Show us a picture of your RV-10 progress.

[Janekom]

From my experience:
Fixed pitch prop - you always do your maiden and break in the motor WITHOUT the fairings and wheel pants.
CS prop - you always do your maiden and break in the motor WITH the fairings and wheel pants on.

[iwannarv]

Originally Posted by rvanstory

Here's a video of 1st flight morning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYmoPju3nzc

Thanks for sharing Randy - fantastic!

[mturnerb]

Still a ways from an airplane, but progress nonetheless:

[cderk]

Originally Posted by rvanstory

I debated this and I know they can affect flight characteristics. But, I wanted reduced drag for engine cooling. Glad I did, my CHT's were 389-402. Not sure what they would have been with increased drag without pants. It flew pretty well. A little left yaw. I'll take them off later after CHT's come down with more break-in time.

Randy - congrats first off. I flew my first flight without wheel pants because they were not complete and it was too cold out to work on them. THey absolutely did bring temps down once i put them on. Your CHTs are perfectly normal. 350-400 is ideal.

[Ripple]

Congratulations! An amazing moment. Thanks for sharing with us!

[flion]

Because a few people had asked, here is the latest on my fuselage (see attached photo). This shows the right mid skin drilled off and I have since removed the left skin as well. Also the floor skins from baggage to the front seat are off and, after this photo was taken, the left skin removed. So I guess you could say this is an anti-progress photo. I still have to remove the bottom skin aft of the main spar. Under the RV, you can see the lift that failed. It has since been partially disassembled and I'm waiting for a forklift to be available to disassemble the rest.

The good news is that the structure was Ok, except for the skin doublers. You can see the right one in place in the photo; what won't be apparent is the wrinkle just behind the F1004K (the yoke doubler over the spar). The bottom skin can be mostly straightened by putting supports under the tail section, lifting the tail about 3/8", which probably means the tail was sagging that much after the lift failure and barely shows a digital level along the longerons. The skin will have to be replaced anyway, due to sharp wrinkling just behind the forward skin on both sides. Fortunately, I won't have to disassemble the entire forward fuselage (I bought parts with that possibility in mind).

The plan, once the lift is gone, is to support the tail cone at the proper height, remove the mid bottom skin and do a final inspection of all the structure. Then, replace the skin doublers followed by the bottom skins and then the side skins. Once that is done, the supports will be removed from the tail cone and the structure assessed once again. Assuming no problems, the steps will be reinstalled and the floors will go back in, putting me back where I was before this all happened three years ago. Why so long? Because I was called back to teaching full time after the death of a faculty member and because I had just started the panel change in my RV-6A. Life happens but if we persevere, things eventually get done.

The lift is going to someone who wants to put the effort into upgrading it from the original jackscrew design to the company's chain hoist retrofit. I'm not going to trust a lift again, though I will say that the company has been very helpful with information and ideas.

[cderk]

Back from paint

[Bill.Peyton]

Very nice!

[rvanstory]

Awesome paint! Congratulations!

[RandyAB]

Originally Posted by rvanstory

Yesterday was a big day for N783V! She got her Special Airworthiness Certificate!

The D.A.R. was great! If you're anywhere near Central Texas (San Antonio area) I highly recommend Boyd Kempf for FAA inspection. He's retired from FAA and knows his stuff. Plus, he had a very "helpful" spirit and attitude. He found some squawks, but we were able to correct before he left.

Today is 1st flight! It's 5:44 am, headed to airport for approx 7:30 am flight for the cooler a.m. temps.

Thank you Les Bourne! My EAA tech counselor, mentor and friend for ALL the knowledge and help to make this happen!!

Congrats Randy!