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My trans-atlantic RV-8 odyssey

Mark Albery

Well Known Member
Last Saturday I completed a 7,000 nm, 19 day trip from Los Angeles to Oxfordshire, England in my RV-8.
Having completed 4 years working in the Tesla Motors design studio in Hawthorne CA, it was time to move on and go home.

I delayed the departure to take in Sun'n Fun and continued via Canada, Greenland and Iceland to the UK.

I'll write up some more detail soon, when I've finished all the moving tasks.

A selection of pictures from the trip are at http://s157.photobucket.com/user/alberym/library/LA to UK by RV8?sort=9&page=1

The route followed is shown on http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=khhr-k...-birk-bieg-egpc-egna-egtn&DU=nm&SG=150&SU=kts

A few words of thanks:

Russ Madden at Denton TX for his RV hotel for me and my RV.

Mike and Judy Ballard who built and sold me my RV-8 and entertained me on my stop at 7A3 Alabama.

Smitty, Mary-Jane and the HBC crew at SNF for their excellent hosting.

All the others en-route who helped me and showed hospitality to make the trip even more special.
 
Trip

Nice meeting and talking to you at S n F. I'm the guy in the Tilly hat with the USAF Master Aircrew Wings on the front. I thought I was in one of your photos till I got home and looked at the photos on the big computer!

Can't wait to read your trip report!:)
 
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This is awesome. Congrats.

Details, details, details.....please work on the trip report as soon as you get settled.


Hey Turbo, did you see this one? :D
 
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Awesome... is not enough to say... Congratulations as well.

I'm coming to London on May5-9 landing at Luton then staying downtown London all for work. Did you forget anything in the US you would like me to bring for. I know not much lead time. I am located and will be departing from the NYC area.
 
Preparations

OK, you've pursuaded me.
I'll start with a bit about the preparations.

I'd had this trip in mind for a couple of years. I even bought the RV-8 to replace my previous RV-4 as a more versatile platform for the journey.

The 'Crimson Route' was established in WW2 when Ltnt Jack Crowell surveyed Baffin Island for a site for an airfield that would allow shorter range aircraft to get to the European theatre in 4-500 mile stages, together with Sondre Stromfjord in Greenland. These are now civil airfields and provide a route for shorter range aircraft to cross without a requirement for HF radio.

The critical leg for fuel planning purposes is the crossing of Greenland from West to East over the ice-cap. This is 380nm on my planned route, but there is only one usable airfield on the East of Greenland and a diversion would add another 350nm to the trip, add contingencies for winds and IFR reserves and I settled for a planned endurance of 7 hours at 150 KTAS, to give me a comfort factor.
In principle, the 42 galls standard fuel would be OK, but to get my 'comfort factor' I added a 10 gallon fuel cell in the front locker. I spoke to Jon Johannson about this and he agreed with my plan to plumb this directly into the spare inlet of the Vans fuel valve and vent it at the bottom of the firewall.

Equipment required was partly dictated by the various national regulations and supplemented by my personal choices. For the trip, I had:
Single place Beaufort Liferaft
Life Jacket
Immersion suit
Insulated swimming suit
406MHz ELT
PLB
Hand held radio
Delorme InReach satellite tracker and messenger
First Aid kit
Axe, folding saw and knife
Aerial flares, laser flare, Day/night hand flare
Flourescin
Stove, billy cans, water, waterproof matches, candles, string, compass, foil blanket, water purifying tablets, insect repellent, bear spray, emergency water pouches.
Tent, sleeping bag and thermarest (as used at Sun'n Fun)
oxygen bottles (9 & 6 cu ft) and canula
Oxymeter
3000 calories worth of snacks
Travel Johns
2 5 gallon fuel jugs

In addition to my personal luggage and charts etc.

