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What did you do with your RV this weekend (4/24/20 - 4/26/20)

airguy

Unrepentant fanboy
Sponsor
Qualified for the "Iron-butt" award on Friday.

I had a bit of a cross-country that needed to happen, my uncles 172 needed to be transported down to Jesse Saint's place for a new Dynon panel install. Friday was the day for good VFR all the way (or mostly good, as it turned out) so we saddled up and pushed. He took off about 6:45 am from our west Texas private strip and headed east, and I took off about 8 am and caught up with him at his second fuel stop in Hammond Louisiana. I had a great tailwind at 17,000 on the way there. Notice fuel quantity and range to empty in this shot. Gotta love it! :D

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Another entry for the 200-knot club...

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From there we stayed together at 120 knots TAS through the Eglin AFB east-west transition just off the coast, and on into Florida for another splash-and-dash for him at 40J.

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At this point the weather was deteriorating and ceilings were down to 2000-1400, still VFR but not by much. We took off and headed south into X35 and the ceiling was down around 1200 but we didn't care at that point. We planned to spend the night and go back in my plane tomorrow - and that's where things went off the rails.

We got Jesse mostly lined out on the airplane for what we wanted and got it tucked back into his hangar, but by that point both our phones were blowing up with people back home - "Grandma is dying, it's time for the family to gather, ya'll need to come back ASAP." So what does ASAP mean? Spend the night here, and come back first thing in the morning? No - apparently it meant like NOW, this could be it very quickly.

So we cancelled the hotel room, fueled up my airplane, filed IFR for New Orleans and departed, figuring we would at least be closer and we could reassess on the phone from there. IMC departure and broke into the clear about 4700' or so, then a visual into KMSY about a half hour after dark. Fuel up, grab some shrimp and gumbo, phone calls said we better keep going, so filed IFR and departed for San Angelo. This is where we started paying for our sins of the tailwind earlier, and the shrimp in our bellies - we fought headwinds of 40 and 50 knots almost the entire way from New Orleans to San Angelo, good thing I took on plenty reserve fuel in New Orleans!

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Finally arrived KSJT about 1:40 AM, after flying more than 2,000 miles. It was an 18 hour day for me with 14.9 of it airborne. Texas to Florida and back - I love this airplane!

I don't say it often, but I have had enough flying for a few days.
 
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Poppys

Took a little oil-stir flight out to see the wild flowers in the SoCal desert:
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and

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Then we decided to fly over to Santa Paula (kszp) for fuel and were pleasantly
surprised:

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-Marc
 
what's happening here??

Don't you just hate it when you're flying along, minding your own business and out of nowhere, an upside-down mountain falls out of the clouds behind you?? :D

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A friend and I both just finished our Annual Condition Inspections and each flew his own RV-12 in loose formation flight for 2-hour cross country. We practiced good social distancing and never got closer that ¼ mile. Beautiful weather / nice flying / no squawks. Excellent visibility with entire country shut down and no pollution being generated. Bought 93E10 fuel at Costco for $1.55. :D
 
Left my airplane, thankfully a new friend is keeping her safe in his hangar. The swirling T-storm was unpredictable enough I wasn?t comfortable, I was also on a time crunch to make it back for work. I felt the links of the chain coming together, hung my head and drove home in a borrowed car. Thank goodness for great people!
 
Flew New to me RV-9 home 2600 miles!

Left Yakima Friday morning with my new to me RV-9A. I had 20 minutes in it before leaving. Great airplane. WX over the Rockies not good enough to fly direct so I went down the west side of the Cascades through Salt Lake, then finally Moriarty, NM just east of Albuquerque. Crashed for the night and off across the high desert and stopped finally at SC76, home grass field in Lancaster, SC. Had at times 236 mph over the ground south of Memphis getting the push from the low to the north. I flew most of the trip at 12,500 ft, but had to go to 13,500 to get over some build ups flying over the top of the Altanta Class B. I have never had such a great xcountry airplane as this, IO-320, 160 hp, Still climbs at 500 fpm at 13000'. Amazing. I averaged just under 8 gph at 190mph true airspeed at 12,500. I have helped build at RV-7, helped build a Sonex-Onex and did build a Sonex-Sonex/Covair which has flown to OSH from here three times. It is tight and very altitude limited but it is fun.

The RV-9A is simply astounding, I hate I didn't build it, but I am 76 now and question building vs flying for what years I have left.

