terrykohler
Well Known Member
I see the Van-O-Meter has tripped over 500 for the RV9 series. WOW! When I started my build in '02, Van's had just a few of these flying and had just recently added an O320 as a build option. That change, coupled with the performance numbers they were quoting really got my attention.
I had been nearly a year without an airplane (a Cessna T210) and was suffering severe withdrawal. I had spent nearly 20 years flying out of KPTK, and didn't really know anyone there, other than the owner of the shop that serviced my 210. Leave early in the morning for business and return late at night - no flying on the weekends.
A chance call to EAA to try and find anyone who was nearby and building ANY RV lead me to Nick Seraphinoff, a tech rep for Chapter 13. Showed up at Nick's tiny house just on the outskirts of Detroit and was met by a short, slight ball of energy who was 83 years old and involved in his 8th or 9th build (pictures of RVs, Thorps, Vollmers and many others covered his walls). Nick convinced me that it was "doable", and when I told him it was time for me to leave, he said "don't you want to see the plane?" I thought he was talking about a trip to KDET and told him I didn't have time. "It's right here, in the shop!" Turns out the "shop" was his one car garage. He had done all of this incredible building in a ONE (not 1 and a half) car garage adjacent to a house with no basement. Yup, if he could do this, then I could too.
I joined Chapter 13 and met a lot of wonderful people. It was an incredible chapter (now located at Ray Twp Airport), with monthly meeting usually attended by 60-70 people and ALWAYS an interesting guest speaker. At the time, I believe there were 50+ airplanes under construction within the chapter, many of which are flying today. I still try and get with Chapter 13 when I can - they are VERY active with the Young Eagles program.
My slow build involved a lot of input from Nick (his favorite expression was, "stop worrying, it's just an airplane" and 18 months later, I was looking for a hangar back at KPTK. I ran into the dreaded "waiting list" and was temporarily given a hangar slated for tear-down. Only problem with the hangar was the decided lack of power available. My compressor and one other tool or light usually was enough to trip the breaker, located behind locked doors in the end of the row. The problem was partially solved by leaving the hangar door full open for light. This created a second problem in that the final build was taking place from October to February, and it was a cold winter.
Shortly after I pushed the door open for the ninth or tenth time, a guy across the tarmac came over, looked around, and suggested we trade hangars. It was Ted Gauthier, RV6 builder, DAR, and it turns out, all around great guy. Most importantly, Ted's hangar had gas fired heat.
I had to swap a few times with Ted as he needed the heat as well. At the same time, my "open door policy" was introducing me to a lot of other new people - Ron Drake (9A), Curt Martin (Murphy Amphib), Dave Pohl (7A) and others too numerous to mention. I had discovered "life" at KPTK
Ron gave me my first RV ride. Where are we going? Alma, Michigan. Why? You're going to meet Sam Benjamin and he's going to give you transition training. Turns out Sam was a former freight dog and in addition to great stick skills, also told wonderful stories about flying the BE18s. No autopilots, one hand on the yoke and the other plugging into the relief tube, only to find out that the drain is iced over. Brought a whole new meaning to Aeronautical Decision Making.
Ted asked me to join in a breakfast group that met every weekend at a restaurant near the airport. Home builders, corporate pilots, airline guys, ex-military, and other assorted crackpots. I fit right in. Still show up every Saturday and Sunday morning.
At one of our "meetings" a few years back, I casually mentioned some difficulties my daughter was having with military paperwork and medical school. Next thing I know, Captain Roger Bentlage (retired) has called Washington, DC, she's in the Navy, and on her way to Bethesda. Leah is now a flight surgeon, just returned from deployment, and thinking about Naval Medicine as a long term career. Oh yeah, and Roger gave her her oath when she was first sworn in.
After 35 years of work/flying, I had discovered flying for fun. More importantly, I've met a lot of great people and made some wonderful friends. Best friends. I've found there are some really smart, talented people hanging around airports. It isn't hard to find them, just start asking dumb questions or holler really loud when you bury that drill bit into your finger for the first time.
We're approaching 500 hours on N323TP, and I'm proud to say have had very few problems. While it's not turbo-charged or equipped for known ice, it burns less than half the fuel and is fully insured for a quarter of the cost of the 210. More importantly, It's FUN to fly and is a great cross country machine and instrument platform. No regrets on my choice of RVs.
Finally, one of the "characters" I've met at Pontiac is Harold Thompson, a former B17 commander who flew out of England in the early days of WWII. Harold built and flies a Falco and in spite of 80+ years, still has the FSDO guys shaking their heads in amazement. My long term goal is to be like Harold.