Charts:
US is nicely covered by Foreflight with backup WACs and a TAC for the Hudson River route.
Canada, I used the VNCs plus IFR charts and electronic plates from fltplan.com
Greenland has no official VFR charts, so I got hold of some ONC/TNC charts
Iceland has a very expensive VFR chart from their CAA.
UK I used the new one millionth VFR chart that covers the whole UK.
EuroFPL provide PDF sets of European plates and some charts for a small subscription.
I bought the Jeppesen Europe nav data for the GRT EFIS and a world database for my Garmin 695.

Most valuable planning was talking to and reading reports from several people who had been that way before. The overwelming emphasis was; don't take chances with the weather, carry sufficient fuel for all contingencies, make sure everything is working properly before heading for the Arctic!
Bad weather and fuel planning claims many more victims than mechanical failures.
Avoiding known icing conditions is a big part of the weather planning.

Overflight and landing permissions:
With an experimental, you don't have an automatic right to fly anywhere outside the USA. Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas have free and simple procedures, but beyond that requires specific application and payment of fees.
Denmark will authorise flight through Greenland and the Faeroe Islands.
Iceland and the UK provide time limited authorisations.
All of these require liability cover of 1.5M SDRs ( about $2.5M)
That insurance is very difficult to obtain in the USA so I got it eventually from a UK broker - Trafford's. That also included the SAR cover required by Greenland and Iceland.
You need to present evidence of that insurance when applying for landing permissions.

That's all for now. I'll be back soon with more about the trip itself.
 
Mark,
Congratulations! What a brilliant experience that must have been. I remember talking with you about this trip at SNF then forgot all about it until I saw your post. Hope to see you again some day!
 
Wow

Keep the information coming. Amazing what these little planes can do with the right people in them!

Thanks so much for sharing with us.
 
the farther you fly the smaller the world seems. get out there and go somewhere to stretch your boundaries. good advice, wait for good wx and have plenty of fuel reserves. crossing the pond and earth rounders are a special breed. ps, i dont think rosie likes diving in a dry suit. ;)
 
Leaving L.A.

The journey started for real on Monday 8th April.

My apartment was empty and the keys handed back to the landlord, aircraft loaded up and car delivered. Fellow RV pilot, Scott, picked me up and delivered me to Hawthorne airport.

Strong, gusty conditions were present over most of CA & AZ. Checking the PIREPs, I abandoned my plan for lunch at Sedona and refiled further south to Carlsbad NM. This was a distance of 720 nm, so a good check out of all systems including the, now full, auxilliary tank. Climbing to 15000' I was getting an amazing tailwind, 85 knots from the west was giving me ground speeds up to 240 kts. I took some pictures for proof of membership in the 200 knot club.
Some light chop, but generally a good ride. Crossing Arizona encoutered some quite strong wave and got an altitude block assigned, so didn't have to fight the 1000+ fpm up and down excursions quite as much.

Carlsbad was chosen for its choice of runways in still windy conditions. The tailwinds meant that I'd arrived in about 3.7 hours and only used 26 gallons!
Quick lunch stop, refuel and on to Texas. I havn't used the RV hotel before, but this time I'd contacted Russ Madden at Denton, and he'd offered me a room for the night. I arrived at Denton, near Dallas, just after dark. Russ met me, got the RV hangared and took me to his apartment over his HVAC business nearby.
So over 1000 nm on the first day, great support from the RV community and a good start to the journey.

Next stop was Lanett AL where I had bought N713MB 2 years ago. Mike and Judy Ballard had been persuaded to sell me their beautiful RV-8 and I'd got on very well with them at the time and had occasionally kept in touch. Mike had been recovering from major surgery, but met me at Lanett and took me in for the night and spent much time talking about the trip and planning. I knew they would be tracking my progress all the way home.

I was still getting used to the satellite tracker. We sorted out a bluetooth contention issue and proved to Mike that the tracking, email and text messages all worked in flight, very useful. The tracking message sight is on http://share.delorme.com/MarkAlbery and let me communicate in flight from my Ipad.

Next morning was a relatively short run to Sun'n Fun in good weather. A quiet Lake Parker arrival and taxy round to HBC to be greeted with a big hug from Mary-Jane. Regulars at homebuilt camping will know what I mean. It's like coming home when you arrive -great bunch.

