F

Firstlight

Active Member
Hello Group:

My name is Wayne. I fly in the London/St Thomas region of Ontario, up in frozen Canada. I've never posted anything on this forum.

I have been able to sneak away about once per week this winter, and to my delight, the simple patch heater has let me get my 320-powered '4 started every time.

This morning was a crystal-clear sky with sunlight washing out the cockpit. It was -16C on the ground when I pulled the airplane out, and all the little air leaks feel like cryo-therapy at 4,000' and 140 kts. But the awesome vista of snow-covered farms spreading between the frozen and ice-jumbled shores of Lake Erie and Huron is worth a little pain.

The '4 is relatively new to me, and every flight feels like a privilege. Which of course, it is.

Cheers,

WBK
London, ON
N1478
0-320, wood prop, bought flying
 
"Cryo-therapy"--I like that! It is good to welcome another the-glass-is-half-full kinda guy.

Bob Kelly
 
Welcome

Hi Wayne,
It has been crisp here in the morning's lately, thats for sure.
Not sure if your aware of the rv community around here or not, but just incase your not here are a few names of rv folks in St.Thomas.
GaryWilcox(me) RV7
Tom Martin Evo Rocket
Ed Perl RV7
Charlie Murray RV9
John Carey RV7A
Bob Curtis RV7A

There are alot more in southern Ontario and its nice to have another in the area.
 
Nice to meet y'all. What oil temperature do you see in this weather?

Hey Folks:

Thanks for the welcome. There sure is a lot of wisdom stored in the archives of this site. I've been reading through some old conversations. A little bit overwhelming!.

Gary, I am pretty sure we have met. Are you the combat-painted 7 in the second last hangar at the west end of the private hangars at CYXU? I am the maniac with the hangar bursting at the seams with seaplanes, hang gliders, trikes, etc down at the south end, almost across from Ed. I locked myself out once and you loaned me a #2 Phillips screwdriver to break in. Ring any bells? Ed came out to the airport to help me with a GPS problem a few weeks ago. I met Tom at an RAA chapter meeting, and at YXU once or twice in passing. He did a pre-buy on my old 6A when I sold it to a guy from Oshawa a few years ago. I don't think I've met the other guys. Yet!

I've got to make a cover for my oil cooler to try to get the temperatures up. What do you like to see on a Lycoming? It seems that every time I do this, we get a warm spell and I end up doing a precautionary landing to try to get some air moving through the cooler again...BUt it is just too cool to let the poor thing run the way it is. On my last flight the highest I saw was 160.

So, I have been trying to find a way to explain to my sensorily impoverished
flying buddies how wonderful even a plane-jane RV4 like mine really is. Have any of you found any pictures, videos, poems, pieces of particularly descriptive writing, etc that gets the point across?

Cheers,

Wayne
 
I don't think there's any wording that could adequately explain it. A ride is worth a million words, even in the back seat of a -4.

Nothing against -4's, I liked every ride I was given in one... but the back isn't the roomiest place to fly in.
 
yep, it is me

Wayne,
yep, thats me. I guess my memory is getting the better of me. Bursting at the seems is a very accurate discription of your hanger !!:D
Oil temps are always a pain with the fluctuations in weather up here.
 
Firstlight said:
Hey Folks:

...
So, I have been trying to find a way to explain to my sensorily impoverished
flying buddies how wonderful even a plane-jane RV4 like mine really is. Have any of you found any pictures, videos, poems, pieces of particularly descriptive writing, etc that gets the point across?

Cheers,

Wayne
Click to expand...
Do search for "Treetop Flyer" on Youtube. That about covers it.
 
plane-jane RV4 like mine
Click to expand...

It is interesting(as I look back) the thought processes I and others have gone through over the years relative to airplanes.

When I first learned to fly I thought "wow someday I could possibly fly a Cherokee 140, they really look hot."
Followed by bigger, faster ,complex, multi, turbine, etc.

Now I find my eyes being more and more attracted by cubs, aeroncas, and plane jane RV 4s.

Every now and then a yellow open cockpit RV 3 photo appears on the VAF opening page and I find it one of the most desirable paplanes I have ever seen.

You are correct, your "plane jane RV 4 " is one fine flying machine that any pilot would be lucky to own.
 
Great to see another 4 owner from back home.
I grew up hanging out at Bush Hawk Creek just south of Straffordville. TJ took me for my first flight at 13 and Him and Lauren got me started. That place is also the first place I saw an RV and knew the 4 is what I wanted to build. I've seen most of the planes mentioned here (including the rocket!) at the farm.
I'm starting my build in Jan of 11 after my tour, and hope to see you guys at the fall gathering at Bush Hawk that year as well.
It's great to have that local little band of RVs so close to home for me.
 
