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What did you do with your RV this weekend (1/29/22 - 1/30/22)

Getting it started! V/r,dr

This morning I headed out to the airport to service the tyres, and then departed. A turbulence free flight at 11.5k feet and gave me time to reflect, I sat there in disbelief that I’m fortunate enough to fly an rv. I am **** LUCKY.

RVs bring peace onto the world that at times are otherwise not peaceful.

Now I am spending the next few nights in New Mexico enjoying some horseback riding, camping and hiking.
 
Big milestone in this morning’s flight.
25 years ago it was a big thing for an Experimental Amateur Built to hit this milestone. Now in the RV world it is no big deal.
 

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Took the scenic route over Yosemite on the way to Columbia, CA for lunch. Very cool town taking you right back to the gold rush. Best fly-to breakfast food I've had in a long time!
 

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To me, flying is a social thing, you and a buddy going for lunch etc.

Every so often, I want to be anti social and have some fun. The forecast for this morning was calm, cold, clear deteriorating through the day to rain and gales !

You get so used to flying near gross that when there is only you and half tanks, the already great performance just gets better, so I find myself climbing through 4.5k as I approach my buddies strip near our house - dive to Vne and start then !!!!

A few spirited aeros over his farm, noticing that the uppers were already there as wind position adjustment was needed.

Then over to our house, crank up the prop to battle power to get our Doris out of the house and do similar.

Across to my Bro's house 20 miles away, repeat and then back to Sherburn for a nice fast join and land.

Interesting - 2 up 23/23, cruise is around 140kts indicated, 1 up and light, same power - 150kts.

Home for 1pm under mostly cloudy skies and increasing wind :D;)
 
Rudder pedal mod

Nothing too exciting like Mikey, Cole or Phillip, but I completed my 25hrs of "testing" in 2 months, winter time... ;)
Now is time to change oil, filter and do a thorough inspection.
Sent all documents to TCCA to have the Operating Conditions restrictions lifted.
Can't wait to start going places, with or without passengers !!!

Meanwhile, I copied from Mike's example the rudder pedal extention.
Even though I'm better now than at first, I still felt that the brakes were too easy to involontarely apply when operating the rudder pedals.
Ground tested only with the tail raised and it feels good, plus the feet applying pressure well below the pivot point of the brake cylinder.
Actual flight test of this mod this next week.
 

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Took my first trip north along the California coast. I’ve been south all the way to the Mexico boarder, but never past Bodega Bay to the north. Went to Mendocino, what a cool place.
 

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Took my first trip north along the California coast. I’ve been south all the way to the Mexico boarder, but never past Bodega Bay to the north. Went to Mendocino, what a cool place.

Make sure to hit Shelter Cove when you get a chance!
 
The RV-12 took me and my wife on what we call a "volcano tour" on Saturday. We timed it so that the Sun rose just before we reached Mount Hood. We flew one lap around it and then headed to St Helens, couple laps around that, and then back home. Mount Jefferson to the south, and Rainier and Adams to the north and east, were also prominent. Most interesting was how a layer of fog blanketed the east side of the mountains, with hills poking above it like islands, and it snaked its way down deep valleys and flowed like a river down the Columbia river gorge.

The Pacific Northwest is such an exceptionally beautiful corner of the world, and we're extremely fortunate to get to enjoy it from this unique perspective. 2.2 hours of great fun. Would have been less time in a faster RV but we weren't really in a hurry...

(My second solo flight in an RV was taking my wife - then girlfriend - along a very similar route, during sunset. This was shortly after purchasing my first RV, a 6A. Pretty sure it took about 1.3 to 1.5 hours. That was ten years ago next week).

I took the first photo below, the others are by Jill.

Helens, Rainier, and Adams, and the fog flowing down the Columbia river gorge. This is right when the Sun rose and we were on our way to Mt Hood:
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Mount Adams and the sea of fog:
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Going past Mount Saint Helens and turning back the way we came, you can see pointy Mount Hood on the horizon (and, just barely, Mount Jefferson to its right).
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Mount Hood from a little closer:
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Got up for an hour's flight this morning after almost 2 weeks on the ground... This fish house "neighborhood" is on Detroit Lake in west-central Minnesota. Many of those rigs in the picture are the Ice Castle types. They are the self contained RV's (trailers...), with bunks, stoves, generators, satellite tv. Good, basic fishing accommodations!
 

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The RV-12 took me and my wife on what we call a "volcano tour" on Saturday. We timed it so that the Sun rose just before we reached Mount Hood...

I took the first photo below, the others are by Jill...

Bernardo, Jill: you make the Pacific Northwest look like Middle-Earth.
 
