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First Flight N242BD

douglassmt

Well Known Member
N242BD had a successful first flight this morning, launching at first light on a cold (13F), beautiful Montana morning. Flight went well, a few minor squawks. Engine ran great, no high temps probably thanks to the cold ambient OAT and the oil cooler valve. Thanks to all who have helped, I'll be making sure to thank you personally. Wow, what an airplane - thanks to Van's for such a great product.

I started July 1, 2009, Serial Number 40084. I'll get pictures up sometime soon.
 
Another flying -10

Congrats on the first flight to a fellow NW pilot. Warning: Distances may appear shorter than you are used to.
 
Wahoo!

Congrats Bryan! Now we have to get flying together. When is that three forks race again??? Maybe with three RV-10's I won't come in last. Last year I came in 2nd, which was last.
 
Congrats Bryan!

You're keeping me motivated to get'er done.....

I think the RV-10 area will be growing again this year at OSH.

bob
 
Great accomlishment!

Congratulations Bryan,

completing and flying your own airplane is a major accomlishment indeed.
 
Great job

Run it hard! Wait until you get some pants on, then you will really like those numbers. It is a fun time trying to slow it down coming into the pattern...start way out. Enjoy, be safe and look forward to meeting you at a gathering someday.
 
Thanks all

Thanks all for the kind words. You can count on seeing me at as many places and gatherings as I can get to. A friend of mine says he's at the stage of life where he is "selling stock and buying jet fuel" (he has a Falcon). I can now relate - and join in - although I'll be buying a lot fewer pounds than he is thanks to the efficiency of the RV.

One of the neatest things about the first flight was how much of my training with the famous Mike Seager came back, even though it had been 5 months, and I hadn't done much flying of anything in the meantime. It was all very comfortable flying and landing. Thanks to Mike for the great training - I'll be back for refresher training soon. I'd recommend it to everyone.
 
Video

I got the whole flight on a HD 170 Stealth cockpit cam, looking over my shoulder with a view of the panel and out the windscreen, but I am officially ignorant of how to edit/condense it to a usable size. If anyone can tell me the easiest program to use for editing these .mov files, I would appreciate it. I did the whole flight on the sly (didn't even tell the wife so she didn't worry her pretty little head) so I didn't have anyone set up to video from the ground or a chase plane. I'll get some plane pics soon and put them up and if I can get the video edited, I'll put that up too.
 
Great news Brian.
re: editing I use Power Director and Adobe Premier Pro CS5 but they are both paid programs. I once liked Windows Movie Maker for fast & easy (free) editing but MS moved over to Windows Movie Maker Live which has lost a lot of functionality (still free). That being said it's relatively easy to use for basic stuff and as I recall easy to upload to YouTube.
Good luck,
Robin
 
.mov

I have Windows Movie Maker on my computer but it won't open .mov files, which is the only format the HD170 produces. Also, for those hoping to use a HD170 to record both video and cockpit intercom/radio audio, I got their external cord for plugging the headset into and the intercom audio is so garbled as to be unintelligble. I've sent off a request to the company for help, but I wouldn't recommend one at this time if you want these features. Video seems to be fine if you can edit the .mov files.
 
Yep

She was the first to know, via text, after landing. She took it pretty well as she was pretty overwhelmed with work related stuff that day so she understood my desire to not distract her...once again proving herself to be a great RV wife! Boy do I owe her a lot of trips in this thing!
 
Mine too.

Congratulations for sure, Bryan.

My wife enjoyed our day trips in the -6A so much for several years, that she suggested getting a -10 to take family and friends with us.:)

She's a retired Naval officer, so she deserves her 'personal pilot' to destinations she chooses.;)...it's definitely a marriage enhancer!

