What did you do with your RV this weekend? (March 16 - 17'ish)

[SPX]

I really could not decide if I wanted to ride or fly today ... so figured why not both?

And since my friends were riding today, why not go try and find them? (Turns out that the iPhone camera zoom is good enough to get a reasonable photo of them)

Headed out to the desert, but not much going on out there.

Then flew back home...

1.1 hours aloft. Talk about a great day!!

 

[jrtens]

It was a beautiful day in the Northwest and the skies were busy - ADS-B in sure helps with the "see and avoid."
I decided to find some not so busy airspace over the Olympic mountains.

 

[Foghorn]

Continuing to paint and put back together. This wouldn’t take 4 months if I was retired. Planning to make SnF.

 

[msstahl]

On the home stretch before moving to the airport. Layup complete, now the real work begins.

Thanks for the video’s Stu!

 

[DeltaRomeo]

Thanks to SPX for starting this weekend's thread. I was working the part time side gig and didn't get home 'til late Saturday. For those not knowing, SPX STARTED the 'What did you do...' thread. He created the first one and gets all the credit for motivating so many! Me included!!!

 

[Mel]

Continuing to paint and put back together. This wouldn’t take 4 months if I was retired. Planning to make SnF.
View attachment 58449View attachment 58450

You obviously haven't experienced retirement. If you think you don't have time now, just wait...........

 

[GeoffH]

First Flight Airport, first big trip, maiden flight was Nov 2023.

 

[Smilin' Jack]

Can you park overnight now? Or still ho to Mateo to get rental cars?

 

[rph142]

Planting the seed in the next generation. We built a balsa model and they got a chance to sit in the plane while listening to atc.

 

[bruceh]

Just another leaky tank repair. We only had 1 screw refuse to come out, so had to force it with an extractor (which actually worked quite well).

Can you tell which rivet was leaking?

Does anyone have a good way to remove the staining?

 

[alcladrv]

Just another leaky tank repair. We only had 1 screw refuse to come out, so had to force it with an extractor (which actually worked quite well).

Can you tell which rivet was leaking?

Does anyone have a good way to remove the staining?

Extreme Simple Green worked for me mixed at a 1:1 ratio with water.

 

[rbenua]

As promised in last week's thread, I got up for my first solo RV flight yesterday! Mostly wanted to practice pattern work, I started at Hayward since they've got a long runway and the wind was calmer in the bay than out on the coast. When I felt a bit more comfortable there, I went out to Half Moon Bay for lunch and fuel, then flew up and down the coast a little before turning back to San Carlos. While I was getting out of the plane at HAF, an H-53 of some sort showed up and did a couple of approaches to a hover over the runway - a bit different from the usual bugsmasher traffic there.

2 flights in and I'm really happy with the RV-9 - it feels great to fly, the performance is awesome, and the avionics in this one are downright luxurious (I'm already feeling spoiled by the Dynon APT->COM button). It's easier than I expected to land; the energy management with the fixed pitch prop will take some more time to get down cold, but when I get it stabilized on final and stay patient with it in the round-out it's easy to cushion it in ground effect and put it down smoothly.

 

[tass]

Spent a couple of hours on Saturday getting up close and personal with Tahoma, and today did a couple of instrument approaches in preparation for my IPC.

 

[ronrapp]

Took my 3 year old daughter for her first flight. My son wouldn't miss it, so we had to fall back to a much slower (albeit larger) aircraft since he wasn't keen on being stuffed into the baggage compartment of our RV-6.

I don't think I could have fit her car seat into the -6 anyway. Those things have really gotten massive.

And as always, Snoopy came along for the ride.

I let my son do most of the flying, and even at age 8, he could tell the difference. It was his first flight in the Cardinal. At one point he asked if there was something wrong with the plane. When I asked "Why?", he said "well, it flies slow, climbs even slower, and feels sloppy". I said that's normal for most airplanes and he just shrugged.

After a moment of thoughtful silence, he said, "At least it looks fast."

 

[Biggiesauls]

Under the dash weekend. Finalized the upgrade of my panel for IFR service. Added Garmin 175, G5, magnetometer, Garmin ands Dynon 429’s. It works! Super pleased and yet very sore after many trips under the dash.

One other note. Save you scrap aluminum bits! Used z channel to make a stack bracket for the 429’s mount.

 

[uk_figs]

Decided to start the step retrofit on the -7, discovered that removing the baggage floor was not a simple "drill out pop rivets" exercise noted in the instructions and would involve removing solid rivets, nutplates etc. and then reinstalling, so decided to cut a hole in the floor. Not too bad an exercise with the dremel tool, biggest challenge was cutting the 1.5" thru hole in the F-625 web rib as I could not get the flute cutter in there (finally rigged up a door latch hole cutter and did it from outside).
Got the left side done including patch cover.