Ed Lee
SC76, Lancaster SC
RV-9A
Sonex/Corvair
 
I have never had such a great xcountry airplane as this, IO-320, 160 hp, Still climbs at 500 fpm at 13000'. Amazing. I averaged just under 8 gph at 190mph true airspeed at 12,500...The RV-9A is simply astounding, I hate I didn't build it, but I am 76 now and question building vs flying for what years I have left.
You won't go wrong with the -9. I love mine, apart from it only having 2 seats, it is perfect. Better to buy than build if you want to fly & enjoy it now!
 
1st Engine Run

On Saturday was the day to do the 1st Engine Run. Lots of good vibes about the plane.

Everything went well. I was just a little nervous, but is part of the process, right? :D

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Left Yakima Friday morning with my new to me RV-9A. I had 20 minutes in it before leaving. Great airplane. WX over the Rockies not good enough to fly direct so I went down the west side of the Cascades through Salt Lake, then finally Moriarty, NM just east of Albuquerque. Crashed for the night and off across the high desert and stopped finally at SC76, home grass field in Lancaster, SC. Had at times 236 mph over the ground south of Memphis getting the push from the low to the north. I flew most of the trip at 12,500 ft, but had to go to 13,500 to get over some build ups flying over the top of the Altanta Class B. I have never had such a great xcountry airplane as this, IO-320, 160 hp, Still climbs at 500 fpm at 13000'. Amazing. I averaged just under 8 gph at 190mph true airspeed at 12,500. I have helped build at RV-7, helped build a Sonex-Onex and did build a Sonex-Sonex/Covair which has flown to OSH from here three times. It is tight and very altitude limited but it is fun.

The RV-9A is simply astounding, I hate I didn't build it, but I am 76 now and question building vs flying for what years I have left.

Ed Lee
SC76, Lancaster SC
RV-9A
Sonex/Corvair
Ed how about some pictures of your new magic carpet?
 
Sunday(4/26) I had a twofer. I did a Pilots n Paws mission & was rewarded with an entry into the 200kt club. Direct to Tallahassee, I paid the price going northbound, but got it back southbound on the same winds as the OP.

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New Pin in the map, err...chart.

Updated my Grass Currency. [ed. Bruce, picture no show. v/r,dr]

iTfHmtXwFdzFKDU-bHzjXwpA_UiOZuEhYNTdgYA2-JJSiq0ORoc6cQ1wLd0lduyqS61bvUv0M7bJ2CMrrnK5jrOTkjrqUjOa8aiEn6Q--FkzBymBCnrfBGlZcIFDA_wcp7gOjvaKTJmEoRLtFQGUPFbzUD4PPXOX2f5sB5EgrRDwq4UskkXLgQuS_-vZfK4fciVXkH_4zKuK79a91t4jfzBzAwbELY7M8FcVNlh7ucJNCStX7CEXiOnsCRBhcWUA1jKbK74bWc5gPsy3hNWDhNSL7yw52If7_IfhNbcFADywWUuiiuPdhu_RQGemp0y0zO0_FPIgSXF5BfJSakev68DqffpenunMH6NbpNRX1zducyG5CAmaJJ0OrbPoxh_j-oayqNzZeUOfCmg5VOlOClF_zBMaplI1izsctduk9q2kZlROOZ2-K0eqUVs4QVpb-tY8Kcj-UoPzgLj_UcSdnF3DDoMfyBfsB-vS8DqZyquQsPhAOmWuYre86WlpWqA-ilfdmuDn8I2B_PTWOBfxpXKRMDVearEonsjkCT4cX2SvKSN6VTSGBUTERG57EtDX3JIEZKnZa-CSAeHvYthPLAM5AlRDHDdYJE0pwq4hK4mTsrXlABOcyv0FqCNkitaKn-bJgsKKNtq47CpYlhuFAJQ0ScZjvj7cBQoowQv9_f-ulnVvPqxhz23C-hfJ=w887-h969-no
 
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Made it to Telluride and back. My third time visited very nice place. It would be great to have a new bigger motor :)





 
On Sunday I finally had a chance to fly with two good friends for a local air to air photo sortie as the subject and not the photographer! We all had a blast and I believe that the resulting images speak for themselves...

First off, a "behind the scenes" cellphone shot


All of this recent four-ship RV formation training has paid off!


Next we did a turn over the Great Dismal Swamp


"Stacked up" against some building afternoon clouds


The clouds and setting sun looked absolutely epic..


NAS Oceana and part of the Virginia Beach oceanfront made for a cool backdrop


I sure love my RV, but Mike's Bonanza has an brand new Garmin panel and is the world's best air to air photoship by far!




For anyone interested, Jonathan Derden is an airline pilot and fantastic photographer based in South Carolina - "like, follow, and subscribe" at the links below:
https://www.flickr.com/people/jderden/
https://www.instagram.com/runwayrat/
 
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