My father was looking to complete an RV-6a build by the summer of 2020. His project was unfortunately delayed indefinitely due to him passing away from a car crash on November 6th, 2019. This has continued to be hard for my mom, brother, sister and I as we were not able to make it to the hospital he was air lifted to in time to say bye before he had passed. Along with all the other family responsibilities to take care of, my mom had left my brother and I his project to "manage".
Over the past 5 years we have gone back and forth trying to determine how we should proceed with the project. The question has come up wondering if we should sell the remaining project as is or try and finish it ourselves. My brother has finished college during this time and currently lives a couple hours away. My wife and I have moved closer to my mother to help out with odds and ends as she still lives in our family home alone now. I have a young family with my wife which has kept us both very busy. I personally feel a lot of sentimental value toward the project and would love to finish it in his memory.
At the time of his passing, he had the Lycoming O-360 on order from VANS and I continued through with receiving it to not lose out on the deposit that was placed for the order. To help keep myself invested in believing I will one day complete the project, I decided to work toward getting my pilots license. I can proudly say I have received my PPL on August 12, 2021 and have no regrets as the feeling and joy of flying is inexpiable.
I have been storing the project in a T-hanger but have not been able to get passed how daunting taking on something like this is. I had helped him out sparingly throughout the project under his guidance but getting this handed to me as a "whole" is very overwhelming. I see why VANS does not send you the whole kit at once and only begins with the empennage.
I am a member of EAA and I have reached out to our local EAA chapter in my area and there does not seem to be any volunteers that would have the experience/willingness to help on a projects like this. They seem to be more of a "meet for coffee" type of group. I am also aware of the VANS technicians as I have already contacted them with questions while working on mounting the wings which ended up being my first mistake by adding in all the spar bolts before realizing that the rear spar has not been drilled on either side.
To conclude this message, I would just like to ask for any and options for mentorship and/or additional guidance from anyone who may be able to provide it to me. My father was the sole builder and I no longer have anyone to ask questions on with any previous decisions he had made as well as some build quality thoughts/concerns. I do want to make the commitment to finish the plane and would love to be the test pilot for that scary/exciting day once it is finally complete. My dream is to be able to share the experience of flying in my dad's plane with my family as well as volunteer flight time for other to hook young future pilots and builders.
Thank you for taking the time to read,
- Jarad
Over the past 5 years we have gone back and forth trying to determine how we should proceed with the project. The question has come up wondering if we should sell the remaining project as is or try and finish it ourselves. My brother has finished college during this time and currently lives a couple hours away. My wife and I have moved closer to my mother to help out with odds and ends as she still lives in our family home alone now. I have a young family with my wife which has kept us both very busy. I personally feel a lot of sentimental value toward the project and would love to finish it in his memory.
At the time of his passing, he had the Lycoming O-360 on order from VANS and I continued through with receiving it to not lose out on the deposit that was placed for the order. To help keep myself invested in believing I will one day complete the project, I decided to work toward getting my pilots license. I can proudly say I have received my PPL on August 12, 2021 and have no regrets as the feeling and joy of flying is inexpiable.
I have been storing the project in a T-hanger but have not been able to get passed how daunting taking on something like this is. I had helped him out sparingly throughout the project under his guidance but getting this handed to me as a "whole" is very overwhelming. I see why VANS does not send you the whole kit at once and only begins with the empennage.
I am a member of EAA and I have reached out to our local EAA chapter in my area and there does not seem to be any volunteers that would have the experience/willingness to help on a projects like this. They seem to be more of a "meet for coffee" type of group. I am also aware of the VANS technicians as I have already contacted them with questions while working on mounting the wings which ended up being my first mistake by adding in all the spar bolts before realizing that the rear spar has not been drilled on either side.
To conclude this message, I would just like to ask for any and options for mentorship and/or additional guidance from anyone who may be able to provide it to me. My father was the sole builder and I no longer have anyone to ask questions on with any previous decisions he had made as well as some build quality thoughts/concerns. I do want to make the commitment to finish the plane and would love to be the test pilot for that scary/exciting day once it is finally complete. My dream is to be able to share the experience of flying in my dad's plane with my family as well as volunteer flight time for other to hook young future pilots and builders.
Thank you for taking the time to read,
- Jarad
