday or Monday, where (worst case), someone will be open to help you on Monday. This didn't bite me, but was a worry since I didn't have a good backup plan if the airplane needed more than a new mag.
Luckily, there was no significant weather while the airplane sat out on the ramp for a week (although there was a lot of hail nearby last weekend). Anyway, on Friday I flew back to Dallas via the people tube, was picked up at the airport by my wife Kelly (who'd planned to be in Dallas this weekend anyway), and she carried me out to KSLR where I installed a new mag on the nice warm ramp that afternoon. That did the trick and with a bottle of water and part of a Diet Coke (TM) to re-hydrate, I headed East and got the airplane home right at dark.
Thinking about it in hindsight, Friday afternoon isn't the time to be making an AOG recovery. Why? Because by the time you do your magic (or fail to do your magic), every airplane parts store is closed and all the mechanics have gone home for the weekend. A better plan would be to try to rescue the airplane on a Sunday or Monday, where (worst case), someone will be open to help you on Monday. This didn't bite me, but was a worry since I didn't have a good backup plan if the airplane needed more than a new mag.
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erich weaver
Well Known Member
Long streak of overcast skies here in SoCal, so have spent some time learning how to use my new Insta360 X3 camera and edit the video. These things are pretty amazing. Its viewing all directions all the time; you pick the camera view you want to show afterwards. Here's a short clip from my first flight with it. Who wouldnt want to have shots like this of you flying your plane?
https://1drv.ms/v/s!Am1SiE4PBxCv8jereeTD2GeFuL5Q?e=ZzM4dM
https://1drv.ms/v/s!Am1SiE4PBxCv8jereeTD2GeFuL5Q?e=ZzM4dM
Four Essex Skypark (W48) RVs and one Easton (ESN) RV journeyed 100nm NW through the Canadian wildfire haze -- considerably clearer than earlier in the week -- to attend the EAA Chapter 518 breakfast at Mifflin County Airport (RVL) in PA. I don't call it a pancake breakfast because this breakfast is the best you're ever gonna have except for maybe the buffet at the Bellagio. Afterwards, we flew in to the Potomac Antique Aero Squadron's 51st Antique fly-in at Massey Aerodrome (MD1) where we enjoyed checking out some really interesting planes. What a great aviation day!
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PilotjohnS
Well Known Member
How does this work?
Very cool video, but how does this work as it appears not to be attached to the airplane at all???
Very cool video, but how does this work as it appears not to be attached to the airplane at all???
Shark
Well Known Member
RV3
I have been working on rebuilding a previously flying RV3 that I was lucky enough to find, it was a loss of medical scenario and taken apart to be stored in his garage, really neat guy, well this weekend it flew once again. Very fun plane to fly having fun with it. Would love to add pics but too difficult
I have been working on rebuilding a previously flying RV3 that I was lucky enough to find, it was a loss of medical scenario and taken apart to be stored in his garage, really neat guy, well this weekend it flew once again. Very fun plane to fly having fun with it. Would love to add pics but too difficult
Lobster roll
(not a new aerobatic manoeuvre...)
Departed home base Sunday morning to Bangor KBGR to clear customs then a short hop to Bar Harbor KBHB for a lobter roll lunch.
A R-44 helicopter and a PA28-161 also came along for the trip and we were 9 happy travelers enjoying good food and a great day.
Worth to mention a big thumbs up to the friendly border guards and staff at both FBO's
(not a new aerobatic manoeuvre...)
Departed home base Sunday morning to Bangor KBGR to clear customs then a short hop to Bar Harbor KBHB for a lobter roll lunch.
A R-44 helicopter and a PA28-161 also came along for the trip and we were 9 happy travelers enjoying good food and a great day.
Worth to mention a big thumbs up to the friendly border guards and staff at both FBO's
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Our "weekend" started on Wednesday. Flew down to KFLG and spent Thursday hiking the rim and down the Bright Angel trail a bit at the Grand Canyon. The flight home on Friday included the Bucket List flight through the SVFR corridor over the Canyon. We chose the Dragon route and it was phenomenal. Glass smooth at 7:30 and we had the place to ourselves. Did a loop around the Four Corners monument on the way back to Denver. The RV is such a fantastic cross-country machine.
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ronrapp
Well Known Member
I've been experimenting with the best way to record track logs from Foreflight, so I flew out to CMA for lunch at the Waypoint Cafe. That place ALWAYS has a line out the door. And they're always upgrading or adding new stuff. This time I noticed a cool new built-in fountain on the patio. I love Waypoint because it's the ultimate example of what an airport restaurant can (and should) be.
