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First flight - reflections

jwilbur

Well Known Member
When I started this project in 11/2010 (almost 7 years ago):
.... I had only 80 hours of flight time. I now have 3100 hours of building time (and a whopping 150 hours of flight time)

.... I had only 4 kids. I now have 6.

.... I weighed 215 pounds. I now weigh 208 pounds (Everything can't be dramatic)

.... I was in my 30's. I'm now 45.

.... I needed only one pair of glasses. I now use 3 different pairs and never seem to have the ones I need.

.... I had zero airplanes. I now have a nice RV-10 which I know flies straight and true.


Took off from CJR on Sunday 8/13/2017. Flew around for 20 minutes and landed without incident. .... Only issues were high CHTs because I left full power in too long (excitement got the better of me) and my flap breaker on the VPX tripped. I elected to continue what an observer later called a "picture perfect flaps-up landing" and debug on the ground.

Thanks to the VAF crowd, John Trollinger who gave me a "dress rehearsal" flight immediately prior in his RV-10, Dick Koehler for inspecting my airplane and doing the SB-632 work on my engine, Todd Stovall for answering many questions over the years and teaching me how to drill out rivets. Thanks to Tim Lewis for the most expensive airplane ride of all time back in 2010, And a very special thanks to Ralph Hoover who helped me with just about every part of the build (and talked me out of selling the project a few times).

Most of all my wife and kids. This is truly a family project in my house. And lastly, the Living Lord Jesus Christ who calmed my nerves and showed me mercy in bringing this sorely unqualified pilot back on the ground safely. May He see fit to do it many, many more times.

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I've got the "RV GRIN" just from reading your post! Congratulations!!!! Perseverance is underrated in our world of instant gratification. Great job!
 
Excellent - here's wishing you good luck/success through the rest of phase 1.

=dave=
N102FM
 
Congratulations and well done. It is just such an awesome feeling, isn't it!!
And it keeps on.........
Johan
 
The 10 is a massive project and something to be really proud of. Soon you will be building flying memories with that family of yours. :)

Sincerest congratulations!!!

Vic
 
Joe, it is great to hear you are flying now. I am another one who has been following your build and using your log to help me! Congratulations and have a great time with the 40 - then off you go!
 
Awesome! Congratulations.

I've followed your build log and copied several of your ideas. It is very motivating to feel the excitement and accomplishment in your post. It gives those of us still building the energy to keep progressing.

Congrats again and enjoy YOUR airplane.
 
Thank you

Thanks everybody for the nice comments. Glad to hear my log has been helpful to some of you. So many other builder's logs have been helpful to me, I'm glad I can add to the repository.

Andrew and Dennis Crider (RV12 builders at CJR) were there on Sunday and graciously took some really nice pictures of the event. They are shared in a public google drive folder here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BzOT781RMdOtbDl0eDYxcjZTUTQ
 
Congratulations Joe, wondering what kind of settings you had for your engine break-in and how you are managing that, by egt, or full rich/power, or...?
 
Congrats, Joe

I'm a few years behind you :eek:

Paraphrasing Vlad when he was at my house talking to wife Lorri about how to get this thing finished and out of her basement:

Tell him not to bother with paint or interior until after it's flying. Just get on with assembly.

I see you opted for fly-now, paint-later. Can't see your interior appointments. Did you decide on white primer of the canopy top? How soon do you think you'll paint?

When you finish phase one, come over this way and get some grass stains on the wheel pants. You will be fitting wheel pants, right? :D
 
Congratulations Joe, wondering what kind of settings you had for your engine break-in and how you are managing that, by egt, or full rich/power, or...?

My plan was to climb full power to 3000', then dial back to 2400 and reduce MAP to make 75%, lean but stay rich for cooling, and fly around like that for an hour, maybe decreasing power to 65% after 30 minutes. Then slow to approach speed (but not stall), verify flaps will deploy, and then head home. .... Almost none of the above!

Looking back I figure I made about a dozen errors, including missing checklist items! (Really? How do you look at a checklist and miss items ??). Dummy. But I did do some things right, too, especially when surprised with the flaps not deploying. Low and slow with a 5000' runway, I didn't even consider debugging the flaps until on the ground.

Probably the best first flight ever!! Suds
If only! But hopefully with the first flight jitters out of the way, I'll do better on the second. My plan for flight #2 is identical to flight #1. We'll see if I can do it right next time.
 
...
I see you opted for fly-now, paint-later. Can't see your interior appointments. Did you decide on white primer of the canopy top? How soon do you think you'll paint?

When you finish phase one, come over this way and get some grass stains on the wheel pants. You will be fitting wheel pants, right? :D

Interior looks OK, but still needs some work to pretty it up. No idea when I'll paint. I tend to be a one-thing-at-a-time kind of guy. When I finish phase 1, I'll start thinking about paint. I only know I won't be painting it myself. I HATE painting ... Actually it's not so much the painting I hate. It's the prep and cleanup. ... 6 hours of prep, 20 minutes painting, 2 hours of cleanup - not counting the paint you get in your hair and up your nose (did I write that out loud?). No thanks!

The white primer on the top is Stewart Systems EkoPrime.

I have the wheel pants done, and am now looking forward to a visit to your strip. Thanks for the invite!
 
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Thanks for the details.

I will look into EkoPrime.

What app did you use to generate that handsome build log? Couldn't find any trademark info on the pages to clue me in...
 
Congratulations

Congratulations Joe....been a while since we were in contact and in between you done went and finished your airplane!!! Great job! :D
 
Joe, I noticed in your build log that when Lycoming SB632 was complied with, no torque 'hold-down' plates appear to be used as the cylinders were removed. Looks like all 6 cylinders were off at the same time. When should those be used?

I'm not a mechanic and was, more or less, one of those dancing organ-grinder monkeys. I held things and got things and danced when asked. I also asked a lot of questions of them, generally consuming their time. Of the three guys who were there with me, two are A&Ps and the third will be soon. In fact one of the guys was Dick Koehler who does Hints for Homebuilder videos for EAA ... I actually asked him about the torque plate and he explained that it was used when you split the case and he took a good 10 minutes explaining exactly what it was for and why one uses it. It was a great learning experience for me. .... Anyway, I decided I would trust those guys who had open manuals and a plan between them of what they were doing and about 120 years of airplane mechanic experience between them. Can't say how grateful I am for the time those guys spent with me.

That's the best answer I can give.
 
Congratulations Joe...and family!

Congratulations on your first flight Joe...and family! I've monitored your build log and liked the placards!!


vj
 
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