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What'd you do w/your RV this weekend? (12/14-15/2019)

DeltaRomeo

doug reeves: unfluencer
Staff member
...getting it started.

I thought a lot about a 3D printed shroud/mount for a GMC507 autopilot controller for my glare shield.

v/r,dr
 
I completed the third and final ADSB test flight (FAA PAPR report) and passed. I waited for a 4 hour break in the weather that was good enough to launch and went for it; glad I did. Logbook entry complete. Nothing like leaving it to the last minute :eek:

Now I can start having fun again in the RV!
 
Short local flight, turn about a point, two touch and goes, and one full stop landing. 0.6 Hobbs / 4 Gallons

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Spent a little time yesterday working in the hangar and plan to spend this afternoon also in the hagnar.
 
New Panel

Went up for a good 1.5 formation flying with Monk before dropping her off at Monk's shop for a few weeks. New Panel! (Doug's beat me to posting pictures)
 
KLGB to KCMA

Flew IFR to CMA for breakfast, then IFR back, which makes for a nice little XC due to TEC routing taking us on an excursion around the Bravo airspace for LAX. Fun time and good breakfast!

-Marc
 
Replied to an email asking for pilots to fly donated Christmas presents over to Treasure Cay, Bahamas. My wife and I had been to the area last year before Dorian hit, and I was happy to be able to come back.

Took out the passenger seat and loaded the 9A down with what I could safely fit. Toys were picked up at KSPG in St Pete where they had been donated to Sol Relief.



Looking down on Treasure Cay. No roofs left intact and trees and debris everywhere.



One other plane on the ramp at Treasure Cay. The old terminal building is destroyed, as is all the other infrastructure at the airport. Just two small RV trailers for the customs people, who were very friendly. Was not charged any fees the entire trip.


I offloaded the toys, ate a picnic lunch, and took off back to Florida. Didn’t make it 20 minutes before I saw a wall of rain and the ADSB weather picture popped up. I had plenty of fuel to get to Ft Pierce as was planned, but not enough to comfortably fly all over picking my way through storm cells, especially with the 40 knot headwind, so I aborted and headed back to Treasure Cay. The forecast did not look good, with a convective line sitting right off the whole east coast of FL and standing still.



My contact with Sol Relief put me in touch with a local contact on Green Turtle Cay, where my wife and I had stayed before, and I jumped on the ferry to go meet “Big Tuna”. He set me up at a large home that had running water and a generator, where 7 other volunteers were staying. They were from a NY carpenters union and were volunteering on Green Turtle helping repair roofs. We also went for a tour around the small island to see some of the damage. Many homes will need to be completely leveled, and the others will at least need new roofs and lots of work. Power is almost exclusively from home generators at the moment. Just getting the massive amount of debris, including boats washed up on shore, cleared out will be a huge task.






Saturday morning awoke to a much better forecast, and took the 10am ferry from Green Turtle back to Treasure Cay and headed for Freeport, Grand Bahama, MYGF, to get fuel and finish my flight plan back to FL. The winds were still 40 knots on the nose so decided I’d be happier with full tanks. The large airport in Freeport is up and running with commercial flights and a tower, but I wasn’t able to get a hold of anybody at either Freeport Approach or Freeport Radio. The main terminal building is in good shape, but the FBO is just a large tent now. Customs was again easy and still no fees charged. I filed my DVFR flight plan back to KFPR, filled out my EAPIS, and called customs in Ft Pierce, and then took off into a 40 knot breeze right down the runway. Think I took off going backwards.

Landing in Ft Pierce. Once again, CBP guy told me the painter’s tape N-numbers were not allowed, and once again I played dumb and apologized. Not worth arguing. Had my first real meal in 36 hours at the airport Tiki.

Flew home to Zephyrhills staying as low as possible to avoid the winds up high, and put her back to bed.

Will definitely be back.

Chris
 
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After what felt like a very long break from flying (a whopping 29 days), I went out for couple of steep turns, some slow flight, a couple of stalls and a couple of circuits at my busy home airport today. It's been just a little cold for flying (I fly for fun and don't when it isn't), was about -9C today and the snow was cleared enough that it made for a good flying day.

Good landings today, both at about 59 KIAS on touchdown. Sure have a better time with landings when I'm coming in below 65. Passed 150 hours on the hobbs with this flight, not bad for the first 16 months.
 
Did a 5.5 hr round robin from Tampa up to South Carolina and back to bring my son home from school for Christmas break.
 
Nothing as Altruistic as what Chris did

I had the hangar open this afternoon when a neighbor drove by and asked if I had plans, which I didn't. I figured he wanted to go for a ride; non-pilot, good guy, and was asking nicely for a ride.

It turns out his wife, who is a grade school teacher, was having her fellow teachers over for brunch and he wanted to know if I could give one a ride.