My RV-6 has a G3X/G5 on the left and a Guardian flush iPad Pro panel mount on the right. The higher end FF subscriptions can be pricey, but thankfully my employer provides a subscription to us, so I've been leveraging that and trying to find out whether my iPhone or the panel-mounted iPad would provide the best fidelity and reliability for track logging. I record track logs on the iPhone in the Gulfstream because our sat and ground-based wifi systems are supported by Foreflight, but the iPad seems to work best in the RV.
The Insta360 looks like fun. Maybe I'll add that to the upgrade list. Flightchops I'll never be, but I bet my kids would have a field day with editing the footage.
Hmm. Why didn't someone warn me this flying thing could get expensive??
--Ron
My RV-6 has a G3X/G5 on the left and a Guardian flush iPad Pro panel mount on the right. The higher end FF subscriptions can be pricey, but thankfully my employer provides a subscription to us, so I've been leveraging that and trying to find out whether my iPhone or the panel-mounted iPad would provide the best fidelity and reliability for track logging. I record track logs on the iPhone in the Gulfstream because our sat and ground-based wifi systems are supported by Foreflight, but the iPad seems to work best in the RV.
The Insta360 looks like fun. Maybe I'll add that to the upgrade list. Flightchops I'll never be, but I bet my kids would have a field day with editing the footage.
Hmm. Why didn't someone warn me this flying thing could get expensive??
--Ron
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erich weaver
Well Known Member
Thats a very cool feature of the camera, it makes the selfie-stick mount invisible. Note that you can briefly see the shadow of the selfie stick on the wing.
There are two lenses on the camera on opposite sides, each having a 180 degree view. The software automatically stitches the two views together and eliminates the selfie stick as long as it is aligned with the long axis of the camera so that it falls along the stitch line. You can sometimes see a very slight blur where the selfie stick would be but for the most part its not noticeable. Amazing technology. Editing is also easy-peasy and you can take a snap-shot still photo of anything in the video. You can control the camera from your phone while flying, but the only thing I do with that is to start and stop recording. Everything else I do afterwards on the ground.
climberrn
Well Known Member
Left Buffalo NY at 0600 Saturday morning, arrived Carson City, NV by noon Sunday. A little under 13 hours air time, and many weather cells to go around. Headed much further south than we usually take due to predicted IFR for the northern part of the country Sunday. 3 week trip total.
Saw many friends and family. The flexibility is priceless. Was in Virginia, ready to start heading west. Got a call from family in NY, changed plans and was there in 2 hours (with a head wind!). Amazing machines.
Saw many friends and family. The flexibility is priceless. Was in Virginia, ready to start heading west. Got a call from family in NY, changed plans and was there in 2 hours (with a head wind!). Amazing machines.
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erich weaver
Well Known Member
Yes, on top of wing. Mount details are presented here:
https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=217076&highlight=Insta360
This has worked fine for several flights now, although it was suggested that I spread the load out more using two brackets instead of one, which I think I will do.
https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=217076&highlight=Insta360
This has worked fine for several flights now, although it was suggested that I spread the load out more using two brackets instead of one, which I think I will do.
Two weekends really...friends with five airplanes. We started out with a plan to run the New England coastline and camp our way around a few backwoods strips in Maine. A big offshore low made that idea look rather wet and windy. The Canadian smoke stream didn't help, so we bugged out for western New York, Ohio, and Michigan.
First stop, Pottstown PA, home of the Manatawny distillery, more or less the official whiskey of the Vans community. Very medicinal, thus required for camping. Several bottles were purchased, but little made it home.
Bucket list item #1: flying the New York Hudson corridor. We lucked out; this was just a day or two before the smoke arrived.
It's interesting to fly a prescribed path so close to Manhattan. It feels like you could reach out and touch the buildings.
George Washington Bridge:
My grandfather (right), a tough 22 year old kid from Alabama, on the deck girders in 1930 with the Jersey side in the background. I think he would have been pleased to see his grandson fly over it 93 years later.
The Hudson just north of the city is beautiful too. And here's West Point on a sunny day:
Now for a relaxing destination a lot more VAF'ers should visit, Middlesex Valley Airport, 2000 feet of old school grass heaven. Highly recommended:
https://www.airnav.com/airport/4N2
Owner, operator, and really great guy, Bob Mincer. He bought the place in the 1980's because he wanted to keep an old fashioned grass airport alive. This photo was taken right after he nailed a landing in Marvin's RV-14.
Call ahead, except for Friday mornings when it's coffee and doughnuts for all. Trust me, you'll make Bob happy.
Continued...
First stop, Pottstown PA, home of the Manatawny distillery, more or less the official whiskey of the Vans community. Very medicinal, thus required for camping. Several bottles were purchased, but little made it home.
