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  #21  
Old 08-25-2009, 06:46 PM
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atreff atreff is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 215
Default Perfectamundo!

Don,

Good on ya. Glad you finally got to see just what all the RV grins are all about. It doesn't stop there, I clicked the Hobbs to 150hrs during my flight from Asheville to LA, then to Denver, then to Osh, then back home. It keeps getting better n better!

Congrats again, looking forward to flying your wing soon.

Art n 'Snorky
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  #22  
Old 08-31-2009, 02:44 PM
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N8RV N8RV is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Elkhart, Indiana
Posts: 1,186
Default Flight #3 (L O N G !)

I figure I'll keep these updates going as incentive to other long-time slow-builders who may be losing hope.

Weather around here has been really crappy lately. Low overcasts, rain, wind ... NOT typical for late August! Must be all that "global warming".

Flight #3 found me climbing to 9500' and setting the A/P to maintain course and altitude. I dialed in a heading of 180 and sat back as the TruTrack ADI Pilot II flawlessly executed a standard-rate turn to heading. About 20 miles south, I repeated the command with a 360 heading. Another standard-rate turn flawlessly executed. *yawn* Boring. And expensive, with a fuel burn in excess of 13 gph! However, all temps remained solid and within normal limits.

When I just couldn't stand it any longer, I descended to the puffy cloud layer below me and just flew above the canyons of cloud. I used to LOVE doing that in my Yankee. Somehow, even with this fabulous machine strapped to me, it wasn't the same (more on that later). I did a couple of rolls (when I was clear of the clouds, naturally) and it performed as advertised.

When the fun was done, I came back down below the clouds and got the snot beat out of me! Dang, it was rough under those clouds. However, a bumpy, survivable landing later, I taxied Smokey back to his hangar and sat down to fill out the logbooks.

OK, so what's the point? Many of you have already had first flights -- some of you many of them -- and haven't decided to bore others with the tales of your milestones. Why should I feel compelled to pour out my soul to other builders about my first flying experiences?

Time changes things. Time changes people. In my 13 years of building, things about me have changed. I'm fatter. My joints don't move as well. I don't sit for long periods without aching. I wear bifocals. I'm not the same person I was when I started building. Were I to start a new project now, I'd consider things like ease of ingress/egress, economy, speed of build, size of print in the instructions ...

All of that I've known and accepted for years. I've accomodated as best I can, too. It's a real pisser to have to wrestle upside-down under the instrument panel to get to something, only to not be able to see it because I have to look up and my near vision lenses are on the bottom! You old farts know exactly what I mean.

What I didn't anticipate is how adrenaline affects my body these days. When I got home after yesterday's long flight (1.6 hrs), I was drained. I tried to just sit down and relax, but was fidgety. I tried yard work, but felt too tired. I was not hungry. Then I was. I was freezing cold and put on sweats, then I was hot and stripped it all off. I went to bed, but couldn't sleep.

You see, as a dentist, I don't have much use for the stuff on a daily basis. Oh, I'll have the occasional extraction or root canal that doesn't go as planned and makes me sweat. However, as a rule, dentistry isn't exactly Adrenaline Rush Alley. Off duty, I don't do much that carries much risk either -- I quit flying to build the RV, quit skiing because of knee injuries and I stopped playing golf because the only real exercise was throwing clubs and having to retrieve them. Sure, I make the rare bad choice comment to my wife that carries some inherent element of risk, but that usually doesn't end in fisticuffs. Just silence. And bad food.

I hadn't realized that in a life devoid of physical or emotional challenge, the body becomes used to a flat-line lifestyle. And the rare charge of adrenaline that might come from getting pulled over or from a fender-bender can wreak havoc on one's psyche.

Now, multiply that times a gazillion.

Smokey handles well. Danny "Sky" King proved that with the initial flights. Even with my limited taildragger time, I'm not really too worried that it'll get away from me on takeoff or landing. BUT SOME PART OF MY BRAIN DOESN'T KNOW THAT. It's really weird.

The reason I'm rambling on like this is that somebody else out there is going to go through the same thing someday. It might be YOU -- if you haven't stayed current, have lapsed into a lifestyle where your body isn't accustomed to regular physical/emotional challenges, and haven't mentally prepared yourself for the challenges of flight testing.

I think that if I were a younger man, this whole process would be much easier on me. When I used to fly, I did many stupid things. I flew too low. I flew formation with very little training. I did aerobatics that the plane was not approved for. I should not have lived. However, I did, and such things hold very little interest for me anymore. But the thrill has been replaced by serious concern -- which sucks the fun out of fun things like flying. And most of that concern is over stuff that's not likely to happen, like the engine quitting or the wings departing the plane.

I promise to NOT ramble on like this too often. However, I am hoping that some other old geezer out there will understand what I'm saying and figure out how to avoid this rollercoaster experience. I think it'll all be OK soon, as each flight gets more relaxed and I become more comfortable flying again.

I'll let you know ...

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Don McNamara
Peoria, AZ

Builder: RV-8 "Smokey"
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  #23  
Old 08-31-2009, 03:15 PM
tinman tinman is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 496
Default You nailed it...

Don,
I have just started flying my new -8 and feel the same way that you do...when I get out of the plane after a test flight, I feel like I have been put through the wringer. I have reached the point in my life (Finally!) that I don't like to hang it all out there on the line. Perhaps this is what happens to most of us as we get older. (Perhaps this is how we manage to live long enough to grow old . )
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RV-8 Finished After 8 1/2 Years (2496 hours) of Loving Labor
Summerville, SC
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  #24  
Old 08-31-2009, 03:57 PM
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Ironflight Ironflight is offline
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Location: Dayton, NV
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Default

Feeling drained after test flying....it's not just for "Old Geezers" Don! I have an old friend who's a test pilot. When asked before a fairly significant "first flight" if he was nervous, he told the reports that "if you aren't a little nervous before doing something like this, then you obviously don't understand what it is that you are about to do!"