More later.
 
Hi Mark,

I'm glad to hear you made it home. It was nice meeting you at SNF and I look forward to the rest of the story! :D
 
Wondering if/how you did preheat for overnights? Looks like a great trip, one that I have thought about doing for a long time. Maybe eventually....

Greg
 
You're like a modern day Ernest Gann! This reminds me of Fate is the Hunter--one of my favorite books.
 
My trans-atlantic RV-8 odyssey Welcome, Try2Fly. You last visited: Yesterday at 07:43

Awesome!!! Do those HUGE brass ones of yours ever create any W&B problems?

+3

You must have a bladder to match!!

Juan
 
Congratulations!

Congratulations to Mark on this amazing feat.
Having built 713MB I was somewhat apprehensive when Mark informed us that she would be flying the North Atlantic route to the UK. When Mark visited us enroute I questioned all his planning and prep work and he convinced me that he had done due diligence in all areas,,,still..Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, England. We checked out his sat tracker and needless to say I followed every 10 min spot report the entire time. Even called the FBO in Iceland when I missed one spot report near the airport and they told me Mark had already gone to his hotel. Guess I was just a mother thinking of her baby.

Not sure but think this a first for an experimental RV8.

Thanks for the photos and writeups.

Mike Ballard
(recovering from open heart surgery) no RV at present
 
Lakeland to the Arctic

Thanks for all the replies.
Ernie Gann didn't have 4GPSs, autopilot, accurate charts and forecasts. A real 'gentleman of adventure' and his voyages to the Arctic were a great inspiration.
Greg -I managed pretty well without pre- heating, no worse than -6c. I did have offers of help, if needed.
Mike - It was great to be able to talk through my planning with you. Your fine workmanship served me well.

SNF was a nice break and a good opportunity to catch up with old friends. News of my trip seemed to have gone ahead of me and was a regular topic of conversation. My aircraft had been featured on this years SNF poster and when the organisers caught up with me, I got sent out with their photographer to be put on their Facebook feed. I also got asked to sign several copies of the poster. What's it like to be famous.

A few frontal systems had been moving across the east coast and had hampered many people's efforts to get to or from the event. A good opening presented itself on the Sunday, nicely coinciding with my planned departure. I had a good run up to St Simon's Island, but the weather was catching up, so a quick refuel and up to First Flight Airport at Kill Devil Hills and the obligatory photo with the Wright's monument behind. A quick tour of the site and museum, a late lunch and a short hop to Williamsburg for the night stop.

Up early, I devoted the morning to a visit to Colonial Williamsburg. Very interesting and well presented, i could have spent all day there. The next leg was to take me to Bangor ME. I'd got the NY TAC at Lakeland and studied the Hudson River corridor. Dropping down to 1200', I routed in by the Verzani Bridge, aimed for the east bank and headed along the corridor, taking photos, making reports, swivelling for traffic while getting assorted alerts for traffic/obstacle/terrain piping through the intercom. Shouting 'I know, I know!' at the intercom didn't help much, but carry on regardless.

I passed Boston just after the dreadful bombing, but was not aware of anything till later. Then with Bangor less than 100 miles away there was an attention-getting change in exhaust note, shortly followed by a CO alarm.Closing the heater and opening the cabin vent. I alerted cente
re to the situation and picked Sanford ME as a close and promising diversion. Exhaust backfiring as power was reduced seemed to confirm a likely exhaust leak.

Too late to get hold of a mechanic, I left any uncowling and diagnosis for the morning and checked in to the nearest hotel. Next morning, it became apparent that the #2 exhaust stack had failed just below the pipe to flange weld. Discussing this with the mechanic, and in view of where I was heading, we decided to overnight the stack to Clint at Vetterman's for repair and reinforcement with extra gussets. The FBO at Sanford couldn't have been more helpful, letting me use the crew car hfor 3 days. The Miane coast wasn't the worst place in the world to be stranded, and the lobster was delicious. Keenebunk and Ogunquit were rather quiet this early, but it was a pleasant area to pass some time.
The repaired stack arrived back on the Friday and was quickly replaced, getting me finally on my way to Bangor.

