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Looking for A&P as well as a DPE (for RV-10) in the SF Bay Area

vas4vans

Active Member
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I am in the process of buying an RV-10 (very excited :D) and will be bringing it to the Bay Area (likely hangar it at San Martin E16).

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good A&P mechanic in the Bay Area that is very familiar with RV-10s (or RVs in general)? Ideally, it would be one that I can work alongside to learn the plane and how to maintain it over time.

I am planning to work on my Commercial certificate. I do have a CFI that can do the training but it looks like getting a DPE that is willing to do a checkride in an EAB may be a challenge. Does anyone know of a DPE in the Bay Area that does checkrides in an EAB? Alternately, I guess SoCal, Oregon, Arizona and Nevada could also work.

Please PM me if you'd prefer not to post your reply.

Thanks,

Vas
 
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I just had my conditional inspection with Rolf (707) 364-7935 (based at Petaluma) at Novato last weekend. He built an RV6, so knows his stuff. Came down to my hangar for the inspection so he’ll, most likely, come down south. Highly recommend him, I learned quite a bit.
 
Lee at Team Light Aviation is your guy for this. He is out of Rio Vista. O88

Although I haven't had anything done by Lee, I have been told he's a go to A&P for EAB. the few times I flew in Rio Vista there were a few RVs parked outside his hanger.
 
Thanks very much for the input about Lee at Rio Vista.

I'm still trying to figure out if there any DPE's who are willing to do checkrides in an RV-10. I guess I could check with the Vans folks - Oregon is not far away from me in case they know anyone in that area!
 
I know Dr. Duvall over here in NV will do PPL check rides on occasion in RVs, though he doesn't like to. Refuses to do instrument in RVs, don't know about commercial. Might check with the DPE in Truckee as well.
 
DPE

I live in Sacramento and got my PPL ~2yrs ago in my RV6-A. I have used Lee Apaka for multiple jobs and he is very knowledgeable on RVs and a great guy to work with.

For my checkride I was able to secure Richard Conte and we flew in my RV. His email is [email protected]. I wouldn't exactly call it a great experience, but what checkride is? I passed...and Richard was very professional.
 
Good to hear that there is at least one DPE in California that will give a checkride in an RV! I will reach out to him. Thanks a bunch!
 
Thanks, Johnny! The forum has been fantastically helpful so far!

I'm going to keep it at either KRHV or E16 (since you are from the local area, I live in Cupertino and work in San Jose). My insurance requires that it be hangared and as of a few days ago, it looked like E16 (San Martin) seemed like the only choice available - initially it would need to be a medium hangar but I would get on a waitlist for their small hangar. It's a very nice airport and not at all a bad drive off-peak but a real bear to get to from where I live in peak times.

I just got a call a couple of days ago from the SC County folks saying they have a hangar available at KRHV starting Jun 1st. It is around $200 more per month compared to the same size hangar at E16 but because I want to fly mid-week too for the first few months to build proficiency, I am thinking of starting at KRHV and then potentially moving to E16 once they have a small hangar available.

I see that you are based in KLVK. I flew in Bob Turner's RV-10 last Sunday at KLVK (and plan to work with him to do some more transition training after I bring the plane back and also start working on my Commercial). Are there any regular local RV pilot gatherings/fly-ins?

It was my first flight in an RV-10 and I loved it!! I had decided on buying an RV-10 a few months ago after doing a lot of reading about it and decided that it fit my mission profile - I wanted a nice 4 place machine that has about 700-750 pounds of payload with reasonable range and more importantly, would be fun to fly (I have flown a fair bit of aerobatics and like flying planes that handle crisply and well). The "demo" flight with Bob met all my expectations!

Vas
 
There are plenty of -10s around. Mine is at KHRV and know of at least on me 10 at E16. There are some -10s under construction at KRHV too.
 
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Mine is a -10 - am I sill welcome at E16 :)???

More seriously, I will keep it at KRHV initially since I want to fly mid-week too and it will be easier to get to at KRHV but after the first few months (and when I get assigned a small hangar at E16), I am going to seriously think about moving there!
 
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