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02-04-2016, 04:25 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,009
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About 2001 at Sun n Fun
It was around the time I sold my CT210. There were probably only 8 or 10 RVs on the flight line, and I remember thinking some looked like jewelry and one looked like it was put together with a ball peen hammer. Afterwards, I got ahold of an article about the "new" RV9A with a 320 Lycoming, arranged a visit with a local builder back in Michigan, and soon after ordered the empennage kit. Didn't get my first ride until I was nearly finished with the fuselage kit. It was a huge motivator and encouraged me to do the same with other new builders.
Terry, CFI
RV9A N323TP
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02-04-2016, 04:42 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posts: 671
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1994
Got a demo ride in Ol' Blue with Mike Seager at Oshkosh in 1994. Eighteen years later I did transition training in Ol'Blue with Mike Seager. Its's one of those "full circle" things. Maybe I should have Mike dump my ashes out of that trooper when the time comes. I expect they'll both be going strong. John
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02-04-2016, 04:52 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Lawton, OK
Posts: 265
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First RV
I have been interested in experimental aircraft since I met a builder/flyer of a Cassut in Miami, OK, in about 1969. Then met a man building anEAA biplane about 1974. I had no money, no building skills, but stayed interested. Was fascinated by the Rutan Varieze. Went to Oshkosh several times. I became interested in RVs with the 6A. Then saw and read about the RV 9 when it first came to Osh. Now have built and fly a 9A.
__________________
RV9A Bill
RV9A 789BT flying
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02-04-2016, 04:57 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 179
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Around 2006 I had just earned my pilots license and was volunteering at the local airport, doing ramp duty and other things. I was beginning to think about what kind of airplane might be good to have.
One night there was this cool looking red airplane tied down. It looked fast and efficient. I found out what it was and started researching, finding the Van's page and these pages. That airplane was the red RV-4 in this post and belongs to Bill Gunn. I was hooked, and bought the tail kit about a year later.
But I have another connection from an earlier time. In 1981, I was taking an undergraduate aircraft design class at UT Austin. My professor, Dr. Westkaemper, would occasionally invite guest lecturers. The OMAC guys, various folks working on the shuttle program, etc.. One of those lecturers was selling a wing kit that improved performance for a Stits Playboy. You know where this is going. He was none other than Dick VanGrunsven. At the time I was more interested space technology than mere airplanes, and I didn't pay too much attention. But when I saw him at the Oshkosh banquet 30 years later, it suddenly clicked.
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02-04-2016, 05:23 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Queen Creek AZ
Posts: 541
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Oshkosh is where I was bitten
I went to Osh in 1999 and found the experience completely exhilarating. I was running from one display to another, then to a dozen presentations on all things aviation. It was Disneyland for a grownup (pilot) and I cherish that week now almost every year.
I hadn't flown for more than 10 years and that week got me determined to get back to the hobby I loved so much in my 20's and 30's. While at OSH I went to look at the sexy low wing airplanes I'd seen in the air and landing on the Dots. I fell in love with a -4 that a fellow from Illinois built with a slider canopy and a military paint scheme. It was the coolest plane I'd ever seen! I started searching soon after for my own. Started my kit in late 2003 at a fellow RVer's home with an airstrip. He had already built a -6 and -9 and agreed to help me build my own -4. August 2006 we got the ok from the DAR and she now has 650 hours TT. I actually love my plane just as much now as I did 9 years ago when she was born. Maybe more  Thanks Van, Thanks Mark!
Ron
n8zd
RV-4 / with an 8 slider
Last edited by patterson : 02-04-2016 at 05:32 PM.
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02-04-2016, 05:24 PM
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Super Moderator
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 752
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November 1973
I remember receiving my November 1973 issue of Air Progress magazine and there on the front cover was the coolest homebuilt I had ever seen. Not a tube and fabric Pitts Special or a Whitman Tailwind but a Van's RV-3. I immediately sent in a check to order plans even though I was living at home, attending college, had no tools, no place to build, no idea how to read a blueprint, and -- oh yeah -- no money. My mother was furious when she found out I had spent $75 (as I recall) on the plans.
Plan set #113 still sits in my closet. It inspired my dreams for decades until 25 years later, I finally had the wherewithall to buy my RV-8 kit. I finished it in 6 1/2 years and I am still flying what is, to me, the most fun airplane ever designed.
Yes, dreams can come true and lead you to great accomplishments. I feel building and flying my own airplane is just that -- a major life accomplishment.
Dream on.
Chris
__________________
Chris Pratt (2020 VAF DUES PAID)
RV-8 Flying, 850+hours
N898DK
Lycoming O-360-A1A, Hartzell CS
52F (Northwest Regional, Aero Valley, Whatever, TX)
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02-04-2016, 05:33 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Flathead Lake Montana - 8S1
Posts: 334
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I first saw a completed RV at the 1984 Dayton Ohio Wright Brothers Awards. Alan Tolle had a brand new RV-4, and I was there to accept an award with my first LongEZ. We swapped rides and became lifelong friends. RIP Alan.
__________________
'83 LongEZ - N888EZ 3,671 hours
'89 LimoEZ - N26EZ 686 hours (sold)
A couple of Glasairs and a Lancair 320...
Next: a RV14 need something to build
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02-04-2016, 05:34 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Elkton, Md.
Posts: 1,652
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In 1991 I met Dave Gregg, who was building his second homebuilt, a non-punched RV6. I spent many hours helping him drill, buck, and assemble what was to become the 1st RV I remember seeing. I ran the old shoulder fired VHS recorder on his first flight. When he flew off the 40 hours, I jumped in and took a ride. IT was the finest flying airplane I had ever had my hands on. I knew one day I would build an RV.
__________________
Wag Aero Sport Trainer built,sold and wrecked
N588DF RV12 #336 built, sold and alive and well in New York
N73DF RV12 #244 built, sold and alive and well in Florida
N91 RV RV9 I wish I could say I built this one! Mark Santoleri hit the ball out of the park on this gem.
Currently restoring a 1978 Citabria GCBC
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02-04-2016, 05:36 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Alexandria VA
Posts: 305
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I learned to fly in a Taylorcraft at Evergreen Airport near Camas Washington when I was in high school (Class of '72). Dick performed in his RV3 at the annual Evergreen Airshow. It was love at first sight, but it took me nearly a lifetime to get my own RV. Now I'm loving life; living the dream! It was worth the wait.
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02-04-2016, 05:50 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Perham, MN
Posts: 350
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1979 in Bakersfield
In 1979 I was fresh out of school, and I was working as an avionics technician at an FBO in Bakersfield, CA. One day an RV-3 taxies up to our hangar and parks on the tarmac, and I remember looking at the beautiful, well-built RV-3 in awe that it is a homebuilt aircraft. At that moment I decided that some day I would build one. I don't remember who the builder/owner was, but looking back I would guess that it was either John Harmon or one of the very few other early RV builders in Bakersfield (or anywhere else) at that time.
Now, 37 years later, I'm putting the final touches on My RV-7.
Seeing that RV-3 was a milestone moment for me.
__________________
Paul Winkels
RV7 Standard Build - First flight 4/16/2016 - Now Flying!
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