The VAF News - 8.11.2025. #6371. Big edition today (two pages of RV news)

[DeltaRomeo]

Our friend Paul wrote a nice piece on AvBrief on the passing of Jim Lovell. I suspect you’ll enjoy it.
Hope you had a nice weekend.
v/r,dr

dr

WDYDWYRTW? Aug 9-10, 2025

What did you do with your RV this weekend? Here's the activity at 8 AM Dallas Fort Worth time Sunday morning, August 10

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Blittleton

UPDATE -- RV-7 engine failure, Emer landing, no damage/injuries

Flying from Winslow Az (KINW) to levelland tx KLLN), fat, dumb, and happy at 9500’. Suddenly out of nowhere (and over nowhere) engine rolled back. Mix, prop, throttle forward, aux pump on, and no power. Engine never stopped rotating, so I should have pulled prop aft. Made the call to center...

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ColoradoSolar ….To The Airport (10)

To the Airport

I got the plane moved to the airport. I live on dirt roads that have plenty of washboards so I drove very slow and was nervous the whole way even though the plane was securely strapped down. Got it tucked in next to its little brother (which is going to be for sale soon). Brought the wings out...

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RE: RV-12iS Fuel Pumps Not Automatically Shutting Down After Engine Shutdown
…Bob Y
If your HIC has the aluminum wire-harness support bracket, it’s the -2 version. It also has the diagnostic LED Tony mentioned earlier. If you have convenient access to the LED, you might try, as Tony suggested, to see what color it is after shutting down. I’m going to figure a way to do that with mine.

RV-12iS Fuel Pumps Not Automatically Shutting Down After Engine Shutdown

After getting nowhere with Van's support on this subject (they wanted me to tell them how the fuel pumps shut off), I'll reach out to the group to see if any other 12iS owners have experienced their fuel pumps continuing to run after engine shutdown. Yes, I have implemented SB-00058 for the new...

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J-Dub Slider Frame Progress
Slow progress but I find myself in a bit of a pickle. I am pretty happy with the frame shape but when I try to slide it open the rear bows touch the aft skin. The obvious solution is to open up the bows but then when closed the lower skirt would be a ways away from the fuselage side skin. I am tempted to leave it and put Chaffe tape on after paint. Anyone have a better idea?

Slider frame height......

Afternoon all, So I have done some searching and plenty of reading re canopy and frame set up. From all that I have been able to gather, the front height of the slider frame is always set after the plexi is installed. Can someone provide as succinct answer as to why? The plans clearly show a...

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MacCool 9A

Getting rid of the gascolator....plumbing question

My RV-9A with IO320-D1A has a gascolator. My under-cowl temps run a bit hot, which manifests primarily as hard hot-restarts (not impossible, just a bit complicated). I have rigid un-insulated tubing coming out of the fuel selector to the gascolator then across the firewall to the red cube then...

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JDBoston 14

Upper rudder fairing skin crack

Because apparently it is a rule that stupid things happen late at night I ended up cracking the thin rudder skin last night while trying to get the faring to be where it didn’t want to be(truth be told it was because I tried to remove it with that last cleco still in) Is this repairable...

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DrillBit Update on Engine power loss forces off-field landing: builder/maintainer error
Updating and closing out the saga: happy to report wing reattachment and landing gear fairing repairs are complete and 748PK flies once more. Truly amazing how well the engine runs when it can breathe.
On the bottom of the FAB, I went with thin 0.020 Al sheet, epoxied and riveted, then one one layer of Kevlar twill lamination over it, then leveled the FAB and poured a layer of white-tinted epoxy, forming a smooth surface for the filter to seal against. Every bit of "interior" hardware sealed away. When and if the filter starts fretting the epoxy again, I'll see how well the Kevlar layer below holds up.

Engine power loss forces off-field landing: builder/maintainer error

The pilot in this story achieved perhaps a best-possible outcome, but the aircraft owner, builder, and maintainer chose poorly, to say the least. They are all one and the same person--namely me. Comes now the penitent, seeking the solace of public confession in the Chapel of VAF. On Saturday...

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jonbo 8A

RV-8A Jonbo

Jonbo's RV-8/A Hi Folks. I started this build a couple years ago after finishing the practice kits and toolbox. Then I moved and put it on hold now I'm starting again. Workspace We put some nice lighting in and started getting tools setup. We coated the floor to make it a nice space but sadly...