I stopped overnight at Bangor to get the paperwork sorted with the brokers for exporting the RV. My next planned stop was to be Sept Iles QC, but the delay meant that CANPASS wouldn't be available at weekends, so I replanned for Moncton. Eapis filed and a smooth clearance through CBP. An earlier front had just cleared BGR so I delayed to avoid catching it up. I didn't quite time it right, to arrive with 1000' ceilings and rain for the first instrument approach of the trip so far. After all that, nobody came out to me and I got my CANPASS clearance by phone. The weather was just starting to clear then so depart to the north for Sept Iles on the north bank of the Hudson River.

Temperatures steadily dropping and terrain becoming wild and unpopulated, I set off for Schefferville in Northern Quebec. There was practically no sign of civilisation until passing Labrador city and Wabush airport. Another hour in the wilderness and some mine workings pointed to arriving at Schefferville.

Next shock, after asking both local fuel suppliers, it seemed that Avgas was unavailable, contrary to their entry in the CFS. Plan B was enacted, and I got 10 gallons of unleaded Mogas to give me a safe reserve for the next leg. Thanks to Ky, a local pilot, for ferrying me to the gas station. As I was about to leave, I was informed that Avgas was available, but only in 50 gallon drums.

Time now to don immersion suit and lifejacket, as the leg to Baffin Island would mean 100 miles crossing the Hudson Strait. The strait was still 99% frozen, making a potential ditching an interesting proposition. Weather was generally good with Iqaluit giving 2500 broken in light snow. Temperatures en-route at 9500' were around -18c, which was beyond the capacity of the -8's heating system, making it good to get on the ground. It was an easy visual descent across a solidly frozen Frobisher Bay and landing at Iqaluit Airport.

This was the Arctic for real! Starting to be a real adventure!

To be continued...
 
Across the Arctic

Next morning I checked the onward weather to see forecasts of IFR conditions at my next planned stop and alternates on the West of Greenland. The weather at Iqaluit though was cold and clear. Good excuse for a rest day and prepare for the next leg.
Avgas at Iqaluit is sold by the 50 gallon drum. You have to by the whole drum, at $310, but any you haven't used after a few weeks is 'disposed of'. I filled all tanks and two 5 gallon jugs used for emergency fuelling, leaving about 10 galls to support the local economy.
The RV was attracting a fair bit of attention as I ventured north, and a chap came over to see me as I was going over the aircraft. Wes turned out to be the chief pilot of Air Nunavut. He was enthusiastic about my trip and had lots of good advice based on his 30,000 hrs flying in the Arctic, even affirming this to be a good time for clear weather before the sea warms with the threat of rapid fog formation. He also offered the use of their hangar to de-ice, if needed, before departure; something usually prohibitively expensive to do commercially.
Fortunately, I only had a dusting of dry snow to deal with and that wasn't needed. Wes also asked one of his King-air pilots to give me a guided tour of Iqaluit. Calvin is a keen young pilot, really interested in the RV, and spending a few years in the Arctic progressing his career and really loving the kind of flying they get to do.
Next day came with much better forecasts, so I filed for BGJN Ilulissat in Greenland. Formerly known by its Danish name of Jakobshavn, this was one place that I was very keen to visit. Set in the beautiful Disko Bay next to the Icefjord, a world heritage site where the glacier above the fjord moves 100' a day and calves an incredible number of vast icebergs. There is a great clip on YouTube of this happening over a time lapse from the film 'Chacing Ice'.
I arrived in Disko Bay in crystal clear conditions after a 3 hour flight over a solidly frozen Davis Strait. The bay itself was not icebound and open to the local fishing fleet. I've put a video of the landing at Ilulissat on the photobucket site.
The approach plates warn of the possibility of Icebergs on the approach at up to 750' AMSL!
My taxi driver from the airport sorted me with a private apartment at about a quarter the cost of a hotel; very welcome with the high arctic prices for everything. I had fully intended to have a whole day here to explore and enjoy the fabulous scenery. A walk around the town didn't take long, seeing fields full of sled dogs basking in the sun despite the -12c air temperature. A walk across the frozen inner harbour and. hike out on the trail to the nearby Icefjord. There were wmarnings against going down to the beach due to Tsunami waves from giant calving icebergs. It was a spectacular sight and a real highlight of the trip.