I never dreamed when I first started building that it would take me down this road. To paraphrase one of my good friends, "I can't imagine what my life would be without aviation and homebuilding".
Who'da Thunk
Terry, RV-9A
N323TP
I had been nearly a year without an airplane (a Cessna T210) and was suffering severe withdrawal. I had spent nearly 20 years flying out of KPTK, and didn't really know anyone there, other than the owner of the shop that serviced my 210. Leave early in the morning for business and return late at night - no flying on the weekends.
A chance call to EAA to try and find anyone who was nearby and building ANY RV lead me to Nick Seraphinoff, a tech rep for Chapter 13. Showed up at Nick's tiny house just on the outskirts of Detroit and was met by a short, slight ball of energy who was 83 years old and involved in his 8th or 9th build (pictures of RVs, Thorps, Vollmers and many others covered his walls). Nick convinced me that it was "doable", and when I told him it was time for me to leave, he said "don't you want to see the plane?" I thought he was talking about a trip to KDET and told him I didn't have time. "It's right here, in the shop!" Turns out the "shop" was his one car garage. He had done all of this incredible building in a ONE (not 1 and a half) car garage adjacent to a house with no basement. Yup, if he could do this, then I could too.
I joined Chapter 13 and met a lot of wonderful people. It was an incredible chapter (now located at Ray Twp Airport), with monthly meeting usually attended by 60-70 people and ALWAYS an interesting guest speaker. At the time, I believe there were 50+ airplanes under construction within the chapter, many of which are flying today. I still try and get with Chapter 13 when I can - they are VERY active with the Young Eagles program.
My slow build involved a lot of input from Nick (his favorite expression was, "stop worrying, it's just an airplane" and 18 months later, I was looking for a hangar back at KPTK. I ran into the dreaded "waiting list" and was temporarily given a hangar slated for tear-down. Only problem with the hangar was the decided lack of power available. My compressor and one other tool or light usually was enough to trip the breaker, located behind locked doors in the end of the row. The problem was partially solved by leaving the hangar door full open for light. This created a second problem in that the final build was taking place from October to February, and it was a cold winter.
Shortly after I pushed the door open for the ninth or tenth time, a guy across the tarmac came over, looked around, and suggested we trade hangars. It was Ted Gauthier, RV6 builder, DAR, and it turns out, all around great guy. Most importantly, Ted's hangar had gas fired heat.
I had to swap a few times with Ted as he needed the heat as well. At the same time, my "open door policy" was introducing me to a lot of other new people - Ron Drake (9A), Curt Martin (Murphy Amphib), Dave Pohl (7A) and others too numerous to mention. I had discovered "life" at KPTK
Ron gave me my first RV ride. Where are we going? Alma, Michigan. Why? You're going to meet Sam Benjamin and he's going to give you transition training. Turns out Sam was a former freight dog and in addition to great stick skills, also told wonderful stories about flying the BE18s. No autopilots, one hand on the yoke and the other plugging into the relief tube, only to find out that the drain is iced over. Brought a whole new meaning to Aeronautical Decision Making.
Ted asked me to join in a breakfast group that met every weekend at a restaurant near the airport. Home builders, corporate pilots, airline guys, ex-military, and other assorted crackpots. I fit right in. Still show up every Saturday and Sunday morning.
At one of our "meetings" a few years back, I casually mentioned some difficulties my daughter was having with military paperwork and medical school. Next thing I know, Captain Roger Bentlage (retired) has called Washington, DC, she's in the Navy, and on her way to Bethesda. Leah is now a flight surgeon, just returned from deployment, and thinking about Naval Medicine as a long term career. Oh yeah, and Roger gave her her oath when she was first sworn in.
After 35 years of work/flying, I had discovered flying for fun. More importantly, I've met a lot of great people and made some wonderful friends. Best friends. I've found there are some really smart, talented people hanging around airports. It isn't hard to find them, just start asking dumb questions or holler really loud when you bury that drill bit into your finger for the first time.
We're approaching 500 hours on N323TP, and I'm proud to say have had very few problems. While it's not turbo-charged or equipped for known ice, it burns less than half the fuel and is fully insured for a quarter of the cost of the 210. More importantly, It's FUN to fly and is a great cross country machine and instrument platform. No regrets on my choice of RVs.
Finally, one of the "characters" I've met at Pontiac is Harold Thompson, a former B17 commander who flew out of England in the early days of WWII. Harold built and flies a Falco and in spite of 80+ years, still has the FSDO guys shaking their heads in amazement. My long term goal is to be like Harold.
I never dreamed when I first started building that it would take me down this road. To paraphrase one of my good friends, "I can't imagine what my life would be without aviation and homebuilding".
Who'da Thunk
Terry, RV-9A
N323TP