She's gone!!

[frankh]

My beloved Rv7a, the first fuel injected electric fuel pump only Lycoming powered RV (I believe) has flown the coop to be with her new owner.

Man that was hard seeing her fly away without me.

But its the right thing to do for me at this point in my life and the new owner is a highly experienced pilot and A&P so I think she is in good hands.

Frank
N484H... Sold!

[mannanj]

Frank:
I know exactly how you feel. I had to sell my Champ that I restored while stationed in Hawaii. Flew the "old girl" nearly 30 years. Had to sell her and my portion of a hangar that I helped build for "seed money" to build my -8.

I wasn't at the airport when she left. Not sure I could have stood it. Ten years later and I still miss that plane.

[Bob Axsom]

Originally Posted by mannanj

Frank:
I know exactly how you feel. I had to sell my Champ that I restored while stationed in Hawaii. Flew the "old girl" nearly 30 years. Had to sell her and my portion of a hangar that I helped build for "seed money" to build my -8.

I wasn't at the airport when she left. Not sure I could have stood it. Ten years later and I still miss that plane.

Giving the make and model just doesn't do the job of describing these special planes that were an integral part of our lives during their time. 22 years in our case and I occasionally put the number in the FAA database or do a google search for N8304L. The Red Bird to us had been repainted base white and those hideous wavy girly stripes - sorry old girl you were such a proud and unique bird.

Bob Axsom

[frankh]

To get someone who has never flown before to do THIS is priceless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=UkVzNdbn-dM

[Bob Axsom]

THAT was priceless!

Bob Axsom

[6 Gun]

I had to sell my Champ after 32 years to finish my RV6 it was my first airplane and I miss it to . It was a great plane that I restored in 1995 lots of great times flew it to the Aeronca fly-in 5 times from fl to Ohio .Theres nothing like Champ flying.
Bob

[gnuse]

I sure enjoyed your videos. They inspired me to buy my airplane. I hope you have a plan for the future.

[springer]

Originally Posted by frankh

To get someone who has never flown before to do THIS is priceless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=UkVzNdbn-dM

So Frank, did Allison go on to fly fighters?

[frankh]

Unfortunately not, she decided she was not cut out for military life.. We flew some more together, she was reliably taking off and landing the RV by herself after just a few hours.

She got to fly the last check out flight on Friday after I finished the annual.

She would have made a very good pilot I'm sure, and she still might one day.

Frank

[frankh]

This is partly the answer as to why I sold her..

Well I plan to retire next April.. I am 52 years old and have no kids. I am notoriously frugal and have been saving a huge part of my salary since I emigrated to the US in '97.

Part of the grand plan is to reduce my expenses, even though the RV is relatively inexpensive (in airplane dollars) its fixed cost (hangar rent + insurance)= about $3500 a year. To have $3500, means you need to earn 5500 to 6000bux. From my perspective thats $6000 I DON'T have to earn in order to not HAVE to work.

So this was phase 1.. Phase 2 is to retire and live off the Wife's teaching salary, medical and a little bit of rental income and not touch the "stash", maybe even save a little.

I might buy a kayak, take up fly fishing but most of all spend 3 months out of the high pressure engineering job and figure out what I want to do rather than being yelled at for 10 hours a day....

Does this mean I'll never have another airplane, or never work again?.. Not at all.. Just giving myself a chance to smell the roses after 28 years of continual work/study... Then decide on a path forward.

Frank