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What did you do with your RV this weekend? (11/26-27/2022)

Kept plugging away at the new RV-8 rudder for my 7A. Possible formation flight and breakfast run with Tony "Hawk" Malley Sunday morning.
 
Gave rides to three of my teenage cousins that were in town for Thanksgiving one of whom is a pre-solo student pilot. She's the serious looking one in the first photo - concentrating on keeping it straight and level. The other two had never been in a small plane before. They all loved it!
 

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Got a ride in early this morning just as the sun came up. Cathedral Rock in the dark just off the wingtip. Had to fly a wide pattern to give way to 6 hot air balloons occupying downwind.

A beautiful, cold, still air morning. Perfect fall weather in Sedona.

N241DC-2022-11-26 Large.jpeg
 
Had a team bonding and familiarization day to kick off our airshow display team for 2023.

I think this is the loudest noise I've ever been part of making. Use good speakers, turn the sound up, go heavy on the bass.

https://youtu.be/N0HB8D5Dlts

Ten RVs and a Yak-55. Our full strength will include another two RVs who couldn't make it this weekend, and smoke systems for all the airplanes that don't have them. Will spend the first half of the year working up a routine with break-off formation aerobatic elements to give the crowd something to look at while the main formation is repositioning. Gonna fill the air with aluminum, smoke, light and noise, it'll be epic.

Jeremy Miller
Don Harvie
Ollie Geraghty
Kevin White
Eddie Seve
Brayden Rowley
Mal Kains
Glenn Bridgland
Pete Grogan
Mark Newton
Richard Talbot

- mark
 

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Baffles

It is just baffling….

Side note: the remaining parts to be fitted will fit on a bench top.
 

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Inspirational…

We took our 8 from SSI to Austin not only to visit the family for Thanksgiving, but more importantly to help celebrate my moms 104th birthday. She’s still fit as a fiddle and sharp as a tack. She’s been a pax in my 8 several times and even rode in formation with us.

1174A694-83B4-4A6B-B7C2-E53311AAEF2B.jpeg

She is and has always been my inspiration.
 
After preheating the engine during the day I went up at sunset (after the winds died down) to test my recently activated AOA display. The test failed; I had neglected to calibrated the display yet. (D'OH!) I got some more Garmin G3X installation reading to do. It was still a good night to fly so I had some fun, captured some video that was different from my usual fare and got in four really nice landings at dusk. Managed to get the video posted this morning.
AOA Display Test Flight 221126:
https://youtu.be/kEVmpIv0e_A
AL9nZEXaQZI1a2Yrt34yRKte-UAE5JLN9LMO28-cGJnRmV72mHkV3sZLeQWrodiUpMa9EaGBAZ6WpvCDFfeplf9kKzUMmAMU4uEQwVtWd9eq8XW1Y2ZdWx662E_4z0sf580kS1YVkxN5QFuniSTryzlL7R7u=w900-h600
 
I flew out to Catalina Island with my son for the obligatory buffalo burger and ice cream sandwich, plus a bit of a history lesson on the island.

The terminal building is historical in itself, and there's also a wall of old photos showing some neat moments from the past. One of them is a 1912 photo of Glenn Martin flying over Catalina in a flying boat he built in a Santa Ana church basement.

My son is playing Little League these days, so he was intrigued by the fact that William Wrigley owned the island and built the airport so he could fly the Chicago Cubs out for spring training.

We also got a picture of him standing in a little stairway "window", which is where my wife and I took one of our more iconic photos back in the day.

--Ron
 

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Finally found 20 minutes to work on my neglected RV, tapped the new seal in place and ready to re-install my rebuilt SD8 on the vacuum pad.
 

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Me and two of my boys went to our favorite city/airport Sky Harbor in Duluth, MN (KDYT).
Duluth puts on a special Christmas light attraction, Bentlyville. Great flight and the boys loved the lights and meeting santa! We got there had dinner, visited the show, and flew home in a little less time than just the roud trip drive would have taken, love our little time machine!
 

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Me and two of my boys went to our favorite city/airport Sky Harbor in Duluth, MN (KDYT).
Duluth puts on a special Christmas light attraction, Bentlyville. Great flight and the boys loved the lights and meeting santa! We got there had dinner, visited the show, and flew home in a little less time than just the roud trip drive would have taken, love our little time machine!

