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What?d you do w/your RV this weekend?(11/2-3/2019)

Planning to fly from San Diego to Bend, OR in my RV-9A on Sunday/Monday. I intend to fly to Redding, CA for the night on Sunday to visit my sister in-law and then Bend on Monday morning. Looks like a great weekend to fly out west.

Will update the thread after!
 
Moving to a new hangar, about a hundred feet away! Could fly it there but weather calling for 100% rain/snow mix. Yuck!

Might finally get around to installing the ADSB unit.
 
Finally cleaned out my garage:

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Hangar time!
 
Flew from CRQ to AJO and was picked up by Spruce. While there, I purchased an iFly 740B which I plan to try out on my Oregon trip the next two days. If all goes well, I am interested in removing my Garmin 496 and replacing it with the iFly GPS. While doing so, I?d like to add a navcom, so I have two comms, and a VOR receiver (which I?ll hook up to my Dynon).

1.2 hours added to the RV. I always have a blast flying it around...
 
Went flying in a 7A and then joined the flying club that owns it. :D

Super pumped to be back into an IFR traveling machine.

First RV experience and man are they fun.
 
Moved It

Well, I changed airports this weekend...Moved my 7A from KGRE Greenville,Il. to KPJY Pinckneyville-DuQuoin, Il. ...1/2 the distance to my house, much cheaper hangar rent, and much less air traffic. Loving the quiet... Also, even thought I am hangar-anal and well organized, you just never know how much tools/equipment/supplies/chemicals/paperwork/**** you have until you have to box it up, move it, and re-mount everything.

It's not for the faint of heart.
 
Full Flap Take Off RV10 ?

Landed on little Island in Chesapeake Bay (KTGI) for late Lunch. All Ferry Boats and Tourists were gone so the 3 places to eat had already closed. Assumed I would need the "HOT START" procedure but after cranking and NO Joy the battery's began to slow crank. OOPS! that didn't work well, so opened up the Oil Door and sat alone "AOG" for 20 mins on the desolate airstrip. Try again: Blades going by slower and slower, then Vroom ! We got it going! Rattled and excited I decided to keep most everything turned everything OFF while charging the batteries. Heading down the Runway and my son calls out: Dad..Flaps..Dad..Flaps ! I was already at 60 knots and keeping the mains on the ground I flipped the Flaps switch and watched them SO SLOWLY retract. at half flap I was running out of runway so I pulled back rotated and launched. I was amazed at how quick the RV10 JUMPED into the air with still half flaps~!! My Son handed me the checklist and said 'Lets NOT do that again! But still a Wonderful weekend with a good reminder to not get rattled, READ the Checklist! I have to wonder what would've happened if we did rotate at full flaps ?? Ed N40ES
 
Saturday I flew in to Ridgeland (3J1) and tried my best at helping with the restoration effort ongoing with the glider club's G103. After several hours of wetsanding I was ready to fly home and rinse off the gelcoat splatter.

I flew in to Daniel field on Sunday afternoon with my girlfriend. The mission was simple, grab a bite to eat, refuel, explore the downtown, and fly home, all in 4 hours or less. KDNL is a excellent GA friendly airport. The offer for the weekend was full service 100LL for $3.99, you cant beat that this day in age. there was plenty of ramp space and it was not very busy (possibly because it was Sunday). The FBO front desk recommended Gary's homemade hamburgers about 3 mi from the airport. The FBO has 3 crew cars, so getting a car should not be an issue, the burgers were great, after this we head down to the river walk, and decided to check out the Morris muesum of art, which also happens to be free on Sundays! There were lots of very interesting art pieces, mostly southern themed and we thought it was well worth the stop.
 
Landed on little Island in Chesapeake Bay (KTGI) for late Lunch. All Ferry Boats and Tourists were gone so the 3 places to eat had already closed. Assumed I would need the "HOT START" procedure but after cranking and NO Joy the battery's began to slow crank. OOPS! that didn't work well, so opened up the Oil Door and sat alone "AOG" for 20 mins on the desolate airstrip. Try again: Blades going by slower and slower, then Vroom ! We got it going! Rattled and excited I decided to keep most everything turned everything OFF while charging the batteries. Heading down the Runway and my son calls out: Dad..Flaps..Dad..Flaps ! I was already at 60 knots and keeping the mains on the ground I flipped the Flaps switch and watched them SO SLOWLY retract. at half flap I was running out of runway so I pulled back rotated and launched. I was amazed at how quick the RV10 JUMPED into the air with still half flaps~!! My Son handed me the checklist and said 'Lets NOT do that again! But still a Wonderful weekend with a good reminder to not get rattled, READ the Checklist! I have to wonder what would've happened if we did rotate at full flaps ?? Ed N40ES
in my transition training for the 6 we did takeoffs with half and full flaps, and I routinely take off with 1/2 flaps. It really is a non issue, and I think I get off the ground earlier. I am not sure though if it is the same for the 10.
 
On Sunday, I flew my -9A from Carlsbad (San Diego) to Oakdale, for a quick stop for cheap fuel and a stretch. After the brief stop, I headed up to Redding, CA and visited with my sister in law. I took her for her first ride in a ?small plane,? and she definitely had the ?RV Grin? by the end of the flight. She loved it.

After a quick night in Redding, I headed up to Bend, Oregon this morning.

The RV just gets better and better.
 
KTGI

Just so you feel better, you're not the only RVator to visit quaint little Tangier the day after all the restaurants and all but one of the B&B's closed for the season.

Made the choice of where to sleep really easy - and the grocery store had delicious peanut butter crackers for our lunch :p
 
Local EAA Chapter had this going on.

