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Flight in Bruce's RV-9A

RV7Factory

RV7Factory

Chief Obfuscation Officer
Last weekend I had the opportunity to ride along a friend's Subaru powered RV-9A. Route of flight: Livermore (KLVK) - Cloverdale (O60) - Petaluma (O69) - Livermore (KLVK).

Anyway, I took some photos along the way that I thought I would share...
http://www.bradoliver.com/Aviation/Flying-with-Bruce/11670819_Frwtu#823283618_TWrDo

I think the best way to view the photos is to click "Slideshow" in the upper right corner.

823289422_Yh2hu-L.jpg


I've been so busy with work, family and a few other projects lately that my RV-7 project has suffered a bit. This was a great flight and was just what I needed to get some of my motivation back. Thanks Bruce!
 
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Great Pictures

Clear day. Great visibility. Makes me glad I'm building a tip-up.
Thanks for sharing.
Alan Jackson
Hartselle, AL
 
Nice photos and RV, Brad. I think that's the first time I've seen Morse code on an airplane. Looks like he's got hand controls for the rudder pedals on the right side. Very interesting.
P.S. Wow, Brad, I did a little web searching and realized you were flying with Bruce Cruikshank. Lane Wallace in FLYING magazine has a photo and mention of him in the current issue which I was reading just this weekend. Thanks for sharing the story and photos.
P.P.S. I thought someone would ask about the Morse code. It translates to "TO FLY." He must enjoy flying. I noticed he was an A-4 "Skyhawk" Marine Pilot.
 
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Thanks for the kind words guys.

Yup, it was Bruce C. Bruce is one of our chapter members, and has been a good friend and mentor to me over the past few years. His craftmanship is nothing short of amazing, and as you know by now his plane contains several modifications needed to meet his specific needs (he lost his legs in Vietnam).

One of his more interesting and famous mods was to relocate the tip-up lift struts forward of the panel so that canopy rails are completely free of obstructions. For those thinking they might do the same, don't be fooled into thinking he just moved the struts... there was a lot of engineering involved.

823283769_tmM4i-L.jpg
 
That strut mod looks to be a really great improvement over the factory method.....I'd like to see more info about that.

Glenn Wilkinson
 
Thanks for the comments about the pictures.

John is correct, it's a Q200. Rare as they are we've got 3 of them here in Livermore.

As far as the mod goes... There is an idler arm invloved and IIRC when it goes over center it actually helps keep the canopy closed. Take a look at the link posted by Larry (n5lp) above; Bruce's mod is a lot more complex and further forward than Groucho's, but later in that same thread another chapter member of ours, Jeremy (jjconstant), posts pictures of his implementation of Bruce's mod in his RV-7.
 
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