We would be interested in seeing how three people fit in a 7!
 
We would be interested in seeing how three people fit in a 7!

...snuggly, in fact I was commenting to my wife it might be the last time, they grow fast!

(On mobile, not sure why we're upside down)
 

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Picking up Grandparents for Thanksgiving.
First Class seats for everyone!!!
What a great airplane!!!
 

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Travel Machine

Skipped all the lines and hassle of holiday travel and flew my RV-6A from Sacramento to Los Angeles to visit family. 8+ hour drive versus 3 hours door to door in the plane. We are very fortunate to be able to enjoy this freedom and travel option.

Picture is south of Bakersfield as I head north to Sacramento area.
 

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Gear Fairings

I knew I should have finished these before I started flying because it is too much fun flying to work on the plane! I’m getting closer - they are fit and other than needing about 5 hours of filling, 5 hours of sanding, and then finding some above freezing place to paint, I’m almost done!

I did fly with them today and found myself going about 10 knots faster when I turned down wind than normal after takeoff. Maybe it was the wind pushing me along but I’m going to say it is the gear fairings!

I included a couple pictures of my engine heater. If I leave it on all night, my oil is over 90 degrees by morning at 15 degrees outside temp. Very easy to set up and the heater was $12 from the big A.
 

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I knew I should have finished these before I started flying because it is too much fun flying to work on the plane! I’m getting closer - they are fit and other than needing about 5 hours of filling, 5 hours of sanding, and then finding some above freezing place to paint, I’m almost done!

I did fly with them today and found myself going about 10 knots faster when I turned down wind than normal after takeoff. Maybe it was the wind pushing me along but I’m going to say it is the gear fairings!

I included a couple pictures of my engine heater. If I leave it on all night, my oil is over 90 degrees by morning at 15 degrees outside temp. Very easy to set up and the heater was $12 from the big A.

Cool colors of lights! I like your preheater solution Rocky good job! Not sure I would leave it on overnight. Does it have a sort of overheat sensor?

PS I saw in one of your recents pictures you made an elevated den at the back of your hangar. Any details?
 
Hey Rocky,
I am not much of a cold weather guy but play a lot with heat transfer.
You could do a lot better heating the cowl/engine if you pulled the already warmed air out of the other side rather than having to heat 15 degree air to start with. Maybe a tube from the other side to another plenum at the heater inlet. Assuming there is a thermostat on the heater.
 
Nice formation Mark.
Unfortunately not enough in Melbourne to get that many RV’s together.

There weren't enough in Sydney to get that many RVs together two years ago either. :)

This is the result of a small group of us getting formation training, then spending the subsequent five years evangelising about how much fun it is.

Now we have builders who haven't even finished their projects yet looking forward to joining in.

It's an absolute blast, and we all have big plans for our 13-ship.

- mark
 
There weren't enough in Sydney to get that many RVs together two years ago either. :)

This is the result of a small group of us getting formation training, then spending the subsequent five years evangelising about how much fun it is.

Now we have builders who haven't even finished their projects yet looking forward to joining in.

It's an absolute blast, and we all have big plans for our 13-ship.

- mark

I totally blame Mark and the other original Three in Sydney for the fact that my partner and I now have an RV-6. I got my formation endorsement earlier this year and flew in the 11 ship Balbo last Sunday. I heartily endorse his form of evangelism. ;) :p

I put together a short video using everyone else’s video clips here:

https://youtu.be/qEwwh4V8hh8

I’ve never worked so hard flying and I’ve never had such a sense of achievement flying.

Don (#2)
 
Hey Rocky,
I am not much of a cold weather guy but play a lot with heat transfer.
You could do a lot better heating the cowl/engine if you pulled the already warmed air out of the other side rather than having to heat 15 degree air to start with. Maybe a tube from the other side to another plenum at the heater inlet. Assuming there is a thermostat on the heater.

Mark, that is a great idea. When it starts getting really cold around here I will see what I can come up with. I have another one of the heaters and was going to just use both but using pre heated air may save some on the elect bills.

I have a Kats glue on heater Im going to stick to the oil pan if I need fast heat and my Switcheron should come any day. That is what I really hope works well.

My son in law is at Hurlbert Field so we get down to Ft Walton Beach often and love it there!
 
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