ppilotmike
Well Known Member
Well, I finally got the okay from the wife to pursue our (mine mostly) dream. The first of this year marks the first day of my 5-year build plan, and I can hardly wait! I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to the group. Does this go something like at an AA meeting? 
I have always loved things that fly (i.e. rockets, kites, model planes, me and my kid-sister with "bedsheet" parachutes). Since being a kid and flying with my dad in rented Cessnas, I have also wanted to be a pilot. Not commercially, but for the "time-machine / freedom / CC joyride" aspect of it. I achieved the first part of that dream in 2005, when I took my private pilot checkride at 36.2 hours (part 141 school) on the island of Oahu, HI. Soon after that, my wife and I moved to Denver, Colorado.
The desire to build and fly my own RV-10 began when I went to get my BFR using a rented Cessna 172 Skyhawk. I was told to demonstrate a short-field takeoff over a 50 ft obstacle. As you can imagine, with the density altitude of a typical summer day in Colorado, the performance was much worse than the Skyhawks I had rented in Hawaii. I pulled out of ground effect to clear the invisible obstacle with an extreme, sea-level-hawaii-style pitch! Seeing my airspeed bleeding away at a very fast rate indeed, I nosed over and quickly recovered to straight and level flight. We must have been only 1 or 2 knots above stall. My check airmen then calmly stated, "You're not from around here are you." While this is a slight exageration of the events of that day, I was surprised and disappointed with the performance limitations over the mile-high city. That's when I really began my search for the perfect homebuilt.
For a while, I was on the fence between the high-wing "stump-jumpers" and the low-wing "slick slippers", but I've finally come to conclusion that all of you came to a while ago. All around, anyway you slice it, compute it, cost it, and spec it, there is truly nothing like a Vans! I'm proud to be a newbie, excited about the process and haven't dreamed this much in years. Thanks ahead of time for all the support.
Sincerely,
Mike Rettig (ppilotmike)
I have always loved things that fly (i.e. rockets, kites, model planes, me and my kid-sister with "bedsheet" parachutes). Since being a kid and flying with my dad in rented Cessnas, I have also wanted to be a pilot. Not commercially, but for the "time-machine / freedom / CC joyride" aspect of it. I achieved the first part of that dream in 2005, when I took my private pilot checkride at 36.2 hours (part 141 school) on the island of Oahu, HI. Soon after that, my wife and I moved to Denver, Colorado.
The desire to build and fly my own RV-10 began when I went to get my BFR using a rented Cessna 172 Skyhawk. I was told to demonstrate a short-field takeoff over a 50 ft obstacle. As you can imagine, with the density altitude of a typical summer day in Colorado, the performance was much worse than the Skyhawks I had rented in Hawaii. I pulled out of ground effect to clear the invisible obstacle with an extreme, sea-level-hawaii-style pitch! Seeing my airspeed bleeding away at a very fast rate indeed, I nosed over and quickly recovered to straight and level flight. We must have been only 1 or 2 knots above stall. My check airmen then calmly stated, "You're not from around here are you." While this is a slight exageration of the events of that day, I was surprised and disappointed with the performance limitations over the mile-high city. That's when I really began my search for the perfect homebuilt.
For a while, I was on the fence between the high-wing "stump-jumpers" and the low-wing "slick slippers", but I've finally come to conclusion that all of you came to a while ago. All around, anyway you slice it, compute it, cost it, and spec it, there is truly nothing like a Vans! I'm proud to be a newbie, excited about the process and haven't dreamed this much in years. Thanks ahead of time for all the support.
Sincerely,
Mike Rettig (ppilotmike)
