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  #11  
Old 04-14-2016, 10:01 AM
Mike S's Avatar
Mike S Mike S is online now
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Dayton Airpark, NV A34
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Ya done well------now the only problem will be trying to top that for the next anniversary
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Mike Starkey
VAF 909

Rv-10, N210LM.

Flying as of 12/4/2010

Phase 1 done, 2/4/2011

Sold after 240+ wonderful hours of flight.

"Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it."
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  #12  
Old 04-14-2016, 11:34 AM
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AX-O AX-O is offline
 
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Location: SoCal
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I encourage my wife to share her flying experiences with others so she can help other folks who are not so open about flying. When we first met, she was deadly afraid of flying. Below are what she typed to her friends.

Part 1 (this was hours after the flight)
What an awesome flight! Words can't express how proud I am of Axel for the time and dedication it took to build this plane. I waited 10 years for this moment. To finally get to fly in the backseat of an airplane my husband built. I'm just speechless. I told Axel later I had tears running down my face. Thank you. I will never forget this day!

Part 2 (this was the following day after things settled down and I kept asking what do you think)
Ok part two..... I woke up this am and just can't believe I flew in our plane last night! I know many of you might not completely understand how big of a deal this truly is.

The airplane is not only super fast, but the detail Axel put into it is just crazy! I'm sure for all the other pilots they get all excited about the instrument panel, prop, engine....... For me, the extra things Axel thought of for my comfort is just so sweet.

There is more room for me in the back. I don't have to put my head down now when he closes the canopy. I can see back there so much better. There was a little strap to hang my headset. He put all my plug ins behind me so I don't get all tangled in the cords. (It happens, have you seen me dance back there). There are custom made arm rests along with my custom fitted seat with support. Yep, Axel has an outline of my booty 😳. He put in little air vents on each side of me they have levers to open and close easily. I have magazine holders also on each side of me. I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting in all of the excitement last night!

Building can be be so incredible stressful at times. (I know, I practically built that thing my self! )Lol. So for him to take the time to put all of these extra things in when he could have been working on something else was just so incredibly thoughtful and sweet of him ! I can't wait to get back in there and fly again!



So there you go. Share that with your spouse. If that does not get them to at least rethink, well.. maybe we can give them a call.
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Axel
RV-4 fastback thread and Pics
VAF 2020 paid VAF 704
The information that I post is just that; information and my own personal experiences. You need to weight out the pros and cons and make up your own mind/decisions. The pictures posted may not show the final stage or configuration. Build at your own risk.
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  #13  
Old 04-14-2016, 12:05 PM
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DonFromTX DonFromTX is offline
 
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Location: La Feria Texas
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Beautiful idea, well executed! Now I want to do the same, but one question: Where did you get the ticket format?

Quote:
Originally Posted by AX-O View Post
How do you say thank you to someone that has supported your childhood dream to build an aircraft? To someone so special that gave up so much for 10 years just so I could go pound rivets, grow fiberglass parts, complain when things would not go my way, not once ask how much that box that UPS delivered cost and so on??? To someone that said "stay out of my kitchen, that is my garage". I don't touch your tools, you don't touch mine. I will keep you feed and hydrated, just go build".

Those were a few of the questions I asked myself once Dilemma started to go from a "maybe" to "this thing will fly". Me being one of those hopeless-romantic types about my wife and aviation started to think maybe I will take her flying for the first time on a day that means something to her. Well Phase I just kept going on and on. And I missed a few planned days (in my head, she never knew). I kept concentrating on Phase I, blew by 40 hrs, blew by 45 hrs and then finally Dilemma was out of Phase I.

Wait a minute......... My wedding anniversary is in 3 days. I already had purchased tickets to see Adele (BTW, it was easier to build an airplane than to find these tickets). What if I take her up for her first ride on that day? Well that was now the plan. I told her we were going out on a date and questions were not allowed.

