What did you do with your RV this weekend (January 5-7, 2024)?

[DeltaRomeo]

I started the weekend a little early, by giving my RV-6 some maintenance attention for the first time in five weeks. Getting the tire air pressure back up to nominal so I can take her for a flight here when the weather clears up.

Putting a little juice in the battery.

Feels good to get my hands dirty. Been too long.

 

[DeltaRomeo]

43 days since my last RV flight….

…but I set the counter back to ‘0’ Saturday morning. Nothing fancy and with less than perfect WX, but it counts.

Just tooled around KDTO, up to and around a couple of friend’s airports, down to Lake Lewisville (saw an airboat on that lake for the first time), then back to AERO VALLEY (our restored airport name).

It felt REALLY nice to get off the surface in the RV-6. No autopilot (on for the picture), no pressurization, no arrival. Just looking at the ground and creeks for wildlife. .8hr logged at low power settings. Leaned.

Saturday morning was nice.

V/r,dr

 

[jbDC9]

Aero Valley… nice! As it should be.

 

[DeltaRomeo]

Aero Valley… nice! As it should be.

Yes sir John we’re pretty excited about it!

 

[SPX]

I have a few friends in Santa Maria (KSMX) that I've wanted to visit for quite a while, so earlier this week, I decided today would be the day that I flew up there for a visit.

So, I woke up early and headed out to the airport. Got the airplane out of the hangar, put some fuel in it, and took off. Perfect day to fly in Southern California. Sky was not too busy, weather was perfect; clear sky and great visibility. Even with a headwind, I still did around 140 knots.

Spent 3.5 hours in Santa Maria, and flew home via the same route that I flew up. Sky was now a high overcast, and visibility remained good. Flying through the LAX Class B, I realized that there were now many more airplanes in the sky. Kept clear of them with the help of ForeFlight & my Sentry Plus.

Landed back home after about 2 hours 50 minutes of flying, and still landed with 1.5 hours of fuel. Good enough for my needs. Nice visit with friends, and a nice way to turn what would have been 8 hours of driving into less than 3 hours of flying.

 

[Girraf]

Adel clamps and fuel lines

Swapped out zip ties and vinyl tubing for proper adel clamps on the right brake line. Also experimented with red cube location and fuel line routing. I think I found a workable solution that will require just 1 custom fuel line instead of 2.

Side note: While hemostats are helpful for holding adel clamps together while you install the fastener, the safety wire method was far superior!

 

[[email protected]]

Local flight and I learned a valuable lesson

Yesterday I did a quick flight from my home airport, XS95, near Victoria Tx, to a small fly in community north of San Antonio airspace. I did not get flight following because it was such a short flight. On my return back home at 5500 feet a 737 passed in front of me (2 nm) while descending and I flew over this flight path with good separation (IMO). To my surprise I hit his wake turbulence and really got hammered (head meet top of cockpit AND stuff went everywhere). Just momentary and really violent. Not expected as I was above his flightpath as I said. Called Departure and they said that because of me, they had to divert a couple of commercial jets (mea culpa, but VFR NOT in controlled airspace). He said NP but recommends Flight Following anywhere near Class C. Just lettin' folks know that: Flight following is a good idea even on local trips and watch out for wake turbulence. Also, and this sucks, my pitch control on my TruTrak quit working after the encounter. Dang (was on alt hold when it 'hit'). Time to troubleshoot. Any input from the collective hive is appreciated.

 

[Webb]

If memory serves the Trutrak servos have brass shear pins to protect the servos. My money says you sheared the pin.

 

[Draker]

Spent this morning increasing my comfort level flying above the Sierras. Plan was to go over to Blue Canyon (BLU) and see if the airport was snow-covered. If it was not, I'd do a few landings there and learn about the airplane's medium altitude takeoff performance. Unfortunately, due to Saturday's snow, several mountain runways were unsuitable for landing. Still a fun flight!

Video

 

[texdog]

Mark

Don’t trust air traffic! Fill out a NASA form to cover your bacon.

 

[PandaCub]

Nice Flight Home

Flew my RV-14A home for the weekend and passed over Wyoming's incredibly scenic Wind River Canyon (with fog courtesy of nearby Boysen Reservoir):

 

[GrinchF16]

Yesterday I did a quick flight from my home airport, XS95, near Victoria Tx, to a small fly in community north of San Antonio airspace. I did not get flight following because it was such a short flight. On my return back home at 5500 feet a 737 passed in front of me (2 nm) while descending and I flew over this flight path with good separation (IMO). To my surprise I hit his wake turbulence and really got hammered (head meet top of cockpit AND stuff went everywhere). Just momentary and really violent. Not expected as I was above his flightpath as I said. Called Departure and they said that because of me, they had to divert a couple of commercial jets (mea culpa, but VFR NOT in controlled airspace). He said NP but recommends Flight Following anywhere near Class C. Just lettin' folks know that: Flight following is a good idea even on local trips and watch out for wake turbulence. Also, and this sucks, my pitch control on my TruTrak quit working after the encounter. Dang (was on alt hold when it 'hit'). Time to troubleshoot. Any input from the collective hive is appreciated.

First of all, assuming we have the full story, you did nothing wrong. Exception maybe being judging his flight path. Wake turbulence is very violent. ATC likely did not “divert” anyone. He may have vectored them off of their arrival but that’s his job. I’m a proponent of flight following, use it almost all the time but it’s not required. One advantage in flight following near Class C is you have clearance into the airspace which can take some of the load off if flying and landing nearby. Bottom Line though, no worries, stay out of the jet wash and you’re good to go.

 

[CT Brietigam]

RV-4 topiary

I took this photo this morning after an overnight snow event. Mother Nature was kind enough to add her wonderful touches to our RV-4 topiary. My brother, Pat, put this together several years back. The wing span over eight feet. It never fails to bring a smile to my face! Thank you Pat!!!!

Chuck Brietigam
RV-6XXL

 

[flytoday]

Grandson Visit

Saturday got my wife in the RV7A for a day trip to San Antonio. Normally over 3 hr drive, we used the time machine! Smooth as glass over to KCVB, afternoon return a bit bumpy. Updated FFlight comments on KCVB, recommended airport for west San Antonio destination.

Reference to earlier post about flying near the San Antonio Class C, I took VFR Flight Following from the Houston area and approaching SA airspace two controllers asked that I report any altitude changes, and for awhile assigned me to stay at 4500. I could see some ADSB traffic maneuvering below my path as I passed clear and south of the Class C, and Stinson and Kelly Class Deltas.

Carl
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