First of all, I have to say thanks to DR and all the contributors to this awesome forum. What a great source of information this place is!
I've been lurking around on here for
well over a year without making a post, just learning a lot.
It's time to get on board. I'm just gonna throw it out there on this first post, skip it if you're not interested in the read.
I took first my flight lesson at 16, of course I couldn't afford it and went off to the Army at 18. Still in 30 years later. I did the helicopter thing, mostly in Chinooks, as an Instructor Pilot and Maintenance Test Pilot. In Nov 2001 I went to the Army Multi-engine FW course, then the C-23 AQC and I've been flying the C-23 Sherpa ever since. I've been an Instructor Pilot in it since 2006.
Before I went to flight school I was an Aircraft Structural Repairman, and I've wanted to build an RV for years, just never got going on it. I have all the standard excuses as to why I never got started, but you don't want to hear that. Some of that time was as a part-timer Guardsman, so I've been deep in the civil helicopter world as well.
On my last deployment I spent 6 or 7 months in Egypt, coming home in Feb 2012. One of the other pilots on that mission is building an RV-7, he is a member here as well. Through our conversations the long dormant bug bit again and I started scheming - I mean planning - on how I could do this. My current mission would require a side-by-side so the wife could eye-ball me at all times for her comfort, so with that in mind I began pricing kits and components, shopping kits in progress, working up spreadsheets to try to figure out if I could even afford it etc., etc. You all know the drill.
I even started to look at finished aircraft, and man were there some bargains out there. A lingering addiction to VAF and Barnstormers began, and I started shopping with more focused intent. I got some advise from a couple of good guys out there along the way.
One Sunday afternoon in mid April I landed at the end of a mission, turned on my phone, and got an email alert from Barnstormers about an RV-6. The add had posted that day and the airplane looked nice, a clean basic steam panel, O-320, Warnke wood prop, and being sold by the original builder. This would be a simple and inexpensive airplane to own, and the price was right. I emailed and left a voice message.
In the morning I sent a quick email with a link to the add to Rob Ray, who was providing some counsel in my search, and was prepared to do a pre-purchase for me should the need arise. As it turned out, Rob knows this builder and his airplane well, and gave it an instant thumbs up. Thanks Rob!
I contacted the owner, and we made the deal contingent upon inspection - which we agreed was going to have to be almost a month out. I had some gaps in my mission schedule over that time, and that was good because I had a lot to do.
You see, at this point in mid April I didn’t have the ASEL among the ratings on my pilot certificate! Of course this meant no TW endorsement or any RV time for the insurance company.
No worries! I had already (heh – already!) touched bases with the local flying club and knew they could meet my needs. I called an examiner the club was familiar with, and she was available on 1 May. I had previously talked with Mike Seager several times and figured at this point I would have to go elsewhere due to his schedule, but no! He had an opening 8 – 10 May.
The proposed schedule came together like so:
First COM ASEL training period, 17 Apr.
COM ASEL add-on checkride, 1 May.
Go on leave, 7 May.
Fly Alaska Air to Portland, 7 May.
Train with Mike, 8 – 10 May.
Fly to Montgomery, AL, 11 May.
Inspect airplane 12 May.
Fly back to Fresno, CA 13 -14 May or 14 – 15 May, airplane and WX dependent.
Leave ends 15 May.
That was the plan.
Worse case was fly out to Alabama to look the plane over and have to come back and get it when I was qualified.
Well, it all went according to plan. The owner/builder is a great guy, and he built a very nice little airplane. He’s also just finished a twelve year build on a lovely scratch built Wag-A-Bond.
Inspection - Very clean airplane!
I didn’t leave Alabama until the Tuesday the 14th due to a little issue with the RV, but I got very familiar with it on Sunday and Monday going through everything. I was in Fresno by 1200 on the 15th, and the plane did very well.
Day one of RV ownership, Demming NM.
I have a few things I need to change right away, and already got my first box of goodies from Vans. I’m removing the vernier throttle for a standard friction throttle, changing the basic push-pull mixture for a vernier control, and replacing the old style seatbelts and cables. I have a few squawks and some other wants, so there will be things to tinker with for a while, but it's very solid.
Took the wife for her first hop on Sunday, breakfast at San Luis Obispo. I even stopped by the "office" for a visit.
Fair warning, there will be some questions coming! Thanks to Rob Ray for his guidance, same for Rick Gray who kindly answered my questions, and thanks again to all of you for all the great info on this site! One of those bits of info was Jenny at NationAir, painless on the insurance.
Doug Jones
So I'm an RV owner!
aboard the good ship VAF.
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