The Flag first flew Aug. 16, 2004 at Frazier Lake Airpark in Hollister, CA. with Robin Reid at the controls. Robin at the time was a 24,000 hour pilot. There were several small gripes that needed addressing such as the heavy left wing that many of us experience. Also was a small oil leak around the prop governor, and a fuel guage that I had the capacitive senders hooked up incorrectly. With the items fixed the hours were flown off and our new life began.
In the last two years Sherri and I have put 340 hours on "The Flag" and have seen many new places and met many new friends. As Trish Russel told us, "RV's come with friends." No other words have described the hobby as well as hers. There are so many adventures waiting out there after all of the rivets are set and the finishing touches accomplished that turn these crates that arrive at our houses into these machines that tranform our lives.
During the building many decisions had to be made and some of the ones that I believe were the good choices were using AeroSport Power to build up an engine for "The Flag" and opting for a Hartzell to help the engine give us its best work regardless of the mission. Without a doubt choosing Grady and the boys at GLO Custom to paint our baby was one of the better decisions we made. Getting the plane to Texas from California for a paint job was a bit of a chore, but what the heck. I built this thing to fly. Grady did us proud and turned an ugly duckling into something beautiful. I can't recommend him enough!
If your out and about look for us, we'll be "Flyin' The Flag."
Here's a link to a short video showing what it is like to fly in a 9A.
http://www.zippyvideos.com/106766510...v-9a_take_off/
Blue Skies,
RV-9A N994W Bryan Wood
Linear Mode