Next day was Thursday and a good day to leave as the Friday was a national holiday and the airport would be closed. I filed VFR over the icecap at 11,500' to Kulusuk, the only airport on the East of Greenland. An opportunity to fly up the Icefjord then climb above the largest ice field in the Northern hemisphere.
This was largely featureless and the veil of haze that often covers the area gave no distinct horizon, you could see sky and ground, but an autopilot was a great help. There are old cold war early warning stations on the ice cap, but I decided against detouring to see DYE2 which I'd marked on my chart.
Eventually the mountains of Eastern Greenland came into view. Kulusuk were giving few 1500 and scattered 3000', but there was clear view of the sea and Islands that allowed a VFR arrival. There was light blowing snow at the airfield, but the arrival on their gravel strip was uneventful.
I topped off with $14/gallon avgas, warmed up from the -18c enroute temperatures, checked the weather towards Iceland and filed again for Reykjavik. This leg was all over sea for 380nm, below cloud at 2-5,000' and the cockpit once again felt toasty warm with temperatures now just below freezing point. Radio coverage was remarkably good, picking up Iceland radio about 100 miles out and being vectored in to the bay north of Keflavik to a very pleasant approach to Reykjavik's north/south runway. I had arrived in Europe, geographically at least, and after the Arctic it all seemed remarkably civilised and normal again.
A big conference was going on and meant the adjacent Loftleidir hotel was full, so I found a place at the Radisson not far away. The taxi driver was also a Cessna140 owner making for a good chat over the short ride to the hotel.
There was a fine clear sunset over the Atlantic from my hotel room and the next day dawned equally clear and fine. Scotland however was not so good, with CBs and occasional heavy rain and severe ice warnings at lower levels.
I decided to have a scenic tour around Southern Iceland and reposition to Egilsstadir in the East. That would be closer to Scotland and away from the worsening conditions approaching Reykjavik from the West.
This proved to be a good choicen as the situation to the north of Scotland was improving and Egilsstadir remained in good clear weather.
I filed IFR at FL110 to Wick, where I had arranged to do the import paperwork for bringing the RV to the UK.
That bought me above a scattered layer of cumulus in excellent flying conditions.
The route took me past the Faeroe Islands where there is a single airport, notorious for turbulence on the approach. Approaching Scotland, the remnants of the weather system could be seen, with the tops of embedded CB up to around my level, but easily avoided. Scottish information picked me up and handed me over to Wick approach at about 50 miles out. Time now to descend amongst the clouds and weather. Descent was first cleared to FL55 which put me in and out of cloud and picking up very light icing. At 25 miles i could descend to 2500' which immediately melted the remaining ice. About 10 miles out, I emerged into the clear and could see the town of Wick and the airport beyond. Not wishing for an unnecessary VOR approach, I cancelled IFR and landed at Wick with a 20 knot crosswind and rain, but glad to be on the ground with no more ocean to cross.
I got marshalled in by the Far North Aviation crew who took me straight to the hotel still wearing immersion suit and lifejacket! The paperwork could wait till tomorrow.
Next day, paperwork sorted, weather improved was a pleasant 2.5 hours over now familiar landscapes, stopping at Rolls-Royce Hucknall airfield to see some old friends and then finally Enstone in Oxfordshire.
I'd arrived! It felt great but time to relax.

Thanks for listening. Happy to answer questions.
 
That is not my airplane!

Mark,

Dozens of people have commented on the beautiful Sun'n Fun poster featuring my airplane. I have told them all that it's not mine, but belongs to some guy named Mark Albery whom I have never met. But thanks, anyway.

