RV-8 N898JW Jon Weiswasser

[jonweisw]

N898JW is a standard-kit RV-8 which first flew in July of 2004. The empennage was ordered the day following September 11, 2001, and construction time was 2147h spread over 568 work sessions, occupying two years and nine months. The vast majority of the construction was accomplished in the basement of my house (at the time) in downtown Washington, DC, a house which ultimately required that some 'minor' adjustments to the foundation and various retaining walls and doors be made to allow 'the ship out of the bottle' (where there's a will, there's a way - see at end of post below).



Construction could not have been accomplished without the help of other builders, and in my case I am forever indebted to Mike Witte (RV-7), Craig Moen (RV-8), Carl Froehlich (RV-8A), and Curtis Hinkley (RV-8).

The airplane is equipped with the following:

FWF:
Lycoming IO-360M1B (180Hp Injected from Van's)
Dual Lightspeed Plasma II Electronic Ignition
Whirlwind 200RV
Dual, separate, and independant electrical systems.

Panel:
Dynon D10
Standard six-pack backup (steam and electrical, incl 2 1/4" elect AI)
CNX-80
MX-20
SL-40
GX-330 with Mode S traffic awareness
PS 4000 Intercom
TruTrak Digiflight 2 axis AP with GPS steer
Grand Rapids Tech EIS
JPI FloScan fuel totalizer
WSI Onboard Weather System
XM radio

The panel was wired by Avionics Systems in Leesburg, VA and the paint by Hagerstown Aircraft Services in Hagerstown, MD; both vendors I strongly endorse. And no, I do not watch Nascar, despite the tail motif.

The schematic of the electrical system (which is quite robust) was designed by Carl Froehlich and is available on demand on PowerPoint.





Based currently at Lincoln Park, NJ (N07), I now have 250 hours of total flight time on it, including two trips to OSH and a recent trip to Daytona to try to catch the shuttle launch which was weathered out, but worth the trip nonetheless. I have enjoyed every minute of flying and maintaining it, and do my best to inspire others to take on the challenge and tremendous reward of this extraordinary endeavor.



Video links to view basement extraction, first flight, and a 'finale' posted below.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3bWViG60c4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQI-nE946mc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apFG9yqaySc


Jon Weiswasser
Montclair, NJ
jonweisw at rcn dot com

[RV-3Bravo]

Great lookin -8. LOVE that paintjob!!

[praterdj]

Great plane and panel. Awsome paint scheme. How do you like the radios on the left side? I'm trying to make that decision now.

[panhandler1956]

Another gorgeous RV-8 - thanks for sharing Jon!!!

[jonweisw]

I have been very happy with the panel layout - having the radios on the left always made sense to me, as your left hand is more idle than the right when flying the -8 and therefore it seems like a more ergonomic approach.

Thanks for the compliments!

Jon

[ISBB]

That my friend is the panel layout i have been dreaming of... Same equiptment as well.. Good job.. Now i know where to look when i need ideas.. except i would flip flop the radio's and engine monitoring/weather stacks

[jonweisw]

I thought that this would be more ergonomic, given the location of the throttle and the fact that you fly the plane with your right hand.

[ISBB]

growing up flying traditional aircraft from the left seat the radio stack is on the right and i usually fly w/ my left hand... i suppose after flying w/ the right hand for a while you get used to it.. To each his own... but excellent panel..

[ProCoach]

Great plane. I love the panel. The mix of elec and steam is very nice, but I especially like the symmetry. You nailed it.

[luigi_from_italy]

Very nice panel, very clean, very ergonomic.
The airplane speaks itself. Great job,
Luigi