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bt3vex

Loss of Power - Forced Landing

I just wanted to share my recent story of my Forced Landing. All things considered you can technically call it a "Soft Field Landing". So I am 60 hours into my plane, which has an IO320, EFII System 32 set up. This things runs smooth and starts like a car almost unbelievable how good it...

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Rest of today's edition in the next post.....

 

[DeltaRomeo]

Update: Another extended weekend trip
Unfortunately it became hazy the next days. Niagara Falls I planned next, then the Hudson River because the forecast was better this way. But the perfect weather was gone and it remained hazy. When I flew towards New York from Albany the visibility was really poor, the Metar of Newark promised better visibility though. After a quick fuel stop at Central Jersey I launched for the Hudson River, no TFRs this day and visibility improved some but was far from perfect. I flew the Hudson up and down and circled the Statue of Liberty, at least I did it and won´t regret it later. My destination on this flight was New Bedford where I was invited by Mario who also flies a RV-8, we met at Oshkosh and prior that exchanged some mails. He offered me to do an oil change while I´m there and so I was able to prepare the plane for the crossing. The next day he took me as his wingman around his playground. Although I was flying many times into Boston in the past I never realized how beautiful this area is. You see it with different eyes down low and with a tour guide ahead. We passed beautiful islands with it´s beaches and flew up all the way to Cape Cod where we landed and refueled. Then out the sea for whale watching with two RV 8s - how cool, and we actually saw them! Then towards Plymouth over the Mayflower before we landed back in New Bedford - what a day. Hey Mario if you read this, you made my day!
Yesterday I left for Bangor where I refueled and from where I departed the US, the day before did the eAPIS thing and filed a flight plan and so was ready to go right after paying the bill. The flight to Goose Bay was forecasted with temporarily TS moving in from the northwest. The last 80 miles I had to circumfly some and landed in dry and smooth conditions. When I taxied into the ramp things changed, the TS I just avoided followed me quickly and hit the airport with rain and strong and gusty winds. I was not able to turn the aircraft with it´s own power and park between the hangars, the wind was pushing on the fuse and tail so there was no way to turn. I parked into the wind and called Canpass while rain was pouring and my speed indicator was hovering around 20-25 kts while sitting there. Eventually it became better again and so could secure the plane.

Another extended weekend trip

The school was on the way, not the slightest detour. A wildfire developed northwest of the school, large cloud, could smell it. The fog at LAX and Torrance disappeared so could fly as planned. Torrance temps at 23C, very nice after having 33C at Buchanan. Over LAX

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JDBoston 14A

Elevator tips too narrow, widen?

Me again.. so I did a rough fit of my elevator tips on the RV14 and will admit these parts have been stored for a long time. Both of them are undersized but a lot (maybe 3/8 inch on each side). This may be basic but I assume the solution is to heat them and try and get them to expand? One...

vansairforce.net

Update: Painting under nuts on engine case
…TASEsq
Well, that was a bit tedious!!
The paper dots I got are awful - can’t be peeled off without leaving paper and glue. Will have to find some better ones locally - hopefully some of the powder coating ones.

Painting under nuts on engine case

I have watched *all* of the engine overhaul videos I can find, and it seems that most people use little masking dots to mask off the areas on the case, and accessory case, where the hardware goes. Here is an example of the accessory case from one video: I am about to paint my engine and the...

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idubrov 7

Do I need a gap between the fuel tank skin and the leading edge skin?

Do I need a gap between the fuel tank skin and the leading edge skin? I have absolutely none (see the photo), but I remember seeing an advice to leave some gap for painting reasons. If I do so, how much of the gap do I need? Any advices how to trim the skin (I can probably just use a file, but...

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Daily RV Pic …rockwoodrv9
Picture of my oldest daughter on her first flight with me. It was short with the rain coming in but a great experience going up with her.

Daily RV Pic

Local attractions.

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dwollen89

Dimpling Bulkhead Question

I need to dimple the F705 center bulkhead channel in preparation for the side skin. The problem is there is a doubler plate, F705E, that is riveted to the bulkhead. The bulkhead appears to be a .032 thickness and the best I can tell, the doubler is the same. I don’t know if my squeezer will be...

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[Mel]

"Yain't"...As in "Yain't seen nuthin yet!"