When cleaning up I noticed that the left Matco brake cylinder was leaking so now have repair kit on order. Guess I will fix that while the paint dries on the step

 

[olyolson]

Installed a new throttle grip from 3D Stick & Rudder. Removed the front curved stick & Infinity grip to install a new straight front seat stick (from Vans but I had it powdercoated black) with an engraved Tosten Military grip. Took most of a day but turned out well. Felt like a sore pretzel afterward dealing with access to the wiring under the panel & front seat.

 

[Janekom]

Ok due to unforeseen circumstances I am a week late with this report. It was time for our annual weekend at NASA. This is the name of the flying club at Springbok in the Northern Cape, South Africa. My co-pilot was my 15 year old grandson and also on this trip was a good friend who flies a Yak 52 an his co-pilot was the young daughter of his late friend. RIP. The flight from my home base Mossel Bay was 2,4 hours and we landed mid morning being the second aircraft in out of the 32 registered for the event. Twelve of them RVs. Friday night was a well attended affair with their legendary steak, chips ( fries) and mushroom sauce. Oh and my grandson did a nice DJ session as well.

Saturday morning early most of us flew out to Kabies pan which is a dry lake. Amazing scenery in that area and we were treated with a nice breakfast and something cool to drink in the sweltering heat. Some of us the ventured west to the coast and Port Nolloth. Then south along the coast to a diamond mining town Kleinzee and back to base Springbok. Some of us did a sunset flight to round off the trip. My second year and and would like to do it again next year. Kudos to the organizers.

 

[Janekom]

Some more RVs attending

 

[Majorpayne317641]

Just another leaky tank repair. We only had 1 screw refuse to come out, so had to force it with an extractor (which actually worked quite well).

Can you tell which rivet was leaking?

Does anyone have a good way to remove the staining?

Which extractor kit did you use for Phillips? I’ve got one I’m not excited about.

 

[bruceh]

Which extractor kit did you use for Phillips? I’ve got one I’m not excited about.

I don't recall the brand, but it was purchased at Lowe's. They come in different sizes. This kit had both #2 and #3 sized extractors. I used the #2 for the size 8 screw.

 

[Dugaru]

2 flights in and I'm really happy with the RV-9 - it feels great to fly, the performance is awesome, and the avionics in this one are downright luxurious (I'm already feeling spoiled by the Dynon APT->COM button). It's easier than I expected to land; the energy management with the fixed pitch prop will take some more time to get down cold, but when I get it stabilized on final and stay patient with it in the round-out it's easy to cushion it in ground effect and put it down smoothly.

I think the RV-9 is even easier to fly and land than my old Warrior, which is really saying something. So much to love about that design.

 

[Dugaru]

On Thursday I flew my standard mission between W96 (New Kent International Aerodrome, Quinton, VA USA) and KXLL (Allentown Queen City, Allentown PA USA). Noticed W48 for the first time, and after reading up on it, I'm amazed I haven't previously generated an excuse to fly there. Seems like a really cool field!!

Weather coming back yesterday was super bouncy.

 

[Prepperpilot]

Fights on!

 

[AirShowFan]

Spent a couple of hours on Saturday getting up close and personal with Tahoma

I decided to find some not so busy airspace over the Olympic mountains.

I also enjoyed an exceptional flying weekend in the Pacific Northwest.

On Friday, the crosswind was at the limit for some of the airplanes that I have access to and well beyond the limit for others, so I stayed on the ground.

Saturday was my first time flying a 172 with a STOL mod kit (and my first time soloing a 172 since 2015). I slowed it down to 35 knots indicated (for what that’s worth) and it didn’t stall!

On Sunday, I introduced a coworker to the RV grin. We took the 12 on a couple of laps around Mt Hood. I let him have the stick for most of the flight and he did great. He flies a lot of simulators and is a fellow aeronautical engineer, so, this was not a totally foreign experience to him. He loved it and said that, this coming weekend, he’s going to swing by a local flight school that has an RV-12 and sign up for flight training. (I want to say something about the importance of bringing in the “next generation”, except I’m 42 and he’s in his mid-30s, so, I’m not sure that counts ).

Above you see (from left to right) Mt St Helens, Mt Rainier, Mt Adams, and of course Mt Hood. The first picture shows Mt Jefferson, Sisters… and is that Shasta in the distance? Probably not… but, anyways, a very clear day, and super smooth too.