After reading of your transatlantic adventure I feel that I now know the guy. I was hoping that we might cross paths at Lakeland as I was there with Team AeroDynamix for several days. Maybe next year?

Congratulations on a spectacular adventure and thank you for sharing it all with the rest of us. You're my hero!



NOT MARK ALBERY'S RV-8
missizzy3.jpg
 
What an inspirational trip, especially for those of us building. I still marvel at the adventures possible with these magic carpets (auto-correct just tried to change that to "manic carpets", which still fits nicely). Even if a low-time pilot like me is unlikely to ever attempt something so audacious, I love that a vehicle I built could someday do such a thing. Thank you for the write-up, Mark. You've inspired my Sunday!

--
Stephen
 
Thanks for telling the story Mark. Where did you stay in Iqualuit? How did you pump fuel from the drum?
 
Hi Vlad,

The FBO fixed me up at the Discovery Lodge hotel at the crew rate.It's very close to the airport and has a very nice (but not cheap) restaurant.
The fuel set up is very easy. They have an electric pump and a regular nozzle on a fairly long hose.
 
Pierre Info

Hello Pierre
I see you live in GA, and I thought you maybe able to tell me anything about Milledgeville GA. There is a Airpark there I'm looking at to buy into called Deerfield Landings. Things I would like to know is there any thing to do in Milledgeville, like Publix, restaurants, things you need to survive and still have a lifestyle after living in Ft Lauderdale Fl.
Any advice or knowledge would be great.
Thanks


Thanks much for taking us all along on this magnificent trip.

Best,
 
Great adventure

Nice trip write up Mark. Makes me ponder just how much of a
sheltered (flying) life I lead. Thanks for making me think. Ironically, the P-38 "Glacier Girl" was at Chino this past weekend.
 
Lots

Hello Pierre
I see you live in GA, and I thought you maybe able to tell me anything about Milledgeville GA. There is a Airpark there I'm looking at to buy into called Deerfield Landings. Things I would like to know is there any thing to do in Milledgeville, like Publix, restaurants, things you need to survive and still have a lifestyle after living in Ft Lauderdale Fl.
Any advice or knowledge would be great.
Thanks

Milledgeville is a college town with lots and lots of activity and a big lake bordering the edge of town with many boat launching ramps...fishing, water skiing and so on.

It's about an hour's drive west of me and my daughter-in-law to be, graduates from college there next year.

Half way there, is Sandersville, where my buddy, Ray Lawrence, has his RV builders-assist facility and my two stepsons work there, building RV's and working towards their A&P licenses.

Right now, there are two RV-7A's, a -10 nearing completion, A Glassair and an RV-3 fastback under construction, with the canopy and fiberglass skirts just fitted,

Best,
 
WOW!

What a GREAT experience. THANKS for the write up. Now I know what route to take if/when I fly to England. :cool:
 
Time is ticking on Mark's 21-day import window to fly before he is forced to re-register onto the UK system. We did manage to beat some unseasonal British weather yesterday and shoot some pictures though.


Van's RV-8 N713MB by Ed Hicks, on Flickr


Van's RV-8 N713MB by Ed Hicks, on Flickr

We do use bigger tractors than this to farm, honest...
 
50 years back in time

We do use bigger tractors than this to farm, honest...

Excellent photos Ed. Mark's obviously put a bit of elbow grease into his airplane polishing since he arrived back home.

I first saw that tractor on your other thread. Made me smile. Gave the impression that Mark had flown 50 years back in time :)

Also like the picture Mark posted of the two RV-8's lining up on the yellow flower meadow runway.

Steve
 
Also like the picture Mark posted of the two RV-8's lining up on the yellow flower meadow runway.

Steve

That was Ed's photo as we were leaving Garston Farm.

When I arrived, I thought someone must have planted oil seed rape on the runway. Fortunately only dandelions.
 
