kearney
Well Known Member
Like everyone else, the Vans saga has had an impact on my RV10 project – my 4th. I have lost a year of dedicated work and am now looking at rebuilding my wings, fuse and empennage. The cost will be significant, and I am not terribly happy about any of this.
On the flip side, I do take a little comfort what has happened over the 17 years since I started building RV10s. Building has had a profound impact on my life.
Since 2006 when I started I have gotten to know a lot of people in the Vans orbit. I have learned that they key to completion is perseverance, the ability to set things aside for a month or two when things get too frustrating, to know perfection is an ideal to be pursued but never caught, to know the real skill is not knowing how to build but how to fix mistakes.
The experience has not been without challenges as well as the rewards. I lived *literally* through the Eggenfellner Subaru debacle of 10 years ago. Even so, that left me with a couple of good friends.
I have also gone one to make innumerable friends I wouldn’t have met except for this hobby. I have spoken to people on 3 continents about -10s.
At KOSH in 2006 a KOSH friend - we saw each other but once a year at KOSH – urged me to visit the Vans booth when I said I was thinking of building a Cozy. Weeks later I was in Oregon where a builder I met on the internet (my first internet date) offered to let me fly his -10. His was the first flying RV10; he even wanted me to land it but I declined. I was sold and the journey began. Later, when I shared a hangar with a Velocity builder (he became a friend as well) I realized that building a -10 was a very wise decision indeed. Sanding anyone….
An experienced builder who showed me the ropes is now a very good friend who I still tap for advice. Likewise, another Subie builder, though no longer flying, is a very good friend. I know a ton of -10 owners within flying distance of here who are part of my flying community. I chat often with a friend in Oz, who I met but once at KOSH, a fellow -10 builder. What other hobby allows you to make friends from around the world where the common language is RVs?
There are innumerable vendors who I have met and respect, all of whom are as enthusiastic about Vans aircraft as I am. A few I have come to know quite well.
Why do I say all this? It is because although Vans is undergoing significant stress, stress that will likely change the very nature of the business, the impact that it has on me will endure. I will not lose the friends I have made not the hobby I enjoy. I have retired into this hobby and have not missed my “work" for a single day although for some reason I seem to be working harder....
In short, for me building is not just building but it is about the people I have met and those I have yet to meet.
Remember, nothing is ever as good or as bad as it first seems. I have no idea as to what Vans will look like in a year but I do hope the company continues.
On the flip side, I do take a little comfort what has happened over the 17 years since I started building RV10s. Building has had a profound impact on my life.
Since 2006 when I started I have gotten to know a lot of people in the Vans orbit. I have learned that they key to completion is perseverance, the ability to set things aside for a month or two when things get too frustrating, to know perfection is an ideal to be pursued but never caught, to know the real skill is not knowing how to build but how to fix mistakes.
The experience has not been without challenges as well as the rewards. I lived *literally* through the Eggenfellner Subaru debacle of 10 years ago. Even so, that left me with a couple of good friends.
I have also gone one to make innumerable friends I wouldn’t have met except for this hobby. I have spoken to people on 3 continents about -10s.
At KOSH in 2006 a KOSH friend - we saw each other but once a year at KOSH – urged me to visit the Vans booth when I said I was thinking of building a Cozy. Weeks later I was in Oregon where a builder I met on the internet (my first internet date) offered to let me fly his -10. His was the first flying RV10; he even wanted me to land it but I declined. I was sold and the journey began. Later, when I shared a hangar with a Velocity builder (he became a friend as well) I realized that building a -10 was a very wise decision indeed. Sanding anyone….
An experienced builder who showed me the ropes is now a very good friend who I still tap for advice. Likewise, another Subie builder, though no longer flying, is a very good friend. I know a ton of -10 owners within flying distance of here who are part of my flying community. I chat often with a friend in Oz, who I met but once at KOSH, a fellow -10 builder. What other hobby allows you to make friends from around the world where the common language is RVs?
There are innumerable vendors who I have met and respect, all of whom are as enthusiastic about Vans aircraft as I am. A few I have come to know quite well.
Why do I say all this? It is because although Vans is undergoing significant stress, stress that will likely change the very nature of the business, the impact that it has on me will endure. I will not lose the friends I have made not the hobby I enjoy. I have retired into this hobby and have not missed my “work" for a single day although for some reason I seem to be working harder....
In short, for me building is not just building but it is about the people I have met and those I have yet to meet.
Remember, nothing is ever as good or as bad as it first seems. I have no idea as to what Vans will look like in a year but I do hope the company continues.