Now.... how do I make this fun for her? Think, think. I got it. It will be like one of those rides at the fair (although safer). I will make her an ADMIT ONE ticket. The number on the ticket will be our anniversary date, it will have a picture of her seat and one of the plane. She will hand me the ticket and I will rip the corner and hand the rest back to her (that corner now lives in my wallet). 10 minutes on the computer and bammmm!



I handed her 2 envelopes the morning of our anniversary. She was happy. I could tell she was happy about Adele tickets and somewhat scared of her ride. She has not flown with me in almost a year.

That afternoon I got the plane ready and called her once everything was set. That morning I checked Wheathermeister to get the sunset time. I planed the flight based on that.

Then it was time. "Hand me the ticket lady".


"Please take you seat".
"ok, but I am not stepping on these seats".



We took our time staring up. I told her that it would take a while to figure things out again. Gave her the brief I always give my passengers. "This is an Experimental aircraft. It was build by me and not a factory. Regulations state that I must let you know that and that you reply with you understand and you still want to go flying if that is the case. In am emergency......."

Taxied out, run up, etc. Started the takeoff roll, climbed out, she was quiet. Then I asked what do you think? "OMG, the take off was so fast. It sounds different than the other one, it is so smooth". She gave it a thumbs up (I was hopping for 2).


I kept an eye on the time, flew her around the area, over her friend's house then back to the airport at sunset. Total time was 0.6 hrs.


Pretty "epic" as the kids say these days.

So that was my first attempt at saying thank you to my wife. As I move from the building/testing phase to the operational phase, I will have to pay up with many new adventures. She was already planning on how she was going to configure her spaces back there. And came up with some great ideas. So a BIG THANK YOU to my wife. I would have not been able to this without your support, patience and understanding. On to the next phase of our life journey together.
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  #14  
Old 04-14-2016, 12:07 PM
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AX-O AX-O is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DonFromTX View Post
Where did you get the ticket format?
I made it in "paint". It tool less than 10 minutes from start to print.
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Axel
RV-4 fastback thread and Pics
VAF 2020 paid VAF 704
The information that I post is just that; information and my own personal experiences. You need to weight out the pros and cons and make up your own mind/decisions. The pictures posted may not show the final stage or configuration. Build at your own risk.
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  #15  
Old 04-14-2016, 01:13 PM
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G-force G-force is offline
 
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Location: Castaic, CA
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Congrats and happy anniversary.
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Mike Sumner
Castaic, Ca
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  #16  
Old 04-14-2016, 02:26 PM
rightrudder rightrudder is offline
 
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Location: Laguna Hills, CA
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A really nice gesture, Axel! Does your wife have a sister?

It looks like we had the same DAR. I recognized Adam's writing on your RV's turtle deck. He's a great dude.
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RV-9A "slider"
Flew to Osh in 2017, 2018 & 2019!
Tail number N427DK
Donation made for 2020
You haven't seen a tree until you've seen its shadow from the sky -- Amelia Earhart
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  #17  
Old 04-14-2016, 06:15 PM
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Weasel Weasel is offline
 
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Location: Brooksville, MS
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Was very sweet of you man!
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RV-4 715hr Sold
RV-10 "School Bus" - +1600hr counting
Fisher Classic Cassler Power VW sold
RV-10 N7631T 820hr Sold
RV-8 700+hrs
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http://weaselrv10.blogspot.com/
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  #18  
Old 04-14-2016, 06:55 PM
patterson patterson is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Queen Creek AZ
Posts: 541
Thumbs up nice!

With all the troubled marriages we know about or see on tv, its nice to hear about a love affair that is still going on....oh, and it involves an RV-4!
Well done, both of you. Many more.
Ron
n8zd - also an RV-4
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  #19  
Old 04-14-2016, 07:01 PM
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Fhuber Fhuber is offline
 
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Excellent! It's not surprising given how much thought you put into building your project.
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  #20  
Old 04-14-2016, 09:20 PM
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Blain Blain is offline
 
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Location: El Dorado Hills, CA
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Congratulations Axel! I hope to have that same experience with my wife.
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