[bsacks05]

I love to fly my RV9 in the late afternoons/early evenings. It's a magical time of day for flying around here.
Most of the time I fly alone but asked my kids if one of them wanted to come along, expecting the usual "no" - they mostly only want to fly if we are going somewhere special. (They're so jaded about flying already!) Anyway, my son, Bruce (almost 14), hesitated and said, "yes".
"Great, grab the camera and let's go."
After taking off in the RV Bruce sez, "Here Dad, you take the pictures. I'll fly." He already knows how to keep her straight and level, maintain altitude and follow the GPS.
We flew to Cordele (CDK) for a touch and go on 28 then flew the length of Lake Blackshear before heading home.
Back at the hangar Bruce said, "Dad, let me pull the plane into the hangar."
That never happened before. So I showed him how to use the Bogibar and carefully park the plane watching both wingtips and the tail light.
The last nice surprise from Bruce came when we were home. He said, "I like flying around and listening to music. Are you going flying tomorrow?"
"Probably", sez I.
"Then I want to go with you."
WOW.

Here are some of this evening's pictures.

Georgia National Fairgrounds - fair starts next week.

A light touch and an eagle eye.

The moon was rising as we returned.

 

[pierre smith]

Quality time for sure, with Bruce...

....Did you paint your "bird-avoidance" spinner after you'd been flying a while?

Can you tell whether it's made birds stay further away sooner? Im thinking of doing that on both my RV and Air Tractor.

Thanks,

 

[N941WR]

Bruce,

That is a great story! I hope the two of you have many more flights together.

Pierre,

I too painted my spinner like that, only 2/3's black and 1/3 silver. In the year it was like that I never hit a bird but trailers are something else.

Flying out of Goose Creek, we do have a good number of geese, buzzards, and other birds and need to be careful. I can't say for sure if that spinner made any difference but it surely can't hurt.

Surprisingly a number of people would walk to me at fly-in?s and ask if the paint scheme worked to keep the birds away.

 

[petehowell]

Nice!

Great writeup and pics Bruce! Keep the kids in the cockpit as long as possible!!

 

[bsacks05]

I painted the spinner 1/3 white about two years ago. Prior to that I had two close encounters with birds, but none after painting. A connection.......who knows?

Now, if only I could find a way to keep the bugs off.....

 

[Louise Hose]

Bruce looks like a quality aviaator-in-the-making! Enjoy the time.

 

[RVnoob]

thanks for the heart warming story

 

[RV10Man]

Savor the moments. Both my daughters (14 & 20) love to fly and most of the time, one will go with me whether in the RV9A or the 150. They don't really seem to care, they just love to fly. My wife, on the other hand, will fly if she wants to "go somewhere" but to just go smash bugs, not. But she NEVER complains or says anything negative about my flying addiction. BTW, she's never even sat in the 150, not even in the hangar. And I've had a 150 for the better part of 6 years now.

Marshall Alexander
RV10 N781DM