It has been over 20 years since I have flown in a RV. Back in 1984 I flew with Van in his RV-4 prototype (#2). In 1986 I flew with a friend in his RV-4 and took aerial photos of my father?s house under construction in beautiful Patagonia Arizona. As a passenger in an RV-4 you get to sit in the cheap seat.
But this past weekend my life changed. Mark Chamberlain (AKA ?Glider?) and I flew in his RV-7 from Tucson to the LOE fly-in and I got to ride in the front.
As many of you may know I built an RV-4 in the early 1980?s (Plan #704 if I recall correctly). But like most young builders who start out building an plane and a family at the same time, it is only a matter of time when your priorities and finances shift and you have to make some tough choices. Some of you out there may also have made this same painful decision as I did. I sold the RV-4 finish but not flying (liability reasons).
As my family grew, my finances just kept up with my needs. But over time there was light at the end of the tunnel. After spending too many years sitting on the sidelines and staring at the computer screen and watching stocks go up and down (mainly down) I decided it was time to get back in the game.
So in 2002 I decide to build an RV-7A (Tip-up). I still hadn?t flown in an RV since 1986 but I knew it was the right plane to build. I asked Van?s for another ride at several of the local fly-ins but since I had already taken a demo ride back in 1984 I was not eligible for another.
I continued to build without getting a ride. There were a few local RV owners who offered a ride but the scheduling never really worked out. So a few weeks ago I contacted Mark and asked if I could hitch a ride to the LOE fly-in. Mark was nice enough to agree and he met me at the Tucson International Airport (TIA) on his way to NM. So off we went.
The takeoff was uneventful. Mark didn?t really push the RV to it?s extremes for two reasons. First, I haven?t flown in a small plane for several years and he didn?t want to stress me out. Secondly TIA is a commercial/military airport and he didn?t want to out perform the F-16 fighters taking off. We exited the airport area and Mark engaged the two axis auto pilot and off we went.
Now back in 1990, that is when I sold my RV-4, GPS didn?t exist in general aviation, auto-pilots were an experimental aircraft owns dream and EFIS/Engine monitors weren?t in any builders vocabulary. But now they are common place. The GPS talks to the auto pilot, radio and EFIS. Everything is interconnected. The EFIS/engine monitor warns you if something goes wrong with the engine. So with everything working in concert we flew to the LOE.
As we flew I realized how great the view from the tip-up was. In fact I would forget there was a canopy in from of me. No support structure to remind me I was behind a windscreen. The view was spectacular. I definitely made the right decision building the tip-up. BTW my canopy was completed a year ago.
With a good tailwind our ground speed was over 240 mph. In the C-172/C-152?s I flew long ago I was lucky to see 120 mph ground speeds on a good day. So needless to say it only took a little over an hour to reach our destination. The RV is truly a time machine.
I always enjoyed landing when I flew as PIC, but I never flew in an airplane that had such great visibility as the RV-7. Mark did a great job with a wheel landing at the LOE airport. As we taxied onto the ramp there were over 100 RV?s already parked their. As the engine was shut down I felt I was another step closer to being one of the RV drivers out there.
The returning flight to Tucson was just as enjoyable as the departing flight although a bit slower due to head winds. Mark did a great three point landing on runway 21 and he dropped me off at the executive terminal. On our approach into the Tucson airport area the approach controller actually asked us to slow down 20 knots. I don?t ever remember any controller asking me to slow down in C-172/C-150?s I flew.
I have been building my RV-7A for almost 5 years now. I am getting closer to completion and I hope to fly it to the LOE next year. Thanks to Mark I feel a little closer to flying my dream.
I have graduated from the cheap seats.
No longer in the cheap seats.
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