Here we're visitng an old friend of hers in Summerville, S.C....she's the taller lady:

Jennynancy.jpg


Best,
 
Your fault

Pierre -

You may not remember our correspondence, but N777SW was the first RV of any kind I ever saw, at a beach party on Flathead Lake when I was still a student pilot about 4 years ago. It made an impression as the fastest and hottest looking plane at the flyin. Not long after, I started looking into building and googled RV-10s only to get a great pic of Scott Schmidt's plane, which remained as my computer wallpaper for many months. I even contacted the builders of your -10 and went up to look her over, just before you bought her. I've followed your journeys with the -10 as well as Scott's and you both need to know that part of this is YOUR FAULT! :)
 
Fantastic!!!!!!

Bryan,

That is awesome. After meeting you at Wally's Quickbuild class I suspected you would be the first one done. Congratulations!!!!!!

Scott
 
Pierre -

You may not remember our correspondence, but N777SW was the first RV of any kind I ever saw, at a beach party on Flathead Lake when I was still a student pilot about 4 years ago. It made an impression as the fastest and hottest looking plane at the flyin. Not long after, I started looking into building and googled RV-10s only to get a great pic of Scott Schmidt's plane, which remained as my computer wallpaper for many months. I even contacted the builders of your -10 and went up to look her over, just before you bought her. I've followed your journeys with the -10 as well as Scott's and you both need to know that part of this is YOUR FAULT! :)

Now that is something I don't mind being blamed for!
 
Crude First Flight Video

Here are some clips of the first flight video, my first attempt at video editing. I took it with a Drift 170 Stealth cam mounted to the overhead console (Aerosport Products!). I condensed over 55 minutes of 1080P video to this. I tried to get the accessory cord to work so the audio would include cockpit intercom and radio, but it isn't working yet, so all you get is engine noise (which ain't all bad). I think I'll get the intercom plug in to work before the next flight.

This was really helpful - in watching the entire video I noticed several things that I did not notice during the flight. Case in point, watch my throttle just after takeoff - it slides slowly backward. So one squawk was a loose friction lock on the quadrant (now fixed). I noticed it on the prop lever later in the flight but didn't see that the throttle was slipping until watching the video. If anyone is interested I can post pics of the camera and mount. I would like to try to isolate the cam from the airframe a little better so the engine noise is a little less annoying. The roar on takeoff was about right though :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaK-eomjpr0&feature=youtu.be

Next time I'll record in 720P and get the 170 degree view, which should be pretty cool and produce smaller files to edit.
 
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Bryan,

Congrats on your firstflight. I have been looking at the pics of your plane on the EAA 517 Chapter web site, very nice.
If possible I would like to find out who did your paint on your plane as I am getting to that point with mine. Happy flying that new machine!

Jerry Turner
Stevensville,MT
406-880-0960

RV-9A (Finishing up all those fiberglass parts):eek:
 
Bryan,
Congratulations. I really like the non-standard instrument panel. Is it after-market or did you build it?
Mike
#41000 (in progress)
Irving, Tx
 
Aerosport Products

It's a symmetrical panel by Aerosport Products. My plane is full of Geoff's stuff. All carbon fiber.
 
Bryan----cool video. All of you guys are really making me jealous with all the cool RV's. Guess I'm just going to have to take the plunge.
Tom
 
Door gap

Sure enough, there is a slight, very slight gap in that door that is about an inch long or so. I didn't even notice it until Bill pointed it out. I can just slide a 3x5 notecard through it and you can only see it at exactly the angle the camera was at. Good catch. The doors don't flex at all at that point, even pushing as hard as I can from inside and out. I was able to close the gap by moving the McMaster Carr seal a little bit. I'll maybe get a door seal with a larger bulb for that section. Maybe not. Either way, thanks for noticing and caring enough to let me know.




Bryan,
Cool video. Did you notice the air gap in the top front corner of the right door?
Bill
 
I noticed when you were flying that the gap did not change, so it is not door flex. Maybe just build up the edge where the seal attaches, just a little thickened epoxy should do......
Bill
 
Pictures

I finally got some pants on the girl. Just didn't seem right putting pictures of a girl on the internet without her pants on. Plus some screen shots (sorry some are blurry) of the EFIS in the first flight with pants.
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Hope I got the picture posting procedure right.

Wow, do those pants make a difference. 28 hours and counting on the hobbs.
 
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