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more time flying than building...

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Pretty cool to have more time flying this wonderful airplane than building it!

pound them rivets and burn that avgas :)
 
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Congrats, it has to be an odd feeling!

At just over 400 hours I've really started to feel like I neglect the RV and just see it when I wanna use it. Who knows, I may even get close to 50 hours on this next oil change....
 
That's a great milestone!

I just checked, I'm at 870 hours of flight time and on February 18, 2005 I hit 870 hours of build time. I was "fabricating the rudder pedals" at exactly 870 hours.

Seems like a lifetime ago!
 
I build at a much faster rate than I fly, but even with a 16 hear head start, my build time is catching up quickly.
 
Pretty cool to have more time flying than building!

pound them rivets and burn that avgas :)

That was my argument for buying a flying RV- and no regrets about that! Just be sure to get a good one, and that WILL take some effort.

Ironically, although I did get in a good 130hrs in the first year, I?ve since launched into a major panel upgrade, changes in prop, alternator, ignitions, fuel injection, a twin EarthX battery system, dual electric fuel pumps, etc,etc, and my bird will have been down 8 months before flying again, but it is worth it. I bought what I knew to be a fabulous foundation airframe with a great engine, and it will soon be 95% identical to the one I would have built from scratch. This approach saved me five years of hard work, and added five years of flying life. After a certain age it just made sense. -Otis
 
There should be some kind of build/fly ratio formula. I spent total of 1350 hours building and I've flown about 450 hours. Hmmmm.... a build/fly ratio.... "BFR" I know that's already taken but it sounds good. Probably need to factor into the equation somehow the number of months or years flown since first flight. 9PG's first flight was 4/1/12 or 7 years ago. Wonder if there's a way to come up with some kind of result that would make sense?
 
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That was my argument for buying a flying RV- and no regrets about that! Just be sure to get a good one, and that WILL take some effort.

... -Otis

Surprisingly, many of us really enjoyed the build process and miss it when we start flying.

I know, it sounds crazy but it is true. Maybe that's why we keep changing, upgrading, modifying, etc. our planes.
 
Pretty cool to have more time flying than building!

pound them rivets and burn that avgas :)

I forgot what I started out to say earlier: Congratulations, Stephen- 2000+ hours building and flying- EACH- an incredible accomplishment!! How many can make that claim? Well done, Stephen!
 
Surprisingly, many of us really enjoyed the build process and miss it when we start flying.

I know, it sounds crazy but it is true. Maybe that's why we keep changing, upgrading, modifying, etc. our planes.

It does not sound crazy at all- I've been a passionate builder of things, including one airplane, for over 60 years. I bought my RV at 66 years of age and plan to fly it until I?m 90 or so. I was tempted to build but, in the end, maximizing available flying years won out.

Some may remember a VAF fellow who went by the moniker ?Cytoxin?, one of the drugs that kept him going long enough to nearly complete the airplane I own now. His name was William Weesner, and I owe him a mountainous debt of gratitude. I understand he was a career air force helicopter A&P and, later, while building my bird, a vo-tech instructor. He built my RV knowing he would not likely live to see it fly, but he put every fiber of his heart and soul into it. I never met him, but I paid cash in full for it sight-unseen from 3,000 miles away after studying more than 1,000 high resolution build photos that he took, and it is one of the best slow-build RV?s I have ever seen. The only photo I?ve seen of William is the reflection below, caught in one of his build photos. I take it as my duty to meet his standard of quality in the hundreds of hours I?m investing in an extensive series of upgrade modifications I?m in the middle of, most of which have been documented here on VAF- Otis
William Weesner, RIP:
2v2EkTt18xBELK5.jpg
 
It does not sound crazy at all- I've been a passionate builder of things, including one airplane, for over 60 years. I bought my RV at 66 years of age and plan to fly it until I?m 90 or so. I was tempted to build but, in the end, maximizing available flying years won out.

Some may remember a VAF fellow who went by the moniker ?Cytoxin?, one of the drugs that kept him going long enough to nearly complete the airplane I own now. His name was William Weesner, and I owe him a mountainous debt of gratitude. I understand he was a career air force helicopter A&P and, later, while building my bird, a vo-tech instructor. He built my RV knowing he would not likely live to see it fly, but he put every fiber of his heart and soul into it. I never met him, but I paid cash in full for it sight-unseen from 3,000 miles away after studying more than 1,000 high resolution build photos that he took, and it is one of the best slow-build RV?s I have ever seen. The only photo I?ve seen of William is the reflection below, caught in one of his build photos. I take it as my duty to meet his standard of quality in the hundreds of hours I?m investing in an extensive series of upgrade modifications I?m in the middle of, most of which have been documented here on VAF- Otis
William Weesner, RIP:
2v2EkTt18xBELK5.jpg


Lovely story, brings a tear to ones eye -:( thanks for sharing it.

I was 63 when I bought my 8, I would love to have built one but I'd rather fly. Having an engineering background, 40 years driving planes (about to retire commercially) and a life long passion for RC flight I felt I could have but time waits for no man. I have a bad back these days so I too wanted to maximise my flying time before I am unable to fly any longer.
Life is too short not to follow yr dream whether that be toiling all hours of the night on the love of your life or flying the love of your life, I chose the latter:)
 
That is an amazing story Otis. Thank you for sharing. RVer's are a connected bunch.... even after life. Beautiful memorial!
 
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