RV-10 N104XP - Scott Schmidt, Salt Lake City UT (KBTF)

[phelan]

No I didn't meet anyone while I was there. I had my whole family (wife and two kids) plus my parents and uncle. It was the first trip to Oshkosh for all of us. Since I'm such a wannabe and not even a pilot, I didn't want to bother people with my journeyman questions. Besides, I know you guys get together to share stories and enjoy each others' company. I didn't want to disturb that, yet. My uncle is wanting to build a 7 or 9 (he can't decide). He took a test ride in the demo 7 and came back all smiles, of course. After seeing Van's 10, it all became very real to me, and my wife even commented that being there made them more real to her than just looking at pictures. I have to admit, part of me REALLY likes the Velocity XL-5. The TXL they had at OSH was impressive, especially in cruise numbers (250kts @ 15 gph?). Plus, they have Deltahawk on their side right now (I really think diesel is going to be the only option in 10 years if you look at fuel costs). But I have other reasons to build a 10 instead of the Velocity. First and foremost is building metal vs. fiberglass. Second is canard vs. standard low wing (I'm assuming canards are more dangerous for low-time pilots). Third (probably most relevant), I live in Keller, which is about 5 - 10 minutes from Jay Pratt's RV Central. And finally, all of you guys in VAF!!! Anyway, I'll get those pics up asap.

[Rick S.]

Originally Posted by phelan

Since I'm such a wannabe and not even a pilot, I didn't want to bother people with my journeyman questions. .

Don't make that mistake again!!! We were all there before and speaking for myself I love to talk airplanes as I'm sure all of us do. I can remember googling "cleco" about 4 years ago!!

Please don't let that stop you from introducing yourself and saying hello, if you get an attitude then shame on them!!

I can't wait till I can talk building AND flying....should happen in about 4 to 6 months but I'm not setting any deadlines.

[ScottSchmidt]

I wish you and your family would have joined the RV-10 group at Oshkosh one night. The amount of information that group has in one spot will just about cause your brain to explode. It is like going to a Rainman convention. We all have also gone through the decision of which plane, engine, EFIS, spark plug and even nut to use. Trying to sift through all that data can be pretty overwhelming. You are about in the stage when you need to get the most information from others. There are many factors to consider other than just speed and fuel burn though. Insurance is a huge one right now, especially if you are considering a non-standard power plant. When you start getting down to a couple designs make sure you get a quote. Also, like buying a motorcycle, they all look great on the outside but you have to go fly them and see if they are fun to fly or just good at taking you from A to B. And without flying a bunch of different planes it is hard to tell. If you have never flown, the Goodyear Blimp would have been a blast, but a C-152 would be even better, you know what I mean. Fast planes can be great but they also typically mean they land a little faster and limit the airports you can go to. If the fires die down, my wife and I are going to Johnson?s Creek this weekend. The versatility of the RV-10 is incredible. It is not looking good up there, too many fires (Aug 2007). Also, with a faster plane you get their sooner and for me, I love the journey typically way more than the destination, especially when you are flying the RV-10. A 200 mph cruise is just about the right balance of speed for flying in the US. I left Oshkosh at 9am and got back to Salt Lake at 3pm including two fun stops. This year when I landed at Oshkosh, I couldn't wait to grab family and friends and go fly some more. I don't know of a more fun 4+ seat airplane than the RV-10. Talk to you later and make sure you come and find us next year.

OK, the Shuttle would be a good ride too but the fuel burn is a little too high for me?

[phelan]

I appreciate all the generousity you guys are displaying. I honestly thought I was being courteous by not interrupting. I will definitely not make that mistake again. My wife already said that next year she wants to meet some of you guys, especially when I make her read some of your websites and experiences on here. I think even if the plane were only average, the community you all have created is extremely unique and unprecedented amongst other kit builders. And obviously Van doesn't make average planes. I look forward to getting to know you guys over the years. As promised, here are the pics I took of your plane. They're not as good as some of yours probably, simply because I was at considerable distance. I've got some of Tim's too. Let me know what you think. Again, thank you for such a warm virtual reception.

[ScottSchmidt]

Last Sunday, I had my first official young eagle go flying with me. My aunt from Washington DC was in town with a friend from Germany and I took them on a ride for their birthday. Hannah has been very excited to take a ride as well. The leaves around Salt Lake have been very colorful. We flew around the mountains, landed in Heber UT. for a drink and then back to Salt Lake. By the end of the flight Hannah had three Cessna brochures from the Heber dealership and was telling us about the planes. If we hit a little turbulence she would tell all of us that it was OK. Pretty funny.

