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24 Hours, Five Airplanes ? Plenty of Grinning!

Ironflight

VAF Moderator / Line Boy
Mentor
It?s not uncommon for me to fly two of our airplanes in the same day, and occasionally, maintenance requirements have me flying all three. But the past 24 hours has been a blast ? five different RV?s on five different missions in just 24 hours ? and only one of them was ours!

Even the Val was impressed with her housing arrangements and stable mates!
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Yesterday started out at the Van?s Mother ship with some chats about the RV-14 for a flight review I?ll be writing for the magazine (print is not dead ? it merely rests, unlike the internet?). Following lunch, I got my first chance to fly the latest offering around the beautiful Oregon skies. I?ll save my impressions for future work, but let?s say that I was grinning nicely when Gus and I shut down after an hour or so. A lot of good thought and excellent work has gone into this machine, and it shows.

As we taxied in with the -14, I saw a disturbing site ? Louise and Joe Blank pushing the Valkyrie along the ramp from the fuel pump to the Van?s hangar. Hmmm?.pushing is never good?. It turned out that Louise was getting a nice firm click but no rotation when she tried to start it up (she was going to fuel and then add brake fluid while we had access to tools). We rolled the airplane into the company hangar and quickly pulled the cowl with the help of the prototype shop staff (it comes off just like the plans show!). A quick jump around the starter contactor showed that the starter was indeed fine ? and we had found the problem. Fortunately, we were in the right place to get a replacement, and by the time I had the old one off, the paperwork was complete and a new one was in my hand. Thank heaven for nutplates! It took ten minutes to change it out and we confirmed a healthy start. I guess 1600 hours and almost 8 years are enough to expect from a $24 relay.

When that job was done, Joe suggested that I fly the RV-9 as a quick comparison to the -14 while it was fresh in my mind. This was a great idea, and gave Joe a chance to go flying, so I saw it as a win-win, and off we went. Since both the airplanes had the little wheel up front, and my last tricycle gear landing I could remember was in the Shuttle simulator, I figured I am once again tricycle current. The factory -9 is a nice, solid and reliable aircraft, and I hardly noticed the lack of an O-360 on the nose of a two-place.

As we were wrapping up for the day, I was informed that Rob Hickman was interested in getting me behind the latest AFS EFIS, and would be at the Van?s factory with his RV-10 the next morning at 0830 to pick me up. Oh well?.duty calls! We found Rob right on time out back of Van?s, wiping the remains of a seagull off his left wing tip ? seemed that when you are on short final and spook a flock, they don?t dive after all. The flight with the AFS gear was eye-opening and fun. Sine I am going to have to wait for another airframe to own yet another EFIS, this gave me a chance to try a coupled approach to minimums and learn the button-pushing and capabilities of this mature equipment. In short ? I liked it! The user interface is capable and robust ? coupled with a GTN 650, it gave me a good insight into this year?s state of the art.

Rob?s RV-10 is a quiet, comfortable machine for solid IFR work
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As Rob and I rolled back to the hangar, who should step up but Jerry VanGrunsven! I met Jerry for the first time at Oshkosh this year, but the opportunity was brief, and we wanted more time to chat. In this case, we got talking about AOA displays and systems, and Jerry was anxious to give me a demo of the AFS device in his RV-8A. ?Well, no, I haven?t flown an -8A Jerry?I?d love to give yours a chance!? So off we went for some stalls and turns, looking at the AOA on the glare shield the whole time. With tens of thousands of hours in his logbook, Jerry is a firm believer in the value of AOA in keeping pilots (of all levels) away from the dangerous corners of the envelope ? and I agree. It was a fun and educational session, and I might soon be installing one in the Val to continue the experiments. (Oh?.with respect to the ?A? on an -8?once you get in the air, it is impossible to tell which end the little wheel is attached to.)

AOA Evangelist Jerry VanG and his -8A
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So?.four airplanes in 24 hours?.but wait ? there?s more! It was a little before noon when Jerry and I got back, and the factory folks has suggested that Louise and I stop at Independence Airpark for lunch before heading on down to Reno. It sounded like a good opportunity for a nice burger, and Jerry wanted to show Louise the AOA as well, so she piled in with him and I got back in my own trustworthy steed, flying top cover as they circled around for the demo, then following them to the restaurant. It?s always nice to get back in a familiar airplane again. Of course, since I flew that 20 miles, it was Louise?s leg to Reno?.but getting a chance to look at the magnificent scenery was compensation for the back seat?.

Crater Lake ? now that is a DEEP blue!
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Five airplanes, five great flying companions, and beautiful Northwest weather ? it doesn?t get much better than that! We finished the day with Margaritas and the company of Dayton Murdock and his wife in Carson City. Hope to see a few more RV?ers this week while we are here ? and definitely at the R-Cubed BBQ on Saturday night.

Paul
 
Another convert

Jerry V. is an impressive teacher and evangelist. I've never really understood AOAs and found them both distracting and annoying when occasionally flying a friend's plane that had one. But, Jerry's tutorial and demonstration of the AFS AOA along with his stories of how it can prevent a distracted pilot from a turn-stall catastrophy won me over. I'm now okay with Paul putting one into the Val. Maybe Tsam needs one, too.
 
It's a shame you didn't get to fly the -12. Heck, you'd have probably been online, on the ramp after landing, ordering a pneumatic rivet puller and telling the shipping department where to send the empennage crate ;);)
 
Last visit

It's a shame you didn't get to fly the -12. Heck, you'd have probably been online, on the ramp after landing, ordering a pneumatic rivet puller and telling the shipping department where to send the empennage crate ;);)

We did that on the last visit.:D
 
Very nice report Paul. I'd love to hear your thoughts on RV-14A vs RV 9A flight characteristics whenever you get a chance.
 
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