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Giving back to my build mentor

crabandy

Well Known Member
Getting more from......errr I mean giving just a smidge back to my build mentor. I don't think we can ever repay those that help us (push us through) the build process, the only re-payment is spreading their knowledge and generosity to others. I'm not sure I would've ever completed a flying airplane without a mentor/buddy to guide me along, Thanks Ray I owe ya bigtime.

He's so busy mentoring others he had no clue his calendar pic submission years ago (water shot and all) made something just not a calendar, one of his other "students" had to fill him in.

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I can't blame him for moving to a TX airpark and building a dream home/hangar, the people/weather/activities I've found are pretty awesome. Unfortunately, a near disaster happened within a couple of weeks of moving. You're gonna cringe, a summary:

"This afternoon started out with a nice leisure flight around Granbury to get the lay of the land from the air. This was a solo flight and I’m very thankful for that. I was just turning base to final when this happened. I just seen a streak of black in the windshield before all **** broke loose. It took full left aileron to recover from a 90 degree bank and then 90% left aileron to fly level. I flew a real wide turn to the left to ensure I had somewhat control of the airplane before attempting to land. Tried a little flaps first and then landed at 80 knots because I couldn’t afford to have it drop a wing on final. The NTSB called and they were glad to be talking to me, as most weren’t able to. Time to buy a lottery ticket and get a drink."

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Fast forward several months of building a house/hangar, meeting neighbors, convincing neighbors to build an RV-10 and then mentoring the new builders put off his repairs. Finally the stars aligned and I was updated on the parts arrival.

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In typical Ray fashion next weeks photo.....

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Another week, the man knows what he's doing and can make some serious progress....His wife also knows her way around a bucking bar...... and a husband with an airplane and lots of airplane friends....

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Another week or so and the airplane is ready and he just needs a little review and recent experience. Both he and the airplane were more than ready, I found out later it was 9 months to the day since the bird strike.

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Plane and pilot performed flawlessly, I thought the partial new wings skins made it look like a solar powered airplane....

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The next morning we piddled with more routine flying the general area, airspace, approaches and hood time. Crosswind to downwind leaving the airpark, the 10 is no slouch!

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Mathematically speaking 25% of all RV flights probably contain a breakfast/lunch/dinner of some sort, the Hard 8 did not disappoint!

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I almost forgot, I landed at Ray's place with 499.7 hours on my 7. There were definitely other's fingerprints on my airplane but none more prominent than Ray's . He made me re-dimple my entire empennage than taught me how to rivet. He pretty much bent my longerons for me. He coached and prodded me on my FWF especially wiring. He was also flying his 10 as one of the chase planes on my first flight. Thanks Ray, I owe you. Today I was busy dodging vultures during my departure, then a clearance through the DFW class B etc and got distracted. Somewhere over central OK I realized I missed the HOBBS clicking over 500, it just so happened I remembered and clicked over to the engine page just north of the Canadian River to catch 501.0.

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Trip Summary:
-Rv's are great airplanes and attract great people
-Round trip of 776ish NM, a smidge over 5 hours and 37ish gallons of fuel in my 7
-Learn more stuff from my mentor
-Re-connecting with friends
-Found out I need to bring the wife next time
 
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Did he fill all the rivets with something? I’ve not seen paint lines along all the rivet lines before.
 
No I didn't. I like to the sand/scuff the skin prior to dimpling to ensure the paint can stick properly around the rivets.


Thanks

Ray Doerr
 
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