Don
Well Known Member
Life can change quickly, and sometimes for the better! At the beginning of September I figured I was 6 -12 months (or more) away from flying the 9A in my basement. Cousin Vlad came by to critique my slow progress and encourage me with stick time in his 9A and teasing about my very slow build. Somewhere during his visit he said, ?Sell your Cherokee, sell your RV project, and just buy a flying 9A.?
I couldn?t sell my beloved project but the rest of his crazy idea sounded good. The more I thought about it, the more rational it sounded. I could sell the Cherokee, buy a flying 9A (or any other flavor RV) and have more flying fun and flying options open to me while I finished MY nine. If I sold the ?temporary? 9A for what it cost me, I?d be flying for free - or that?s what I told myself. Wife even liked the idea of being able to go places, and see grandchildren. So, the search for an RV began. Wife is pretty darn special.
What an interesting education it was. The short version is I found what looked like (and has turned out to be) a primo RV-9A with just under 500 hours (now just over 500 hours) on an Aerosport O-320. Located in Mesa, AZ it looked like I?d have the added fun of bringing the plane home.
The plane has a nice glass panel - neither too simple nor too elegant. The primary flight instrument is a Dynon D-100 with an analog ASI sitting just to the left. There a VM-1000 to the right of the radio stack and this digital wonder is a lot handier to have than I expected. On the flight back I started to understand ?lean of peak? and was delighted to see how easily I could control CHTs and fuel flow. A KMD-150 VFR GPS sat on top of an iCom A200 radio, and a KT76A transponder. A Digiflight II autopilot was located under the ASI, some type of ?Electric Power Distribution Buss? and a timer rounded out the panel.
Who ever figured the panel layout for N257SW did a brilliant job, in my opinion. The work flow makes great sense, and the panel is one of the cleanest I?ve ever seen. I?m the third owner. I understand the second owner has passed away but I?m guessing the two builders are still around. If anyone knows the builders - Rex Smith and Roger Wolthuis, reportedly from the Seattle area, I?d love to have contact information to say thanks and maybe ask a question or two.
Continued....
I couldn?t sell my beloved project but the rest of his crazy idea sounded good. The more I thought about it, the more rational it sounded. I could sell the Cherokee, buy a flying 9A (or any other flavor RV) and have more flying fun and flying options open to me while I finished MY nine. If I sold the ?temporary? 9A for what it cost me, I?d be flying for free - or that?s what I told myself. Wife even liked the idea of being able to go places, and see grandchildren. So, the search for an RV began. Wife is pretty darn special.
What an interesting education it was. The short version is I found what looked like (and has turned out to be) a primo RV-9A with just under 500 hours (now just over 500 hours) on an Aerosport O-320. Located in Mesa, AZ it looked like I?d have the added fun of bringing the plane home.
The plane has a nice glass panel - neither too simple nor too elegant. The primary flight instrument is a Dynon D-100 with an analog ASI sitting just to the left. There a VM-1000 to the right of the radio stack and this digital wonder is a lot handier to have than I expected. On the flight back I started to understand ?lean of peak? and was delighted to see how easily I could control CHTs and fuel flow. A KMD-150 VFR GPS sat on top of an iCom A200 radio, and a KT76A transponder. A Digiflight II autopilot was located under the ASI, some type of ?Electric Power Distribution Buss? and a timer rounded out the panel.
Who ever figured the panel layout for N257SW did a brilliant job, in my opinion. The work flow makes great sense, and the panel is one of the cleanest I?ve ever seen. I?m the third owner. I understand the second owner has passed away but I?m guessing the two builders are still around. If anyone knows the builders - Rex Smith and Roger Wolthuis, reportedly from the Seattle area, I?d love to have contact information to say thanks and maybe ask a question or two.
Continued....