Hannah getting ready to fly.


My first official Young Eagle.


Changing colors in the mountains.


Young Eagle Certificate

[ScottSchmidt]

We were very fortunate this fall and were invited to fly into Nellis Air Force Base for the annual air show. Tim, Andrea, Colleen, and Danielle Olsen all flew to Salt Lake from Wisconsin to meet up with us and fly down to Vegas early Thursday morning. Needless to say, we had a great time, a great flight down and back and managed to not lose more than $5.

Tim did a great write-up including our indoor skydiving adventure so I won't bore you with the same dialog.
http://www.myrv10.com/N104CD/flights...111/index.html

I did get a few great pictures that I thought I would share.

Flying down to Vegas, Tim got this shot


Planes parked at North Las Vegas airport


Right after we landed, two Stealth Fighters touched down. I didn't even pick them up on my EFIS.


Thunderbirds and C-5


Wayne's beautiful RV-10

[ScottSchmidt]

Thanks to a fellow RV-10 builder Chris Johnson, we got to hang out at the Red Bull tent on Sunday and eat some great food. The skydivers were interested in the RV-10 until I told them the door doesn't open in flight, unless something bad has happened.




RaNae wanting to be a Red Bull girl.


The F-22 was a highlight for the show.





The group hanging out watching the show on Saturday.

[TSwezey]

Thanks for the pictures! The one with the Thunderbirds and your plane is classic! I was wondering if you guys had fallen off the earth!

[Rotary10-RV]

Scott You're a lucky guy RaNae outshines all those Red Bull girls. Pretty and likes to go places in the plane? It just doesn't get any better than that!
Bill Jepson

[ScottSchmidt]

From time to time I receive e-mails about where I store my photos, why, and how I link them to VAF. Doug has a nice tutorial written up here.

http://www.vansairforce.net/articles...ums/images.htm

This shows you how to post the link to a photo stored somewhere else to a write-up you are doing here on VAF.

I will try and take you through the complete write-up process, how I upload photos to another site, link them here, show links to other websites and finalize the post.

I am not affiliated to any of the companies I mention here. I'm sure there are many others that work just a great.

Camera
So the first thing you need to do is take a picture.
Almost all my pictures over the past two years have been with the Canon G9 and G10. Here is a picture of the G10 and a link to Canon's website.

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/co...&modelid=17624

I have loved shooting with Canon cameras. I have also used Nikon and others but this is my favorite. I always shoot on the highest resolution. At 14.7 Megapixels each photo is around 5.5Mb each. That starts to cause a problem with storage as you begin to collect pictures in the thousands.

To handle the storage issue I have an account through a company called Smugmug. http://www.smugmug.com

They are a pay site but I feel part of the reason the pictures link well in write-ups is the quality of smugmug. When you upload your pictures to Smugmug they upload the complete picture and do not downsize the picture size or quality. They then offer you a way to link a smaller picture without losing any picture quality. Once it is uploaded you can download the picture anytime. If you want to download your complete library it is not as easy. They do not offer a great way to do this other than to purchase a complete set of DVD's with all your pictures on it. This is the only complaint I have had with Smugmug. I would like a way to download a complete gallery but I really have never needed to do it. It is nice you can purchase a set of DVD's every so often and put them in your safe.



They are a pay site and I pay $39.95 per year but I feel it more than worth it. I currently have over 16,000 photos and 43 GB and I never have to worry about a hard drive crashing and losing all my photos. Plus it makes it easy to link to forums such as VAF which we will get to later.
Another great reason I love Smugmug like many other sites that Yahoo and Google run is the ability to share your photos easier, e-mail links to your photos for sharing and you have all your pictures with you anywhere a computer is located.



If you do choose to get a Smugmug account you can get $5 off your first year if you put my e-mail into the "e-mail/coupon" section. I get a $10 finders fee but it is no big deal if you don't. (scottmschmidt@yahoo.com)

OK, you now have a Smugmug account. Now lets upload a picture to it.
I will typically upload the pictures from my camera onto my computer temporarily because it uploads to the Smugmug account faster from my hard drive than from the memory stick.

Open your Smugmug website and login. Usually you only have to login one time and it usually remembers your login and password information.

Your screen should look something like this. (It will most likely be a different theme / color, but you can change that)
Now select "add photos", then "New Gallery"



You will now see a page like this:



First name your gallery and you can select a category for your photos. You can also create your own category.



The next thing to do is create a theme for the gallery you created. This is the color, font and style. You can select one and see a preview in the small window on the right.