Bucket list item #1: flying the New York Hudson corridor. We lucked out; this was just a day or two before the smoke arrived.
It's interesting to fly a prescribed path so close to Manhattan. It feels like you could reach out and touch the buildings.
George Washington Bridge:
My grandfather (right), a tough 22 year old kid from Alabama, on the deck girders in 1930 with the Jersey side in the background. I think he would have been pleased to see his grandson fly over it 93 years later.
The Hudson just north of the city is beautiful too. And here's West Point on a sunny day:
Now for a relaxing destination a lot more VAF'ers should visit, Middlesex Valley Airport, 2000 feet of old school grass heaven. Highly recommended:
https://www.airnav.com/airport/4N2
Owner, operator, and really great guy, Bob Mincer. He bought the place in the 1980's because he wanted to keep an old fashioned grass airport alive. This photo was taken right after he nailed a landing in Marvin's RV-14.
Call ahead, except for Friday mornings when it's coffee and doughnuts for all. Trust me, you'll make Bob happy.
Continued...
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We made a stab back toward the east, with an eye toward sneaking into Maine if the weather cleared. Our waiting spot was the glider port at Franconia (https://www.airnav.com/airport/1B5), which is across the road from the Franconia Inn, a marvelous bolt hole if there ever was one.
Funky old place with nice updates, good library, fireplaces, restaurant, downstairs bar, bike and horse rental next door. No cars available however, so plan accordingly.
Cannon Mountain overlooks the field and makes an excellent ceiling indicator. Runway elevation is a little less than 1000 MSL, and the peak is just a bit more than 4000.
We stopped at many other other airports, but the last camping stop was another from my bucket list, North Fox Island, 6Y3, an RAF-sponsored strip offshore in northern Lake Michigan. Only two ways to get there, airplane or beach a boat. Island pictures make the strip look intimidating, a gouge in the forest, but in reality it is gorgeous:
Our group was two RV's, two V-tail Bonanzas, and a Rallye. Not a place for idiots, but no big deal.
The RAF gang provides a fire ring, an outhouse, picnic tables, plenty of firewood, and passable trails. Bring everything else, including enough water.
I found the geology fascinating. You can spend hours just looking at the variety of rocks deposited on the beaches. The selection is huge; I assume many were delivered from elsewhere by long ago glaciers.
The trails are great, but bring plenty of mosquito repellant.
I suppose I should mention the snakes. The dominant species seem to be the eastern fox snake (large) and a variety of garter snake (small), but there may be more. Both are harmless and easy to identify. The fox snake is threatened, so do not kill them. Although they hiss and shake their tails, they're clearly not a rattlesnake. The garters eat earthworms, so worry not.
So there you have it, another adventure only possible with airplanes. Life is good.
Funky old place with nice updates, good library, fireplaces, restaurant, downstairs bar, bike and horse rental next door. No cars available however, so plan accordingly.
Cannon Mountain overlooks the field and makes an excellent ceiling indicator. Runway elevation is a little less than 1000 MSL, and the peak is just a bit more than 4000.
We stopped at many other other airports, but the last camping stop was another from my bucket list, North Fox Island, 6Y3, an RAF-sponsored strip offshore in northern Lake Michigan. Only two ways to get there, airplane or beach a boat. Island pictures make the strip look intimidating, a gouge in the forest, but in reality it is gorgeous:
Our group was two RV's, two V-tail Bonanzas, and a Rallye. Not a place for idiots, but no big deal.
The RAF gang provides a fire ring, an outhouse, picnic tables, plenty of firewood, and passable trails. Bring everything else, including enough water.
I found the geology fascinating. You can spend hours just looking at the variety of rocks deposited on the beaches. The selection is huge; I assume many were delivered from elsewhere by long ago glaciers.
The trails are great, but bring plenty of mosquito repellant.
I suppose I should mention the snakes. The dominant species seem to be the eastern fox snake (large) and a variety of garter snake (small), but there may be more. Both are harmless and easy to identify. The fox snake is threatened, so do not kill them. Although they hiss and shake their tails, they're clearly not a rattlesnake. The garters eat earthworms, so worry not.
So there you have it, another adventure only possible with airplanes. Life is good.
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Jeff Vaughan
Well Known Member
Dan soo bummed I missed your groups visit to our distillery. Camp fires seem to suck the whiskey out of the bottles very fast. I will make sure I bring a bottle or three to Oshkosh. Cheers
rileyspoon
Active Member
Me too. As for campfires, I think Marvin sent a photo suitable for an advertising campaign.
Had to rathole a few pours of the honey whiskey to take home for Patti. She likes!
Dad's RV-10
Well Known Member
How'd things work out with the AOG situations you and your travel mates encountered in Alaska?
