Not Your Typical First Flight Letter

[Bob Axsom]

Copied from Vansaircraft site. Something about it is appealing:

My goal was to keep it simple and light. It flies like the RV7 I flew when I took my transition training with Mike. I really don’t have anyone to thank, the entire plane was completed by me, every rivet. My wife has never been supportive and still is not. My children were too young when I started and have never had any interest in it.

I do want to thank everyone at Van’s aircraft for the support during the construction.

[danielhv]

Originally Posted by Bob Axsom

Copied from Vansaircraft site. Something about it is appealing:

My goal was to keep it simple and light. It flies like the RV7 I flew when I took my transition training with Mike. I really don?t have anyone to thank, the entire plane was completed by me, every rivet. My wife has never been supportive and still is not. My children were too young when I started and have never had any interest in it.

I do want to thank everyone at Van?s aircraft for the support during the construction.

Wow... sounds kinda bitter, but I can see where he is coming from! All of my support has come from VAF and a handfull of you guys that I have had the opportunity to meet in person (Chris Pratt, Charlie Kearns, Mel, Jeremy Fields). I can't get my girlfriend interested in this stuff at all. I've tried. So when I'm in the garage sweating, drilling, and pounding rivets... its just me, a cell phone for the tough situations, and good old Hank Williams Jr. in the background.

Good times...

-Daniel

[Ironflight]

Having built my airplane partly as therapy for a marriage that was never going to recover, and on through the divorce, I feel a great deal of empathy for the person who wrote that post. Yes, I had the occasional visitor, but 99.9% of the plane I built myself - with the moral support and spiritual participation of the online, "virtual" community. But mostly, the work was solitary - and therapeutic.

I hope that he now discovers the incredible world of friends and acquaintances that are out thee in RV-land....it sure worked for me!

Paul

[BrentHumphreys]

Ouch.

Admire his dedicationas a builder,
Worry about the long term prospects.

[the_other_dougreeves]

Not all good things come out of good circumstances. Flying and building are life-changing experiences; some change will be good, some will be bad. It's what you choose to take from those experinces that makes us who we are.

TODR

[N8RV]

Just out of curiosity, those of you who claim that you've driven all of your own rivets, how do you buck your own rivets when building the wings and fuse? There are just too many places that I can't imagine HOW one could reach around with a bucking bar. The friend who bucked my rivets had a hard enough time getting to some of those without having to run the gun as well.

How is it done?

[wil]

That is a bit of a sad read. At least he has an airplane he can say he built himself.

I am fortunate my wife supports our dreams of building our RV-7 fully. Just yesterday she said we'd better get started or we'll never finish. She knows she will shoot a lot of rivets and is looking foreward to getting started. I feel for the guys whose wives don't like airplanes and flying.

wil

[JakeLewis22]

This brings back some bad memories. The main reason I wanted side by side seating is that I wanted to share my love of flying with others and allow them to take part. I put off starting my project for about a year trying to get my wife's support, I finally gave up and placed the order.

The RV7 has been great therapy after the subsequent separation and pending divorce. Lucky for me, my adult son has taken an interest and comes over a few times each week to help. He has earned his spot as first passenger after phase one.

Those of you with supportive wives, you're lucky men! You owe your wife a big hug because it seems they are a minority.

[danielhv]

Originally Posted by JakeLewis22

Those of you with supportive wives, you're lucky men! You owe your wife a big hug because it seems they are a minority.

Thats no joke! Im not married... but I REALLY wish my girlfriend would take interest. When I convince her to go fly in a spam can, she gets sick. She's pretty sensitive to motion sickness, so im sure that doesn't help. I'll bet 99% of my flights will be solo.

[John Courte]

My wife supports the project, in theory, if not in practice. She can't stand the sound of air tools, ear protection or not. And the vibration of the air drill is, and I quote, "icky." She has also gone full into her project (I won't dare call it a hobby), which I'll call Extreme Gardening (tm). I'm all for it, I get fresh fruits and veggies most of the time.

But still. It would be nice to have that extra brain in the shop once in a while to keep me on track with the measuring, the reading of plans, etc. I keep telling her, it's like sewing, but with metal. She's not buying it.

Oh well. I can live with the role of the mad scientist in the shop out back.