Christmas Miracle

[Steve Melton]

when you get your 9A finished stop by HAO and take your pick of any plastic we have.

[pa38112]

I also had a Christmas Miracle. - But first, congratulations on yours. I somehow kept my plane through my divorce. I don't know how, because it was in her sights from the start. Not only was I able to keep it, but I quickly met a wonderful woman who encouraged me to follow through on my dreams of owing an RV, and here I am!
So here was my Christmas Miracle:
For Christmas I bought my twin sons (23) a very nice RV6A. They were thrilled and of course wanted to go up for a test flight. Dusk was approaching so one twin and I decided to go up and stay local not wanting to get stuck out in the dark with a unfamiliar plane. We flew around for about 30 minutes and then came back to our farm strip as the lights were turning on. As we touched down I spotted 4 deer on the right side of the runway and notified my son to watch out for them. The lead deer took off across our path, but the other three froze until we were 50 feet away; then decided to follow their buddy. My son was PIC, but I instinctively stomped on the left rudder and break. We veered to the very edge of the runway, but the deer were still coming and we were still doing about 40 knots. As one of the deer reached the wing root on my side I closed my eyes and braced for impact. The deer was behind the propeller and in front of the wing root still heading 90 degrees across our path at full speed - where you would stand to work on the engine if the propeller was running. I was hoping we were not going to nose over, and was dreading a prop strike, while trying to figure out how I would explain to the guy who had just reluctantly parted with the plane he had spent 4,000 hours building that we destroyed it on the first flight. I also felt bad for my sons. They were so excited and now would have nothing but scrap aluminum
... Nothing. I waited 2 seconds and opened my eyes. All was good, and no sign of the deer. He could not have possibly reversed directions and gotten out of the way. He could not have gone under the wing. The only thing I can figure is that he jumped over the canopy, landed behind the left wing and kept going. There was not a scratch on the plane, and no sign of a prop strike. It really was a Christmas Miracle. Thank you Lord for your mercy.

[Whitman]

It feels weird congratulating you on getting to keep YOUR plane but I am happy for you nonetheless. Now you know why we call it RV therapy. Best of luck and Happy New Year!!

[highflight42x]

dude, just wait until she remarries and you can stop forking over the alimony dough - I got that little xmas miracle a couple months ago...

Then you need a gf ten years younger who's madly in love with you, names your airplane "baby bird" and loves to hear your flying stories but doesn't want to fly!

All you other guys, keep this mantra in mind:

"Airplane - long before you came, long after you go ..."

- Steven
(1100 RV3 hours - another one yesterday!)

[Paul 5r4]

Divorce...

Too too many suffer this fate. The odds are simple stacked against us in the ol world we live today. When even one love dies, this planet becomes a little lesser of a place.

I also have that T-Shirt hanging in the closet of life. I didn't have the RV at the time.... I was using a Cessna 152 to leave the planet. Fortunately my X didn't come after half the plane. It was my good fortune that she saw the plane like she did when were together.... a useless toy.

I did get pretty down afterwards. I thought about some short term antidepressants to help carry me to the far away shores of sanity again. After doing a little research, I found the FAA says any psychotropic kind of drugs means NO FLY. That became a no brainer. No drugs for me. My therapy was flying. When up there in that big sky any problems dancing around in my head were quickly put back into perspective and suddenly became manageable again.

Eventually it all passes and you'll look back and other than a distant memory, that period of time becomes a non-event in your life.

Sorry you had to endure this. Happy you'll keep the plane. Pray..... Build and fly..... best drugs EVER!

[Mark_H]

Wonderful news you are able to keep the plane!

[pilotmansam]

Divorce is a horrible thing for everyone. It is worse than death, and I was feeling every bit of it. I felt my sanity slowly slipping away. Trying to think of things to do, I started hanging around a small airport in the town to which I had fled. I was toying with the idea of getting back into flying, but of course had very little money. Came across a great deal on an experimental airplane (not RV). Got me back in the air and I really believe it saved my life.
An airplane is simply an inanimate object - nothing more. But it provides access to Flight, which is an ethereal thing. After each flight each day after that my sanity slowly returned. I was amazed that for the time in the air my problems had simply slipped away. It has no real explanation, but this is why we love aviation.

[rvator9a]

For those of us infected with the flying bug it really is amazing how different you feel when you get in the air, and how that affects the whole of your life. I am now able to look back and see how dark a space I was in, and feel how much better things are looking forward. I really feel the plane was the bright spot that kept me sane and I am looking forward to finishing it properly,(kinda like the rest of my life).

I am very much looking forward to seeing all of you in the air and on the ground in the years to come!

[airguy]

I got divorced just as I finished the wings and started on the fuselage, and got lucky in the fact that her attorney advised against her going after the airplane kit since he viewed it as near-worthless for a forced sale. I got a LOT of work done on the fuselage in the months following and it was quite therapeutic.