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The first year

Brandi

Brandi

Well Known Member
Today marks the first anniversary of our first flight! In the past 365 days we've flown 239 hours, gone to 59 different airports in 14 different states and 2 other countries. :D



And... She goes to the painter after OSH!!
 
Brandi,
It has been a pleasure watching you two build and fly your plane. Wow, 239 hours in the first year. You are using it exactly as it should be used. I can't wait to see it after paint! Thanks for the stories.
 
Really?

Has it been a year? Wow! Felt like yesterday when I read the post of your first flight. I've got to get mine finished! :eek:

David
 
Your post stimulated some thought

I've been flying the RV-6A the Jeanine and I built now since March of 2004 and I have flown several places. I didn't think of it as a competitive thing but a little fun memory exercise. I went into Excel and created a simple two column file and entered all the states in column A and a "X" in column B for the states I have landed out RV-6A in. It makes you think a little to remember a specific airport or city visited and not just gloss over the list thinking, "well, I must have landed there." The task can have its own memory rewards and future thoughts. Thanks for the stimulation.

Bob Axsom

State Landed RV there
Alabama X
Alaska
Arizona X
Arkansas X
California X
Colorado X
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida X
Georgia X
Hawaii
Idaho X
Illinois X
Indiana X
Iowa
Kansas X
Kentucky X
Louisiana X
Maine
Maryland X
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri X
Montana X
Nebraska
Neveda X
New Hampshire
New Jersey X
New Mexico X
New York
North Carolina X
North Dakota
Ohio X
Oklahoma X
Oregon X
Pennsylvania X
Rhode Island
South Carolina X
South Dakota X
Tennessee X
Texas X
Utah X
Vermont
Virginia
Washington X
West Virgina
Wisconsin X
Wyoming X
 
Last edited:
Brandi said:
Today marks the first anniversary of our first flight! In the past 365 days we've flown 239 hours, gone to 59 different airports in 14 different states and 2 other countries. :D



And... She goes to the painter after OSH!!
Click to expand...

The down time for painting is a bummer. Congrats on the flying! WOW!
 
Congratulations!

Brandi,

I devoured every page of Brian's and your blog while trying to get the nerve up to order our tail kit. I appreciate the private emails answering my questions especially regarding tools. LOVED the pictures from your Bahamas trip--it's one of our planned destinations. But my favorite picture from your blog is the picture of you sewing the seat covers. It seemed to put an exclamation point on the fact that a couple can do EVERYTHNG to put the airplane together. I'm not saying we WILL. It's just nice to know we can. :D

Looking forward to seeing the paint job.

Congrats on the anniversary. :)

Jeff
 
Cool

Keep having a good time while we can.

I have noticed our plane is getting a lot of wear and tear.
 
Brandi & Brian
I still think about the weekend you picked up your Tailcone. What a fun weekend. I still remember when you came around the corner in the smaller truck. All I remember saying was oh **** it won't fit. But it did.

Congrats on 239 hrs

Geoff
 
Congrats!

Along with this milestone, shouldn't there be some obligatory retrospective about what you did just right, would do different, are going to upgrade, etc? I get the feeling that the building never quite ends...

I too should thank you for helping to motivate me to get started as I followed your progress.

==dave==
fuse kit in progress
 
Hey guys, been following your build and bookmarking lots of your tips and tricks. Congrats on the anniversary and thanks for sharing so much with us!
 
Operating Expenses

I'm curious if you have a handle on what your hourly operating expenses have worked out to be over the year. It's been years since I've seen data on the -10, so I'm wondering what real life $'s are these days since that will likely play a part in the plane we build.
 
operating expense

I keep track of our rv10 per hr expenses for tax purposes
in 2011 269 hrs flown cost per hr (not including fuel) was $36
in 2012 140 hrs flown cost per hr (not including fuel) was $42

I include all chart subscriptions (full ifr), repairs, insurance, ad valorem taxes,
etc

I did not see much difference in cost per hr between our 7a and our 10. the 7a was full ifr as well, so most of the costs were comparable
The good news is the more hrs you fly, the lower the cost per hour
Carol Syracuse
 
Thanks guys!

