My wife Amanda and I have been working on our RV6A since October 2009. We took a break and flew our 182 up to colorado. We have flown the same route for years... GPM to BGD for the first fuel stop and finally up to 4V1. 4V1 is a very sleepy little airport with about 10 hangars. Only in the past few years did 4 more get built. Anyway, we arrived and powered down. We pulled out our new folding bicycles that was suggested by...
http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...ighlight=bikes
We rode around the little airport and then got geared up to move baggage into the vehicle and get going. I reached for the master and turned it on.... but there was not the familiar click. I knew right away that the either the switch or the master itself was having a bad day. While we were riding around, the normally deserted airport had a flurry of activity. One pilot was caressing his newly purchased cessna 410, while in another hangar two fellas were resurrecting a Piper Comanche 250.
When I discovered I had a technical difficulty with the 182, I pulled out my tools and got busy. I soon discovered that I needed a multimeter.... which would be in my cabin 45 minutes away. I zipped over to the hangar where the Commanche was getting fixed and asked to borrow a meter. They had one and I was back to work. After a bit of screwing around I figured out that the Master solenoid was bad. I began to remove it and one of the guys working on the Commanche came up and asked if all was well. I told him that I needed the master and was just going to order one. He said "I'll be right back". What a great day for me!!! In just a few minutes he came back from his hangar and handed me the very part I need to bring the old 182 back to life. I need to drill cable ends to a slightly larger diameter hole so I went to his hangar to do this. In there I found that he is in the process of assembling an RV7A. I of course took a big interest in his project. He has done a masterful job with the panel and workmanship is excellent. He is retired....he used to own an aircraft repair shop in Pueblo. I was sooo happy to get help in repairing my 182, but it was really cool to get it from another RV builder. This coincidence goes one step further. My cabin is in a remote part of colorado and I have very few neighbors. However, a neighbor that I met on this trip just happens to own a RV8!
My wife and I have had a very positive experience with the vans community , not just with the building part... but also with the spiritual and just dumb luck of meeting other vans people. We just wanted to share this others.
We have a few hoses we just had made for PHT (Tulsa) to install and then we have to fix our lower cowling. We are hoping to have our first flight in the next month or two.
To Colorado and Back to Texas
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