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Had a phone call from one of my Pennsylvania RV friends. He was moving his RV-6A from Pennsylvania to Florida like he does every year. Told him about the lunch and said he would stop on his way to Flordia.

Flew to the lunch in my RV.
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It was not a long trip so did not fly very fast or very high.
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Met my friend and after lunch helped him get his airplane refueled and off to Florida he went.

Short flight home was not that short. (Note to self: Next time wait till others depart before starting engine. Save gas plus wear and tear on my airplane by not sitting in line waiting for departure.)
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Was one of three airplanes landing so turn over the airport for spacing.

Speed and altitude for the flight home.
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At home, I searched for my friends airplane on FlightRadar24.com but could not find his tail number. I know he has ADS-B out and should see him so started looking. Not sure why his N number does not show up.
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As he got close to his destination:
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I decided that I would listen to ATC as he arrived.
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I can hear enter 1.5 mile right base and a later transmission head straight to the numbers. Not sure why ADS-B track goes crazy when the airplane gets low ready for touchdown.
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Sent TEXT message "Welcome to Florida" then when out in the hangar to work a little in the shop.
 
Flew to Eads CO

In my quest to fly to all the paved runways in Colorado, we went to Eads (9V7). Did a few touch and goes, and came on home. It is so small, no car to go into town.

Not much out on the eastern plains of Colorado, but the little towns are pretty in their own way.

C1VtImtA9dYWZ3yQWQ5Put8Nw5Fyxenv9m0JDRjFbNAeBY_74uEfqTlDBwQahS6azyZlQEm_As1pb0pbFptFsoAyUklKMAAr-PNwhKeuObyZfK2OSMH1ZljUoagv0lniNx_5pEfteZKOyg41PqwvZt1djClLxLfqYCI2_mpZLSoUAPK2AqAb26vqKX61U85nL4sH-S6fDuoffyGaG7gRAT5tZFt8ypkP8RZ2uQP_pg8RpXto9Q5NZm_vfZTZyc_9Z0WTswwkdbmKY1h1LlWxVaV8CA9Wrc27jKcXPMkHRn4jU0mJ1cVA_yKNsp3vsASIkXFInWWf0r2oKCWXz0Rv7ZkInqUlb9odbUot9hHs-BFwyfqjPzRv0PdDy3znoilnCu3X4ptgO9LDLOSxh7l1XtCcZyUkVMYpxfkhci7bqstAGAY23kummB_H8C2RwowQkfGIPzRt6llsADvYkMHctwuNeXW2_CiSERrHTmSnVrO0Kx-dbmytcB87AGn3n70QtB_voDfvylfuT4yikFMJr_HYf6lJ3cxvu3iKRT7yirOdL4Z83plwPJoHnEPcjdXVpR1Evsv9IV0wscTpyDAzDVdTDzHoFMkUyEre3JJk0yxKmRFNkSzBXjkWWK4eseExBQb-KpS-RL6bDsQ5-1rya9QJSRDxMDXpTb6ZkebqeF05GNrAMPMi1gQ=w1086-h814-no


Cheers
Geoff
 
My RV weekend was Sunday and Monday. Friday night I went across many time zones and got in rather late from work. So when Saturday came along I felt the need to keep my feet on the ground despite having a couple of very good RV opportunities and outstanding flying weather. One was a breakfast fly-in in TN and another was a local formation flight with a few of the guys from the Falcon RV Squadron. Hard to pass up, but a pilot has to know his limits!

Sunday

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I took my son Max back up to Chilhowee (92A) in the RV-8 for some more glider lessons. Beautiful day. A couple of things happened that made me think, “this kid is going to do alright as a pilot.”

The first thing that happened was that a motor glider failed to clear the traffic pattern and pulled out onto the runway to back taxi while my son was on short final. There are no go-around options in a glider! My son maneuvered the glider, adjusted his aim point and did what was necessary. He extended the air brakes, put her into a slip, touched down at his intended point, cleared the runway mid-field just as the motor glider got turned around to see the whole thing unfold. His instructor sitting in the back seat didn’t have to say a word!

The next thing that happened is that his instructor got out of the glider to let Max go for his first solo of the day. Normally the instructor will get out, secure the rear seat, get the necessary ballast, and turn the glider around. Max was taught to use a short memory aid for his Before Takeoff checklist:

Altimeter
Belts
Ballast
Controls
Cable
Canopy
Direction of Wind
Emergency Procedures

He used his checklist and realized that his instructor forgot to retrieve the ballast. The glider would have been a bit tail heavy without the ballast and it would have made for a very sporty flight.

I’m very proud of him for using good procedures and judgement. His instructors are impressed by his skills. Not too shabby for a 15 year old! Maybe he got something out of the hundreds of hours of riding in the back seat of the RV!

After his lessons we stopped at the Rome airport for a nice dinner at Sam’s Burger-Deli. Great food and decor!

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Monday

I was invited to watch the first engine start of Steve’s RV-7 in Auburn, Alabama (AUO, about 65nm from Falcon Field). Steve did a beautiful job with his airplane. I’m expecting to hear about his first flight in a few weeks. A few of us flew down to help, Russ Boland in his C-140 who also built a gorgeous RV-7, Jon Abarr in his beautiful RV-7, and myself in the -8. Jon is a jack of all trades and is probably one of the best mechanics I’ve ever known. He’s got kind of like a 6th sense and he is relied on heavily by the Falcon Field RV Squadron.

While there, Jon told me to grab a wrench and make myself useful. We all looked over the engine and adjusted and corrected a couple of minor things and eventually ended up with a successful engine start. Lot’s of smiles! After putting the plane back in the hangar we were all treated to a celebratory lunch by Steve.

Short flight back to FFC and cleaned up the RV. It was nice RV day indeed.

See y’all next weekend!
 
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