You'll get comfortable Don, and the stress of early flights will become the enjoyment of reliable, high-performance flying. I get a bit worried wen I hear people talk about "flying off the 40 hours", as if all that is important is the Hobbs meter. Phase 1 is a test program, and it needs to be taken seriously. There are things to learn, and things to do. No, it's not experimental test flying - In an RV, it is more akin to production test flying - but there is still much to do, and much to learn. So expect it to be a bit of work!

As I said, before you know it, you'll be enjoying it - and you'll actually look back on this time as enjoyable. But while you're in the middle of it? Yup, you're right to feel drained. That's how it is supposed to be!

Paul
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Paul F. Dye
Editor at Large - KITPLANES Magazine
RV-8 - N188PD - "Valkyrie"
RV-6 (By Marriage) - N164MS - "Mikey"
RV-3B - N13PL - "Tsamsiyu"
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Last edited by Ironflight : 09-01-2009 at 07:16 AM.
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  #25  
Old 09-01-2009, 07:10 AM
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L.Adamson L.Adamson is offline
 
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Location: KSLC
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Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by N8RV View Post
I promise to NOT ramble on like this too often. However, I am hoping that some other old geezer out there will understand what I'm saying and figure out how to avoid this rollercoaster experience. I think it'll all be OK soon, as each flight gets more relaxed and I become more comfortable flying again.

I'll let you know ...
I might be another "old geezer".............. going on 59 years...

And I felt the same way "last" September, as I put the first hours on my RV6A. I'd think about it every time, as I opened the hangar door.

It's now 100+ hours later on the 6, and I no longer think that way at all. The roller coaster is over, and I look to every flight with some sort of excitement instead of some form of anxiety.

L.Adamson --- RV6A
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  #26  
Old 09-01-2009, 10:40 AM
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carlrai carlrai is offline
 
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Posts: 502
Default Another semi geezer....

Nicely done, Don.

Just past 50 hours on my 9A and the rush is still there when I open the hanger doors and do the walk around. Seems to settle down a bit but the adrenaline remains until the bugs are wiped off and the doors close again. Life is good.

By the way. Next trip to the optician, have him grind you a pair of "occupational" bifocals. I have a pair with the near vision "half moons" on the bottom and top of the lens. Not worth a darn for driving or for that matter walking around but when you're working on something that requires a look up, they're worth their weight in gold.
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Lutz, FL
RV-9A N194CR
RV-14A Under construction
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  #27  
Old 09-08-2009, 06:07 AM
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N8RV N8RV is offline
 
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Location: Elkhart, Indiana
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Default Update

Well, I figure I might as well keep my online diary of sorts going ...

Smokey now has 13+ hours on him. The weather was unusually cooperative last week, and I was able to fly every day. Although I'm still aware that flying Smokey causes a rush, I've had no symptoms like those that caused my rambling discourse on the effects of adrenaline, thankfully.

Who knows what that was all about? Sheesh ...

Anyway, if nobody else ever experiences that particular set of symptoms, then maybe I was getting the swine flu and it passed really fast. REALLY fast.

Most glitches are fixed -- still have concerns about my comm radio working well. I need to open things and have a look at coax and connections before I enlist the help of a radio shop. And it's already time for an oil change.

I did several box speed runs on Sunday, comparing the EFIS airspeeds with the GPS ground speeds -- all averages agreed within 1-2 knots. I can live with that.

Other than that, nothing spectacular to report.
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Builder: RV-8 "Smokey"
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  #28  
Old 09-21-2009, 10:00 AM
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N8RV N8RV is offline
 
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Location: Elkhart, Indiana
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The weather was conducive to flying around here on Friday and Saturday, and I was able to get in some time. Smokey has 18+ hours on him now, and I'm getting much more comfortable flying. While I've had a couple of landings that made me wonder which of us was in control, we've both come away OK.

Best news is: NO MORE HEEBIE-JEEBIES! I have no clue what that was all about, but it seems to have been a one-time event.

I still wonder, as I fly around up there, if I'll regain my love of flying. Having been dormant for so many years -- and not missing it -- sure gives me pause. Only time will tell, I suppose.

I flew to a nearby airport on Friday for lunch. First landing somewhere other than home.

I'm getting comfortable enough to start putting ballast in the rear to see how it handles with some weight back there. Gotta do some stall testing, too, to calibrate the AOA.

Sure can't wait to get some paint on Smokey. I HATE flying it when it looks so OOGLY ... but I still have a LOT of cosmetic stuff to do with that plastic goo first. Blecch.
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Don McNamara
Peoria, AZ

Builder: RV-8 "Smokey"
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  #29  
Old 09-21-2009, 11:57 AM
Frank Smidler Frank Smidler is offline
 
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Location: Stoughton, WI
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Default Lunch

Don, let me know the next time you fly out for lunch and I will join you.
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N96FS, RV-6
Flying 1/11/09
1085 hr
2WI6 Stoughton, WI
Formally of Lafayette, IN
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  #30  
Old 09-21-2009, 12:01 PM
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N8RV N8RV is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Smidler View Post
Don, let me know the next time you fly out for lunch and I will join you.
Wilco, Frank. I'm working up to that, buddy. Gimme a couple more weeks ...
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Builder: RV-8 "Smokey"
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