Weather stinks, but at least we can dream...

Hi again, Everybody:

The weather is pretty nasty tonight. My poor airplane is shivering in the hangar with the top cowling off and oil cooler exposed to the freezing drafts. I was hoping to get to the airport tonight to cover off the cooler, but it's just TDC!

(Too Damned Cold)

I had a look at the excellent Tree Top Flyer video. That got my juices flowing. Bring on spring!

I think it is amazing that I signed on to an electronic forum and immediately meet two people from my own backyard. The combination of truly outstanding aircraft designs and the rise of digital media have made a whole new level of community possible.

Cheers,

Wayne
 
N395V said:
It is interesting(as I look back) the thought processes I and others have gone through over the years relative to airplanes.

When I first learned to fly I thought "wow someday I could possibly fly a Cherokee 140, they really look hot."
Followed by bigger, faster ,complex, multi, turbine, etc.

Now I find my eyes being more and more attracted by cubs, aeroncas, and plane jane RV 4s.

Every now and then a yellow open cockpit RV 3 photo appears on the VAF opening page and I find it one of the most desirable paplanes I have ever seen.

You are correct, your "plane jane RV 4 " is one fine flying machine that any pilot would be lucky to own.
Click to expand...

It is interesting... When I was a kid I knew from the pilots in my life that I was supposed to like swoopy airplanes. I'd look at adverts for Barons, Seneca IIs and Malibus and try to imagine myself driving one around. It never really clicked - I just couldn't put myself in that picture. I was dreaming about sailplanes, but have you priced one of them lately?

When I discovered homebuilt airplanes, the dreams suddenly got brighter and more vivid. I *knew* I would be flying an RV one day. I had a wonderful 6A for a while and flew it all over the east coast. But it was a bit early in life for an airplane that nice, and it got passed on to a bass-playing, blues jamming computer guy who was in a position to afford it. In return, we got a nice house down-payment and a slow boil in my guts to get my hands on another RV. As soon as possible!

The 4 has always been a thing of beauty (although the 6 and 7 are really elegant seen from the side, too) to me. I helped a friend of mine find and buy one, and I dreamed about one for myself. It took a while to find one I could afford, but I got back in the RV game when a builder decided it was time to pass it on. Although I miss the easy loading and CG range of the 6A, I *love* the feel of rolling down the taxiway in such a cool little airplane. And in this cold weather, the performance has been phenomenal.

The 4 is probably about as "complex" an airplane as I am likely to own. I think a 3 would be an amazing thing to own one day. I used to have a Rans S7 that was a great sport plane in its own right. What I really love, is flying hang gliders. Doesn't get much simpler than that...

Cheers,

Wayne
 
Faster than a speeding Trike... I mean bullet

Hey Wayne, an RV-4 is not exactly a trike ultralight :p

Glad to hear that you have a plane you can fly year round. I'm still waiting for that (This summer hopefully). Once the Zenith is up and running, I'm hope to get into a -4 project

Doug MacDonald
CH-701 scratch builder
RV-4 Dreamer.
 
dougsnash said:
Once the Zenith is up and running, I'm hope to get into a -4 project

Doug MacDonald
CH-701 scratch builder
RV-4 Dreamer.
Click to expand...

Interesting combination of planes there, you’ve got the same taste I do, and each plane has a different kind of envelope it flies in. That came down to my final two choices of which plane I was going to build, and went back and forth for about six months before settling on the 4 and will get the kits at the end of March. Hope to have it built in less than 30 months since I have nothing but time on my hands these days, and then I think I will try a 701 or 750 next with the bubble doors. I spent most of my time at the Zenith booth at Oshkosh last year. You building the 701 from scratch sure shows a lot of fortitude.
 
Zenith 701 vs RV-4

The Zenith has been a spectacular education for me. If I were doing it today, I would still likely start with a Zenith project. Likely would build a 750 instead of a 701 though.

Now that I have the slow end of the envelope covered, I would like to think about a much faster plane. I started lusting after the Midget Mustang after an article I read in Sport Aviation. A fellow EAA chapter member (and early RV-6 kit builder) suggested that the RV-3 would be a better plane than a M-1. Another friend that I highly respect said, "Heck if your going to build an RV-3, why not put a back seat in it and build a 4?" I figured that was a good point.