A Ride for Dad

First a little history. My dad learned to fly on the GI bill back in the late 60s and I was fortunate to go with him on many flights as an 8 and 9 year old. Then life happened and my Dad stopped flying after a few years, but it was there my love of aviation was born. Now fast forward to the present. I have been working on a -9A for a number of years and one of my goals when I finished the plane was to give my dad a ride. Finally the stars aligned to make this happen - I completed my Phase I testing earlier this month and the weather this weekend was perfect for a flight from KFLY to KVMR. To make the plan even better this weekend was my dad’s birthday. So I made the trek back on Friday, and yesterday my dad was the first passenger in my plane. To say we were both elated is an understatement.
 

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Not getting much flying in lately, at least that's what it feels like. I went up mid-day today for a 1 hour VFR/(simulated)IFR practice flight. Went out and did a GPS hold and broke out of it for a simulated engine out. I haven't done that in a very long time. After I was assured the field I picked, I climbed back up and did a simulated RNAV approach into my home airport. I terminated that by going around and joining the circuit (pattern for you people south, and west of the border). This is a towered airport so it was all under ATC. I landed after the one circuit.

This was really good practice for me, the switching back and forth between IFR and VFR is one of those hidden challenges of IFR training. I was very pleased with my performance throughout especially since it felt like it had been a while. In fact it's been less than 3 weeks.

I am facing down rotator cuff surgery in a couple of months and it likely means 3 or probably more months of being grounded. I can't imagine being able to get out of the plane for a long while. I've decided to forego the last 5.5 hours of simulated IFR that I need for my rating until I'm back in the air. I don't want to get my rating and then not fly for months, sounds like a great way to regress and lose the currency. In the meanwhile, I'll see how much flying I can get in. I am a little concerned about the plane sitting without being used for that long. I might have to find a local pilot to pull it out and start it once in a while.
 
Wife and girlfriend

The RV-12 took me and my wife on what we call a "volcano tour" on Saturday. We timed it so that the Sun rose just before we reached Mount Hood. We flew one lap around it and then headed to St Helens, couple laps around that, and then back home. Mount Jefferson to the south, and Rainier and Adams to the north and east, were also prominent. Most interesting was how a layer of fog blanketed the east side of the mountains, with hills poking above it like islands, and it snaked its way down deep valleys and flowed like a river down the Columbia river gorge.

The Pacific Northwest is such an exceptionally beautiful corner of the world, and we're extremely fortunate to get to enjoy it from this unique perspective. 2.2 hours of great fun. Would have been less time in a faster RV but we weren't really in a hurry...

(My second solo flight in an RV was taking my wife - then girlfriend - along a very similar route, during sunset. This was shortly after purchasing my first RV, a 6A. Pretty sure it took about 1.3 to 1.5 hours. That was ten years ago next week).

I took the first photo below, the others are by Jill.

Helens, Rainier, and Adams, and the fog flowing down the Columbia river gorge. This is right when the Sun rose and we were on our way to Mt Hood:


“(My second solo flight in an RV was taking my wife - then girlfriend”

Your wife let you have an airplane and a girlfriend?
 
I'm traveling at the moment and don't have my RV with me, so I had to fly this instead.

Still brought the hat.

- mark
 

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Truckee

I had a few hours open Sunday morning ahead of the Chiefs playoff game (sigh) and wanted to exercise the RV. I ended up flying to Truckee to check out the snow, enjoy the scenery over Lake Tahoe. I had the RV Grin the whole flight as I climbed rapidly in the cold air and single soul onboard. I had a breakfast burrito at the cafe and was surprised to have quinoa in my burrito...the bay area influence is cemented into the Lake Tahoe culture.
 

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Two of us, me in my 14A and Steve in his 7A, went to the grocery store…..we flew from our base (WHP) 150 miles to Harris Ranch (3O8) to buy steaks. Harris Ranch is a working cattle ranch with a great restaurant, shop, hotel and paved runway in central California.
 
Who Dey

Had a few hours the day before the Bengals AFC Championship win ;) for a quick flight. It was cold at about 18 degree and snowed the night before. Couple pics of Hamilton, OH and Miami University of Ohio attached.

Also put a quick airplane noises only video on YouTube. Landing has a nice plane shadow on final Snow Day in Hamilton, OH
 

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KHEA run

We flew down to KHEA on the Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma border. Pretty little airport. Beautiful day for a flight. Boy are we lucky to get the chance to go fly when we want!

blue skies

Geoff
 
Flew to Bear Lake, Idaho. The crew car was already taken just relaxed at FBO building and left. OAT -17C.

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