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What did you do with your RV this weekend? (1/24-26/2020)

SPX

Well Known Member
Sponsor
How did your building/flying go this weekend?

Friday was a clear day at CRQ, so I gave the boss of my wife a ride in the RV for her 74th birthday. We went southbound along the coast, over Coronado, San Diego Bay, and then reversed course back to CRQ. She mentioned it being nothing like she had imagined, claims it's even better than a massage, and can't wait to go again. She wasn't the greatest passenger, as she would grab onto the stick, and press the rudder pedals occasionally, but she has a blast, so I am not complaining!!

Today was about 1500' OVC, so the options were more limited. My wife and I decided to head south along the coast, over Torrey Pines to see the golfers playing and the crowd watching, then came into Montgomery Field (MYF) for some Mexican food for lunch. After lunch, we headed back north along the coast, and stopped in Oceanside (OKB) for fuel, and for some aerial sightseeing. Shortly thereafter we headed back to the hangar in Carlsbad (CRQ)...

Great weekend, one new RV grin, and two old ones. :D
 
rv

Been busy working on ghost. After 900 hours and buzzing all over three countries... and hundreds of airports and over 120 people getting a ride in my plane..time for updates.

Catto three blade off and sent back for factory refurb
406 elt ordered to replace old 121.5
New front tire, tube and bearing packed
New brake fluid reservoir installed due to cracked mounts
Engine cleaned and spotless like brand new
Panel ripped out and making room for new Dynon skyview hdx for pas side
new Garmin gtx 200b comm with bluetooth
new dynon 2020 waas gps
new dynon transponder to be adsb compliant garmin 327 out and will hope to sell
new dynon 472 box for ads b
Lots of little other stuff on list. Feels good to do a bit of a refurb/update
NOT going to tell the mrs. what i just spent :-( Hurts but its airplane stuff so all good.
I have a lot of work over next couple weeks getting this stuff in and installed but that's the fun of owning an airplane.

2020 is going to be big fly year. Wanted to post a few pics but since tinypic gone, seems like too much trouble.

Blue skies
 
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Headed down to Bermuda Dunes for the local EAA fly-in on Saturday. A very nice turn out of Experimental, Light sport, and Spam cans. My friend Richard showed up in his very nice Skywagon, along with Ted and Cindy Gablin in their RV-7A and this beauty:

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Today (Sunday) we took advantage of the marine layer to hone the IMC skills with an IFR flight to Camarillo for breakfast. Two approaches and lots of time looking at the inside of the clouds. ;-)

(Edit) We learned that there was a fatal rotorwing accident in the area (Calabasas) we flew over on the way to CMA. We sent pics we took to the NTSB as they were looking for "weather witnesses" and pics.

-Marc
 
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The cold snap finally moved on and I was able to get my plane up for 3 flights this week. The first one was a mid week local rust remover (3-1/2 weeks off). Yesterday I went up to Wetaskiwin for the monthly coffee and treats fly in. Not much of a turn out, but those who did show were almost all RVs. Great visit. 30 minute flight home and then I changed out some bad wiring for good stuff. Got my left strobe working again.

Planning a night flight this week with the newly working strobe. All the while dreaming about my IFR upgrades that I hope to do this year.
 
I had set the hook on a new-to-the-RV-world recruit last month with a ride down to Houston for lunch with the D.W. Hooks crowd, and this weekend I gave him another ride down to Houston (La Porte this time) to inspect, buy, pack up, and ship home a partially built 9A kit purchased from Mike Miller.

Please welcome Mike Crowley to the fold, mcrowley screen-name on here, as he ventures into the RV-snobbery we all enjoy.

After that, I proceeded to do major surgery on my engine, installing the SDS system.
 
Deburring

I have the rudder clecoed to the workbench, waiting for the proseal to firm up a bit more before I rivet, it's been a week, but I'll give it a few more days. While waiting I continued deburring all the aft fuse parts, got a bin filling up with parts ready to prime. And waiting for things to warm up a bit so that I can actually get some priming done. Might make a trip to ACS in Brantford soon to pick up some etch and alodine.

Got the right elevator tip taped in place and marked the notch at the trailing edge to cut out of the flange. Then I can belt sand down the TE wedge and get it fitted.

Speaking of weather, it's been bleh here for a while, but I did manage last Thursday to get up in a club 172 for seven touch and goes to keep my currency. I had five weather-related cancellations prior to it clearing up for one day. Now we're back to yuck.
 
Not a whole lot. Friday I got the rudder hung and the stops adjusted for proper travel. About time now to pull the empennage off again so I can get the fuselage back in the rotisserie and be thinking about systems work.

Rest of the weekend was doing projects around the house - specifically stuff for hangar organization. Then I spent most of Sunday at a neighbor's, where they're restoring a Volksplane. Last weekend I helped build the engine, this weekend after we finished the punch list I became designated cockpit monkey for the first engine start.

Mostly I've demurred on the restoration activities since I have my own projects, but the experience with FWF stuff here seemed pretty relevant for the near future of my project.
 
Another Allentown PA trip

IFR on the way up from New Kent International Aerodrome (W96) -- freezing level was high enough to mess around in clouds if needed, although as it turned out we were VMC the whole way, albeit with a touch of rain that left a bit of water in my baggage area like it always does.....