So I started looking at an RV-4 as my next project. It is still going to be a couple of years before I'm ready to start on one though (unless a "too good to pass up" deal comes along). I've looked at the RV-4 and compared it to the RV-8. I like the looks of the 4 much better than the 8 but am worried about the back seat capacity of the 4. My father will want to go for a ride and he is a bit too heavy for the 4.

Ah, things to think and dream about

Doug MacDonald
RV-4 dreamer
Zenith CH-701 Scratch Builder
NW Ontario, Canada
 
Opposite ends of the spectrum

Doug mentioned building (from scratch!) a 701, but also dreaming about the '4. I understand that, as I also lie awake at night dreaming about trikes (weight shift ultralights). The most complex aircraft I have owned was a retractable-gear motorglider with a folding prop, that you could stuff in the trunk of your car and you needed to run to take off and landed on your feet - a motorized hang glider harness! Any day that I could mix flying that with airplanes was a good day indeed.

These days I have upgraded my equipment a bit, and I have a tiny trike with an 18 HP four-cycle engine, fully retractable gear and a reserve parachute behind my head. My goal is to fly the '4 out to the hang gliding field this summer, soar the heart out of the day with an aerotow launch, and then blast home in the RV in time to catch the Lake Erie sunset with the little ultralight.

What a perfect day that will be... Roll on Spring!

Cheers,

Wayne
 
Oldie but a goodie

Doug,

I started my RV4 dreaming in Japan while flying F-16's there in 1989. Saw an ad in a magazine, liked it and bought a tail kit having never seen one before. Built it with the help of my good friend Arvil, test flew it (my first RV flight) and loved every minute of it. 21 years, 1500 RV4 and 1000 Rocket hours later, I still feel the same way :)

You have chosen wisely...

Smokey
HR2
 
The 701 still seems to outperform the 750 in most categories despite the factory claiming otherwise. Even if their claim is true that the 750 might cruise slightly faster, using their own info, the 701 100 HP Rotax still has a slightly better TO & L, climbs slightly better, and the most important thing to me, it has a somewhat better stall by 5 mph. One concern I had for these planes is the thin metal (.016) used for much of it, which even the factory demo?s at Oshkosh had a few waves in them in the top wing, and parts of the fuselage. When .016 is used for part of the RV-4 tail, from the planes I?ve seen it seems to fit tight as a drum.

I considered the Mustang I too, even ordered their plans of which I thought could have been much better. They still don?t have near the builder support such as a site like this has either for Van?s aircraft, but most still rely on yahoo?s antiquated system, spam and all. The quality and amount of info available on Van?s aircrafts is second to none; just a heck of a lot of knowledgeable enthusiasts for his planes.

If you haven?t found the time yet, do yourself a favor and post date the search engine for 4?s and read all of the feedback on it here at this site. This is what finally sold me on this particular Van?s aircraft, and why I felt like it was the overall best choice for me. All or his planes are great though.

Hey Wayne, what kind of motorglider are you describing? Are there any youtubes clips of this particular kind?
 
Minimalist (really!) Motorglider

wrongway john said:
If you haven?t found the time yet, do yourself a favor and post date the search engine for 4?s and read all of the feedback on it here at this site. This is what finally sold me on this particular Van?s aircraft, and why I felt like it was the overall best choice for me. All or his planes are great though.

Hey Wayne, what kind of motorglider are you describing? Are there any youtubes clips of this particular kind?
Click to expand...

That's good advice from John. I've been reading through the archives and am just amazed and delighted at the wealth of info available from the members of this group. Great resource!

The motorglider I was referring to was the "Doodlebug" powered hang gliding harness. It basically allowed us to launch ourselves from flat ground without a tug to pull us, or a mountain to run off. Great fun, but very, very little room for error...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4cnqzMGU0A&feature=related

I have decided to recognize that God intended our feet to keep svelte and sporty airplanes like RV4s rolling along the runway centerline, instead of being used as landing gear. I have thus upgraded to one of these (albeit with manual landing gear rather than electric retracts). I have flown over 2 hours on less than half a gallon of gas - awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Vqxi5paRg&feature=related

These things are totally at the opposite end of the spectrum from the '4. But the heart of a pilot is large enough for more than just one type of flying, right?

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/images/smilies/smile.gif

See you in the Blue Room,

Wayne
 
Thanks for the links, Wayne, those look like a lot of fun. Might have to get me something like this until I get my 4 flying. Sure can’t beat 2 hours of flight on a less than a half a gallon of gas, and like the fact you can pretty much take off and land those anywhere. I very briefly looked into these years ago, but the ones I always seen had you slipping in the canvas bag with in a horizontal position which I didn’t think I would like much. Like these with regular seating much better.
 
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