One ride turned into another for a reluctant flier, which turned into a third ride for a VERY reluctant flier. 1.5 hours in total.

The two reluctant fliers LOVED it. Smooth and clear air, smooth pilot, and super smooth landings. You couldn't ask for better weather for giving someone their first ride!

All three of the ladies were Clemson grads so we circled the Clemson football stadium so they could take pictures, cruised the mountains, and let them fly us around. Fun trip for all of them.
 
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Little Lunch Down South

Temp was a little above zero in Minne, but we had not flown in a while, so we set up a lunch with a RV7 builder and college buddy down in Iowa where it was a balmy 10 or so.............

Gotta Shovel out......
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Minne looks awfully cold........
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Iowa looked a bit warmer....
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Lakes be Frozen, they really do!
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Ran her rich to make a little heat......was not much heat
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Nice view of KMIC on the way home....
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Nice lunch with friends, 2.2 on the Hobbs, not a bad day!
 
After leaving Dallas on Alaska Airlines, I headed to Seattle then Bend, Oregon for the night (also on Alaska Airlines).

I was in Bend to pick up my RV-9A from its condition inspection, plus some paint work, wiring work, SkySensor (ADS-B IN companion to SkyBeacon) install, and a few other things.

After a brief test flight, I headed south to Chico, CA (CIC) where I'm spending the night. Tomorrow, I will head down to Reid Hillview (RHV) to give a fellow VAF member a BFR, and then head home to Carlsbad (CRQ).

The flight today was very cold .. -15 degrees Celsius at 11,500'. The cabin heater really was not adequate. Other than that, the flight went great. The SkySensor worked great.

It is very nice to have the RV back in my hands.
 
Helped a friend finish his GDL82 install, since we were already at the airport and it was forecast to snow the next couple days we might as well stir the oil in the RV and fly the .2 to K81 for lunch. Lil' dude was not disappointed.

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Dana and I flew to Prescott, AZ to watch my niece graduate from Embry Riddle with an Aeronautics degree. Weather was awesome. Winds stiff out of the West. Hit 260mph ground speed on the way home.

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Rockin' it over the Gila Wilderness....

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Back home right before sunset. 69 degrees F:

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Jim
 
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I flew around the hanger working on installing #3 jug after a bad intake valve.
I know. Intake valve? Who burns their intake valve. Apparently I do.
So I cant find the #1 oil return tube. Was in the bin when I removed it. Looked around the hanger for an hour. No joy. Frustrated, went to the Dillon and loaded some ammo to relieve the stress.
 
Ok, a little late to the party here, but on Saturday myself and a safety pilot went practicing under the hood for an hour and a half.
Three RNAV approaches at 3 different airports with a hold and circle to land. I let the autopilot take the easy parts and hand flew down the glideslopes. (you can tell by the squiggles):D Fun stuff!!

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I know this is a little late. Also, I unfortunately didn’t take any pictures. But it was another great RV weekend....:)

Saturday

I took my son back up to Chilhowee (92A) for another glider lesson. But before we headed there we decided to stop in Rome GA (RMG) for some donuts. Yeah, I know what your thinking, “A special stop for donuts?” These aren’t regular donuts. Look them up. It’s “The Sweet Bar.”

My buddy Mark Fullerton used to bring them to the contest for us. But now it’s up to me to continue the tradition.

Upon arrival at the RMG airport, there appeared the makings of an Eagle Scout project. About a dozen boys were building observation benches and and a couple of racks for chocks. As we were getting in the courtesy car, my son (who just made Eagle Scout himself recently) and I decided it would be a great opportunity to “Do a good turn daily.” We brought them two dozens of donuts and the scouts attacked them like vultures! They were very thankful. They had a nice break from the hard work they were doing and I was grateful for the opportunity to serve them.

Sunday

I got together with 6 other of my RV friends at FFC to do some formation flying. Many of us are FFI Wingmen. We have a few leads and one check pilot. There are a few more FFI Wingmen and Leads in the making. So today was another practice session. There’s a good chance we’re going to be able to participate in the Atlanta Airshow in a more formal capacity this year.

We had a 4 ship and a 3 ship take off for individual flight FFI profile practice. Then we joined the flights for several passes in different formations. In the upcoming months we’re going to be hitting the practice hard and firm up the players and the profile. It’s exciting to think we’ll be participating in an airshow in 6 months.

Monday

I hadn’t done any aerobatics since mid October and I was feeling the need for a little g. It felt great to get out there and do it again for a bit, especially since I was looking at straight and level for 9 hours in the Airbus later in the evening. The cool thing was that the other FO is a general aviation type, also having owned a Citabria and a 310. He currently flys a Cirrus. I think I converted him... He said, “Man it would be pretty cool to get an RV.” He just might do it!

Anyway, as always it was a fantastic RV weekend, which I am always grateful for. Happy building and flying to all.
 
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