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What did you do with your RV this weekend? (7/8 - 7/9/2023)

SPX

SPX

Well Known Member
Sponsor
So, what did you do with your RV, or RV build this weekend(ish)?

I had thought about flying up to Lompoc to the West Coast Cub Fly-In, but other plans took priority this morning, so I didn't end up going.

Around mid-day, I headed to the airport to fly my RV to the airport where my Baron is based at, so I could clean it up a bit. This photo reminds me how lucky I am to own two fantastic airplanes.

After cleaning up the Baron, I had it timed such that I could then go up to Torrance Airport and get takeout for dinner for my wife & I. So I flew to Torrance, walked to the restaurant to get the food, and then walked back to the airport and flew home.

Really nice day around Southern California today, and it was a pleasure to be able to fly the RV! It's really such a great airplane. Some would even say that the RV-4 is the best of them all. :D
 

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Installed SuperECO Autopilot

This weekend I test flew my new SuperECO Autopilot that I just installed in my RV-6. I am creating a full video of this fantastic "inexpensive" and lightweight autopilot. Very excited to have added this capability to my RV-6A.
 

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'ArlingtonRV' and I flew our RV-8s to Forks for lunch at Blakeslee Bar & Grill.

On the way out spotted these two Navy resupply ships tied up at Naval Magazine Indian Island, a conventional-munitions storage facility.

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Our RV-8s at Forks. The Forks Timber Museum is in the background.

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3- ship I wasn't in...

No flying for me Saturday or Sunday, but I was out at the airport for a bit. Three RVs were joining up over the field as I climbed out of the car. Looked like they were enjoying themselves <g>.

Big shoutout to SPX for starting this week’s thread (he created the very first ‘What did you do this weekend’ thread, and got this ball rolling).








v/r,dr
 
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Flown with my wife and her friends to the island for breakfast.
Girls were happy with smooth morning flight there and not so happy with mid day flight back :eek: First time flyers - I totally forgot that I have to better plan for thermals and puffy clouds when taking people for the first time up.

Met with some friends at local air event where for the first time I had my own little booth for my 360 Avionics :D

Fixed couple of bugs in the EFIS which were the shame :mad:

Added some oil to my engine and did a quick check of all links/controls to ensure that things going well. I am only in to 40+ hours on my new to me RV10.
 

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Great weekend in my RV-10!

1 - Reached 40 hours and now can leave my restricted area!
2 - flew some Young Eagles in my brand new plane!
3 - flew with a safety pilot 6 approaches to restore my IFR currency!

Ready to fly anywhere we want to go, in any visibility!
 
Found an acceptable camera mount for the GoPro on the shelf behind the seats. Can do better, but this is usable. Still need to mess with radio / intercom / headphone volumes so that everything is in balance -- G3X aural alerts are losing the battle at the moment.

First overnight destination will either be Cedar Rapids, IA, or Adrian, MI, depending on weather -- it can be a challenge getting out of Georgia! In the last decade, once I drove at the last minute (yucch!), another time I took the airlines and they made a huge diversion around the storm front that cancelled the RV-9A flight. Alternate routes north are Asheville, NC and Chattanooga, so I've got some flight planning to do, stops chosen mostly by gas prices.

I'm instrument legal till half past August, and have flown a bunch from both left and right seats recently, but will get an IPC on Monday to really polish up the skills. My enroute weather minima are 1,000 foot ceiling and three miles, so I should not need to be super sharp on instruments, but...
 
Weight that bi%$&?!#

Initial weight and balance done after wing install.

Empty weight 1,111 pounds fully dressed in paint and interior.

Fuel flow test next…
 

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I had a couple of windy nights out camping in Orcas Island.

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A closely matching plane showed up before the second night.

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Nice trip to Charlottesville with plenty of acual

Started the adventure by crossing the diminishing cold front on Thursday headed to KCHO. 9,000 got us a good ride with minimal deviations as we crossed into the blue side of the leg. The return was forecast to be similar, so we launched towards the line of weather about 2 hours up the road. Turns out the weather gods didn't read the forecast and so we diverted to Mansfield, Ohio and waited for the line to pass. Great hospitality from Niss Aviation...they even tucked us in a hangar while we waited it out. Completed the journey with an RNAV GPS into La Porte...another great adventure!
 

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DanH said:
Molded some urethane and glass to make wheelpant gap seals for my new pants, which are mounted much higher over 380-150's.

These seals match the exterior profile of the pants, the idea being to be symmetrical top and bottom. The tire cutout shown here is preliminary, and will be trimmed more upon installation.
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Dan, is this expanding your soft field usablility? I hope you will tell us the speed effect too with (I assume) more wheel showing below. :D

I did not know the wheel pants were symmetrical (!!), forming the flex upside down is clever!! It will help those with lower wheel pant damage and need of reconstruction too.
 
Flew from Savannah to southeastern Michigan on Sunday. Flightaware showed a bit over 4 1/2 hours, but that's only when it was picking up the ADS-B.

Most of the flight was in haze, from the Smokey Mountains on north. The autopilot did all the work, and I just sat there and watched the mileage count down -- slowly -- in the 20 knot headwinds.

It occurred to me that flying like this required a lot of knowledge, and I was exploiting experience and judgment, but very little skill. After all, how hard is it to use a touchscreen or turn a knob?

So four plus hours will go into the logbook as actual IFR, but all of the approaches were visual. I choose not to fly above overcasts less than a thousand feet, in case the engine goes poop.

This morning, flew to the northern part of the lower peninsula to the lake where my grandfather built a cottage a century ago. The first half of the flight was haze, the second half was in and out of the cloud tops, but still those 20 knot headwinds. They had mercy, though, and went to direct crosswind for the last little bit.

So now the routine is veg out, enjoy visiting with my sister, and watch the weather for heading to Wisconsin on Thursday.
 
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