Hello Pierre
I see you live in GA, and I thought you maybe able to tell me anything about Milledgeville GA. There is a Airpark there I'm looking at to buy into called Deerfield Landings. Things I would like to know is there any thing to do in Milledgeville, like Publix, restaurants, things you need to survive and still have a lifestyle after living in Ft Lauderdale Fl.
Any advice or knowledge would be great.
Thanks

I just flew to KMLJ last week. One of my buddies wanted to look at lots at Deerfield Landings. He knows a resident there and this individual picked us up at the airport and gave us a tour of Deerfield Landings. We did not land at Deerfield Landings because I could not get any good info about field conditions prior to the trip. Once I got a look at it on the ground, I would not have had any problem flying into the strip. There is a HUGE power company smoke stack close to the south end of the strip. I did not get too close a look at Milledgeville, but I think big city conveniences are probably pretty sparse. Having said that, I did see a Starbucks!:D It looks like a really nice area and the airpark is beautiful. The lake looks really nice and the person that gave us the tour talked about some great kayaking and fishing on the river below the dam. You will have to want to live in a rural setting, but I liked what I saw.
 
BEAUTIFUL PICTURES!!!

The builder must be proud and sad all in the same breath.
 
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N713MB is now G-RRVV

Thanks Peter,
You'll soon have a great travelling and all-round fun machine. Keep pounding!

As a follow up. I've now nearly completed getting UK approval.
Ed's photos were used in an article in the UK LAA's magazine here.

But now I've accepted another job offer in California, so will be heading west (courtesy of Richard Branson this time) and the RV will stay in the UK toy box for my occasional pleasure.
Here's the new livery:
1069891_10152989818450162_1703235637_n.jpg
 
IFR?

G'day Mark,

How did you go flying IFR in European airspace? I was under the impression you could not fly IFR as an experimental in Britian. Presumably you lost your IFR when you trasfered the registration?

What a fantastic trip. These RV's are magic machines!

Cheers
 
Hi Richard,

My exemptions didn't prohibit IFR, but now that it is UK registered, it's limited to day/VFR. There is some move to recognise the IFR capabilities of home-builts. Sweden has granted some concessions and the UK is making some progress.

Also, the UK has class A airways down to quite low levels and ADF/DME is still on the required equipment list (ignored by some). Maybe one day...

The flight from Iceland was class G for the most part, so less complicated.
 
Mark,

My mother is English and I have family in Surrey. On top of that my wife is Slovak. It's a dream of mine to one day make the same trip you've made in my -8.

There are many more restrictions in Europe and the fees seem exorbitant. I know people complain about the FAA but when I see what our friends across the pond have to deal with I realize the FAA isn't bad at all.

I'm curious, what groups are involved in advocating for the IFR privileges? Or for homebuilders in general?

Cheers
 
UK registration

Hi Mark,

Just a quick question, how difficult was it to transfer over to the UK register. I'm English but have lived in Reno for 6 years and should have an answer on my Green Card soon. I want to build an 8 over here but would like to have the option to ship it back to the UK if easily done. I ain't brave enough to fly it back. I guess keep it standard is a start but any advice welcome.

Cheers

Mark
 
Mark,

The process is quite stringent, but not too onerous if you're aircraft is standard.
The requirements are set out in this leaflet.

For popular home-builts there is a system of type acceptance data sheets similar to the TCDS for a certificated aircraft. Anything that falls outside of the TADS will require individual approval. That might include autopilots, different engine/prop/ignition combinations, lighting systems etc. Fortunately most of the Vans accessories catalogue is accepted within the TADS.

This is the RV-8 TADS

Once the inspections have been done and all mods and variances signed off, there is a comprehensive flight test before the permit to fly is issued.

One small up-side is that there is only a minimal 'phase 1' if you are building a standard aircraft.

The LAA have a remit from the CAA to recommend the issue of the permit to fly.

They are also in negotiation on the issue of IFR privileges. The CAA recently conceded to allow us to overfly built up areas on the basis of a safe operating history, so hopefully the IFR privileges can be gained on a similar evidence basis.

I believe Sweden has a system run by their EAA chapter, although their population and air traffic density is much smaller than the UK.

Getting reciprocal privileges in other European countries could also be a long way off.
 
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