Bob Axsom said:
It makes you think a little to remember a specific airport or city visited and not just gloss over the list thinking, "well, I must have landed there." The task can have its own memory rewards and future thoughts. Thanks for the stimulation.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I could have constructed that list if I wasn't keeping up with it in a database somewhere. Nice job!

Weasel said:
I have noticed our plane is getting a lot of wear and tear.
Click to expand...

Anything specific? We didn't find anything during the annual except the main tires.

Aerosport1 said:
I still think about the weekend you picked up your Tailcone. What a fun weekend.
Click to expand...

Me too! That was our first -10 ride and we reminisce about it often. Thanks again!

BigD said:
Along with this milestone, shouldn't there be some obligatory retrospective about what you did just right, would do different, are going to upgrade, etc? I get the feeling that the building never quite ends...
Click to expand...

Thanks for asking this. We're working on a list. =D

skelrad said:
I'm curious if you have a handle on what your hourly operating expenses have worked out to be over the year. It's been years since I've seen data on the -10, so I'm wondering what real life $'s are these days since that will likely play a part in the plane we build.
Click to expand...

Carol's kept way better records than we have.

We haven't had any substantial repairs so far, our first year insurance was really high because of low time (it's dropped drastically this year) and our hangar is in an expensive area. With all of that being said, our per hour cost (without fuel) was about $49. That includes insurance, taxes, hangar rent, oil changes, XM & ForeFlight subscriptions.
 
BigD said:
Along with this milestone, shouldn't there be some obligatory retrospective about what you did just right, would do different, are going to upgrade, etc? I get the feeling that the building never quite ends...
Click to expand...

Here's our list...

Did right:
  • Decided to build the plane despite it being seemingly impossible and too expensive of a task.
  • Waited to paint until after it had flown for a while. Too many things could have scratched the paint by now - not that they won't in the future but we're over the hump of lots of shuffling of things going on.
  • Installed overhead console with air vents. More air in the hot summer and also, in cruise, they are much quieter than front vents if you don't need full blast air.
  • Went with a new engine. There are plenty of things to worry about and I'm glad we aren't worried about potential engine issues from having who knows what rebuilt parts in one. I don't think there is anything wrong with getting an overhauled one, but I think it requires more diligence and knowledge of engines in general than we had at the time.
  • Went with a simple operating design (from electrical/button pushing standpoint) and clean panel. Easy to use and works great!
  • Did seat mod so seats can slide off rails without removing flap rod covers.
  • 3rd door latch + door pins from PlaneAround.com
  • Used McMaster seal around door frame instead of stock seal.
  • Used Lord Adhesive for windows instead of Weld-On.
  • Installed door lock on pilot side and drilled hole for pin through door handle push button on passenger side.
  • Installed landing lights in both wings.
  • Went with the Dynon SkyView system. We really love flying behind it.

Would do different:
  • Probably would do a VPX system. At the time we were really scraping dollars, but, in the grand scheme of things, it would have been much cleaner behind the panel and we could have gotten some really neat data on our EFIS regarding the electrical system.
  • Cut a bigger clearance around the wheel pants from the get go so they don't crack if you land hard! The instructions called for a "finger" clearance but I guess we need fatter fingers.
  • Buy multi-conductor wiring to make wiring cleaner.
  • Leave longer service loops on panel wiring.
  • Install parking brake - maybe? It would be handy every once in a while.
  • Went with Garmin 650 instead of 430.
  • Wish we had the 50w (or more) HID lights from Duckworks instead of the 35w.
  • Get the prop balanced sooner. That made such a big difference.

Will upgrade:
  • Electronic ignition
  • Flow matched injectors
  • Battery charge port in baggage wall or tailcone belly
  • Add USB charger ports
 
hi Brian and Brandi, great update! thanks for sharing. i think i did about the same number of hours in the first year, though you covered a much broader area of the US. Mexico is still on my list (so close for me too) as is the entire southwest.

I last saw you at OSH 2012 in HBC. I hope to see you make it out to SF some day!

Jae
 
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