Danny King
Well Known Member
When opportunity knocks it's always smart to answer the door. Paul (Ironflight) Dye needed to get his new RV-8 Valkyrie back to Northwest Regional (52F) for some final detailing prior to her grand entrance at AirVenture 2006. There was just this one small problem. On the forth of July, NASA sent up the biggest rocket fired that day, namely the shuttle Discovery, therefore Paul, being NASA's lead Flight Director, was slightly tied up at the job. The local RV gang kicked the options around, and decided to pick the guy with the most RV-8 time. Lucky me!
Sunday morning, I non-revved to Houston Hobby (KHOU) on American Eagle and Paul pick me up a few hours after getting off the late shift monitoring Discovery's progress in orbit. We went strait to his airport located approximately five miles south of Hobby. I sat in Valkyrie's cockpit as Paul gave me a detailed panel checkout. The Doll's panel is full of round steam gages, so even though the front seat was familiar, the panel look more like the Boeing 777's panel I flew for American Airlines then what I'm use to looking at! It was clear that an engineer had built this aircraft. Everything was well organized, and the attention to detail had NASA written all over it. It was a beauty to behold. There were three alternate power sources, redundancy, and backup systems everywhere, yet in a matter of minutes I felt comfortable, at home, and ready to take her cross country.
A small shower passed, and Houston's famous humidity hit 100%. I hit the starter and the LYCO 0360 started on the second blade. I didn't tell Paul this, but I was concerned about controlling Valkyrie when I saw the pedal extensions that had given me so much trouble in another RV-8. I checked my heels on the floor and began the taxi out. I was very relieved when Valkyrie quickly answered my rudder and brake inputs like the polite lady she is, and by the time I reached the runway, all my doubts about controlling her had evaporated.
Soon I was on the runway, the tail was up, and we were off. I thought about making a pass so Paul could see his beauty in flight, but the dark rain shower a mile from the runway told me to keep it strictly business. Besides, Paul might feel like a father watching some strange man make off with his daughter. Best to fly her out of sight, and call him when I land.
This day was the kind of day that makes you so very glad to be among the lucky people that fly. All around me were cylinder shaped shafts of rain coming down. The visibility was excellent, and there was plenty of room to maneuver around the cells. The air had that, it just rained smell about it. The clouds were white popcorn towering cumulus against a very blue sky. I knew that this flight would end too soon.
With the top EFIS display giving me ADI information, I switched the lower EFIS from engine monitor to the map display. Presto, all the complicated airspace, for KHOU, KIAH, and several Class D airports were clearly displayed. When I pointed Valkyrie's nose at one of them, the circle turned red. When I adjusted my heading just enough to miss it, the circle turned green again. Dam*, I'm already getting jealous and spoiled, and I'm not even twenty miles for Paul's airport.
Once clear of all the airspace, I climbed Valkyrie to 6500 MSL and let the autopilot take over. I continued to play with many of the features of Paul's fabulous panel, as Valkyrie ate up the countryside at 205 MPH, 10 GPH, 75% power. Of course, all of those numbers were displayed in front of me, in more that one location. Like in the Boeing 777, I set about developing a workable cross check using the information I needed in the most efficient manner.
The minutes and miles just sailed by, and soon it was time to descend inorder to avoid the class B airspace around DFW. As I entered downwind at my home airport, I checked my heels on the floor, moved the prop and mixture levers forward, and used the numbers I use for the Doll. Valkyrie set down on the runway with a couple of chirps from the tires, and rolled strait as an arrow up on the step. I usually brake hard enough to make taxiway Bravo but decided to let Valkyrie roll on down to Charlie. I used just a touch of brake to make the turnoff at Charlie.
I spun her around in front of my hanger and shut everything down. I patted myself on the back for remembering to turn off the noise canceling headset, saving Paul's battery. The Doll's Boise headsets are powered by ships power, and I'm not use to turning them off.
The first thing I did was to open the canopy, the second was to call Valkyrie's worried dad. Paul was happy hear that she was safe. I was sad that my ninety minutes in Valkyrie were over.
Sunday morning, I non-revved to Houston Hobby (KHOU) on American Eagle and Paul pick me up a few hours after getting off the late shift monitoring Discovery's progress in orbit. We went strait to his airport located approximately five miles south of Hobby. I sat in Valkyrie's cockpit as Paul gave me a detailed panel checkout. The Doll's panel is full of round steam gages, so even though the front seat was familiar, the panel look more like the Boeing 777's panel I flew for American Airlines then what I'm use to looking at! It was clear that an engineer had built this aircraft. Everything was well organized, and the attention to detail had NASA written all over it. It was a beauty to behold. There were three alternate power sources, redundancy, and backup systems everywhere, yet in a matter of minutes I felt comfortable, at home, and ready to take her cross country.
A small shower passed, and Houston's famous humidity hit 100%. I hit the starter and the LYCO 0360 started on the second blade. I didn't tell Paul this, but I was concerned about controlling Valkyrie when I saw the pedal extensions that had given me so much trouble in another RV-8. I checked my heels on the floor and began the taxi out. I was very relieved when Valkyrie quickly answered my rudder and brake inputs like the polite lady she is, and by the time I reached the runway, all my doubts about controlling her had evaporated.
Soon I was on the runway, the tail was up, and we were off. I thought about making a pass so Paul could see his beauty in flight, but the dark rain shower a mile from the runway told me to keep it strictly business. Besides, Paul might feel like a father watching some strange man make off with his daughter. Best to fly her out of sight, and call him when I land.
This day was the kind of day that makes you so very glad to be among the lucky people that fly. All around me were cylinder shaped shafts of rain coming down. The visibility was excellent, and there was plenty of room to maneuver around the cells. The air had that, it just rained smell about it. The clouds were white popcorn towering cumulus against a very blue sky. I knew that this flight would end too soon.
With the top EFIS display giving me ADI information, I switched the lower EFIS from engine monitor to the map display. Presto, all the complicated airspace, for KHOU, KIAH, and several Class D airports were clearly displayed. When I pointed Valkyrie's nose at one of them, the circle turned red. When I adjusted my heading just enough to miss it, the circle turned green again. Dam*, I'm already getting jealous and spoiled, and I'm not even twenty miles for Paul's airport.
Once clear of all the airspace, I climbed Valkyrie to 6500 MSL and let the autopilot take over. I continued to play with many of the features of Paul's fabulous panel, as Valkyrie ate up the countryside at 205 MPH, 10 GPH, 75% power. Of course, all of those numbers were displayed in front of me, in more that one location. Like in the Boeing 777, I set about developing a workable cross check using the information I needed in the most efficient manner.
The minutes and miles just sailed by, and soon it was time to descend inorder to avoid the class B airspace around DFW. As I entered downwind at my home airport, I checked my heels on the floor, moved the prop and mixture levers forward, and used the numbers I use for the Doll. Valkyrie set down on the runway with a couple of chirps from the tires, and rolled strait as an arrow up on the step. I usually brake hard enough to make taxiway Bravo but decided to let Valkyrie roll on down to Charlie. I used just a touch of brake to make the turnoff at Charlie.
I spun her around in front of my hanger and shut everything down. I patted myself on the back for remembering to turn off the noise canceling headset, saving Paul's battery. The Doll's Boise headsets are powered by ships power, and I'm not use to turning them off.
The first thing I did was to open the canopy, the second was to call Valkyrie's worried dad. Paul was happy hear that she was safe. I was sad that my ninety minutes in Valkyrie were over.
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