VFR on the way back Sunday -- freezing level wasn't nearly high enough to chance any IMC. But the ceilings were high and stable.

Sometimes the most scenic trips around the Chesapeake Bay area are under a broken or scattered cloud layer:

https://share.icloud.com/photos/05MjKAxbkOkdkAuKf25G0qLbg

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0KufWYZjAg7tp58zmuQwu_uwQ
 
the weather finally cooperated enough for me to get up for the first time this year, Minnesota weather and a CPA's tax season schedule don't align very often.

It's amazing how long even a quick local flight takes in the winter, a half hour flight turns into 2+ hours pretty quick:

Drive to airport - 15 min
Chip ice and shovel snow from hangar door - 30 min
Pre-flight, load, and taxi - 10 min
flight time - 40 min
taxi put plane away - 15 min
honey, can you please stop at the grocery store for dinner - 20 min
drive home - 15 min

counting down the days to warm weather and more flying.
 
Installed and sealed the right fuel tank sender (Thx Van's for sending me a replacement after the original gave open circuit readings in the middle of travel), waited a few days then tested for leaks. Absolutely none. zero. zilch. Did the balloon & soapy water test. Second time lucky as I adopted my learnings from trying to seal the left tank!
 
Bermuda Dunes

I was there with my Wittman Tailwind. The only EAB that was REALLY standout was that orange RV4 with the flames. A lot of custom, very innovative details that many would not even notice.
There were at least two, maybe three other 4's there. The orange RV4 was not quite Oshkosh Grand Champion quality but the paint just grabs you attention.
The Thermal Chapter that hosted the Fly In were great as were the FBO staff. I will go again next year.
 
Drizzle and freezing rain for us!

Weather here in Michigan was not flyable this weekend plus there is a snow drift in front of my hangar at least 3? deep! Just didn?t want to face moving it by hand and couldn?t find a plow available. I was able to get the service door open so spent some time changing out the ?e? battery and doing a through fwf inspection, didn?t find anything. Looks like Wednesday and Thursday might be better.
 
Loaded up the RV with lots of Lake Cabin supplies and headed south for sunshine and warmer temps. My first weekend (Mon/Tues) in months without OT, Lil' dude called in sick from pre-school to join me.....

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I was able to eek out some pretty decent numbers out of the RV on the way down, usually mixture/throttle and LOP with my carb yield 5-8 knts slower.

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All the stuff from the baggage compartment in the back of the airport car.

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We quickly unloaded, grabbed my golf clubs and headed to the course. Mid 50's and just a 3-4 knots of wind made for a great day for my first golf game this year, we managed to snag the "after 2 pm" special and still get 18 holes in. I only lost 3 balls and scored way less the my goal of double par.....

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We managed to tuck the RV away in a borrowed hangar after golf at dusk.

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Fishing in shorts and a T-shirt the next day, not a single bite but we did lose several worms.

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Wx forecast was spot on, we almost caught the sunset shooting the approach above the overcast layer just before the temps dropped to make icing a factor.

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I didn't load the GPS correctly for the straight-in approach and ended up doing the procedure turn.

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Goodbye sunshine and hello dreariness......

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Took a colleague for his first small airplane flight. Our planned lunch in the Hunter Valley was interrupted by a wall of weather North of Sydney, so we turned around and said, "Hi!" to Kevin and Eddie at Wedderburn instead.

His second flight was close formation wingovers and some combat combat trail.

At the end of his third flight, after having returned home, he departed my hangar and checked in at the flying school across the street to see about booking some lessons. Hook, line and sinker :)

On Monday (long weekend) I fitted a Kroger sunshade and replaced the tip-up gas struts. Another couple of odd jobs crossed off.

- mark
 
Imperial Valley

It's nice to be able to use the plane in some work related activities. The
Imperial Valley in California's south east is one of the most fertile
ag areas in the US. Also, home to many future rib-eyes. Feeding
those is part of what we do....

Imperial%20Valley%20Recon-L.jpg
 
Pretty area indeed Tom. I have been there several times through the years. Very nice thanks for sharing.
 
Lunch flight to KMZJ

We (FINALLY) finished installing a new prop cable on N174RT about noon on Sunday. Sandy and I were both ready for lunch so we flew to Marana (KMZJ) for a nice meal. Fuel stop at Ak-Chin (A39) on the way back to P01. Brought home the last three slices of apple pie they had.*YUM!

Regard,
 
That Look!

Fishing in shorts and a T-shirt the next day, not a single bite but we did lose several worms.

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I've seen this look before on his sister's face. I think the fish were just plain afraid of his determination!

Great getaway Andy!
 
Pete,
This was the first trip I had to wrap it up before he was done, not bad for a 4 year old. Not once did I hear he was ready to go home on the golf course, as I was gathering up fishing gear to call it a day he tried to stop me because “we haven’t Fished over there yet.”
His sisters do enjoy flying and the RV, but not at the same level. Hardly a week goes by that he doesn’t badger me about taking him flying again, makes me smile every time. I have high hopes that 1 or more of my daughters will pursue an interest in flying, We’ll see.

Lil’ Dude when he’s not pestering me to take him flying.......

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