New RV-12 SLSA Owner

[mjlaero]

Hello All,

I recently picked up RV-12 N874MJ from Van's Aircraft. My wife and I had a fun time bringing the aircraft back from Aurora State, OR to Pearland, TX. A great experience and the longest cross country I've ever flown. You can see some of the highlights on Tumblr at http://theflyingprof.tumblr.com.

I'd like to have an A&P mechanic familiar with the RV-12 and the Rotax engine to do a thorough inspection of the aircraft, oil and filter change, and any other recommended/required maintenance before the next local flight. I'm hoping with the many RV owners in the Houston area there may be a few A&P mechanics that can work on the RV-12.

I welcome any recommendations.

Thanks

[rockwoodrv9]

Congratulations on your new plane. You will love it. Texas is a big RV state, so you will get a bunch of suggestions and very competent people to do your inspection and teach you about your plane.

Welcome to VAF - great place to be with or without a RV!

[DonFromTX]

Welcome back to Texas! I sure enjoyed your photos and narrative of your travels, mostly at places I was familiar with.

[Mike S]

Maury, welcome to VAF

[hufise]

Welcome to fly an 12

In the Photo is the Wingspar red. Red is not good. You have to check the wing pin and the magnetic switch.

Happy flying

Daniel #120383
44 hrs

[newamiga]

Congrats on the new purchase. I would suggest you look for a LSA maintenance facility vice one that specializes in Vans aircraft specifically. I believe US Aviation in Denton is supposed to be a very good Rotax facility. I am not sure about the Houston area. The key is that you probably don't want to take it to a standard A&P, even if they have Vans experience if they don't have Rotax experience. There are differences between "traditional" and Rotax engines. There are also differences between how they are supposed to work on and document S-LSA work versus part 23 certified planes. I own a S-LSA and luckily I have a couple really good Rotax folks in Colorado. If you haven't looked at them, there are several good webinars on the EAA site that address care and feeding of the Rotax 912, servicing Rotax engines and also on on proper log book entries for S-LSA's.

Carl

[rgmwa]

Nice trip write-up. What are your overall impressions of the RV-12 after flying that distance?

[mjlaero]

Thank you all for the greetings. To answer a few questions that came up on this post:

1) Carl, thanks for the advice and additional EAA webinar information on the care and feeding of the Rotax engine. I'll be digging in to those sites you identified.
2) To hufise: Yes, that is a the Spar Warning light you see in some of the photos. After refueling at Bakersfield and checking the weather for Blythe and Yuma, AZ we noticed the Spar Warning light was on. We visually verified that the spar pins were engaged and in their normal latched "flight" position. Further investigation revealed that the left hand Spar warning light would extinguish/reset with a slight depress of the spring release button. It remained off after the spring release was returned to its engaged position but a slight upward pressure (more engagement) caused the light to illuminate again. After talking with the folks at Van's it appears the magnetic sensor receiver is slightly out of adjustment now. I hear they are sensitive to the magnetic field and vibration probably caused a change in the relative position of the sensor/receiver.

[Ignition]

I took this picture while I was at the Vans Factory recently... Had a feeling you would be on these forums, I should have introduced myself after you parked!

[the_other_dougreeves]

Not an A&P but happy to share 912 experience. Might even have some 912-specific tools for you. PM and let's arrange a meet up sometime.

TODR