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What did you do with your RV this weekend? (4/24/2020 - 4/25/2020)

Flew to Greenville, SC to pick up our 6yr-old grandson and fly him back to Lake Oconee to spend the weekend with my wife and me. I’ll fly him back home tomorrow evening. Turns a 6 hour round trip into an 80 minute one.
 

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modded front wheel and nose job

Had the nosewheel bearing mod done by AntiSplat, and also installed the NoseJob.
 

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Flew to Greenville, SC to pick up our 6yr-old grandson and fly him back to Lake Oconee to spend the weekend with my wife and me. I’ll fly him back home tomorrow evening. Turns a 6 hour round trip into an 80 minute one.

Easiest splash image decision for the Monday edition ever!!!!! <g>.
 
A bit of maintenance this past week and today. Got my left magneto timed properly on Monday, what a difference 2 degrees makes! Spent the day today moving my G5 magnetometer (completely unreliable when pitot heat is on) and doing an oil and filter change. Only had 20 hours on the oil but with the extremely rich mixture issue that I had, the oil was really dirty. The filter had about 45 hours on it. The net result of the work this week is that my engine is running better than it ever has and while I haven't confirmed it yet, I suspect that I'm going to get a significant improvement to my cruise speeds as my engine is finally making the power it should have been making all along.

I did manage to go for an IFR training flight yesterday, 1.5 hood time and a lot of getting to know my systems. I need another 5.3 hours of dual IFR time before I can write my written exam on May 10, so there will be several more flights in the next 2 weeks. In the meantime, hitting the books.
 
P-51

I got to make cockpit noises while sitting in a P-51 Mustang. Also enjoyed the cockpit of a T6. Made me appreciate the controls of my RV-6A. Also had the pleasure (?) of practicing a nasty cross-wind landing. It was "great" landing since I walked away, AND I can use the plane again! :)
 

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Quick 0.8 hour flight to check the new wire loom I installed in my helmet as well as check out the new glasses.

Was very turbulent so I cut it short.
 
Two hour IFR flight to Canberra, Australia’s capital city. Very quiet in the air as it was Sunday and ANZAC Day, a public holiday. ANZAC day commemorates Australian and New Zealand military personnel who died in wars.

Lake George and wind farm just to the north of Canberra. Country starting to get a winter look.
Fin. 9A

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Continued work on wheel fairings... along with moving parts to the hangar, cleaning the hangar and detached garage, and a lot of other chores and distractions. Starting to work on the RVBits lower intersection fairings; they fit the Grove airfoil gear much better than expected. Still tons of work to make them part of the forward and aft halves... and lots of research to be done here as usual. That's why I pay the slightly bigger bucks here... worth every penny!
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The plan was for us to fly to the Bay Area, but due to weather that didn't work out. So instead, we took off to enjoy a late lunch in Lake Havasu (KHII). Food was good, weather was good (although a bit windy), and the flight was good, albeit a bit bumpy at some points.

Probably our last trip to Havasu until after summer... gets too hot there!
 
Finished laying out bare wire into my harness template, and started adding cable lacing. Lots more of this to do, but it's nice seeing some order start to emerge from the chaos currently occupying my work table.

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Wire runs and bundling done!

Took this past week off and spent the last 9 days at the hangar cleaning up and finishing the wire runs and connections. Replaced almost all the tie wraps with waxed lacing chord. My back is soar from bending over the fuse to reach inside but I'm happy this part is over. Almost time to flip the switch and excite the electrons!

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Fibreglass aft skirt done.

Finished off slider aft skirt in glass.
 

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Started an airfreight business LoL
 

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Milestone, future adventures

Celebration with Lone Star Squadron pilots and friends, at 3T2, marking the sale of the RV6A, planning Critters and Oshkosh ‘21.

Carl “Pyro”
..
 

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New RV Grin

I took up a long-time acquaintance for his first small airplane ride. He helped set me up with my new mountain bike, so I gave him a look at his trails from the air. Next time he wants to go take a look at Spider Mountain, a year-round, chairlift-served downhill mountain bike park.

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