So the plan was to introduce me to wheel landings today. I was a little more tired than usual this morning, and I had a rough night after eating something that obviously did not agree with me yesterday. That said, I felt well enough to try to tackle another flight in the Citabria, which I enjoy flying more and more each day.
It started out with what I think was a trainee ground controller on the radio. We had clearance to taxit to the C1 taxiway next to runway 10 to do our engine runup, and then I called back to ground to let them know that the runup was complete and we were ready to takeoff runway 10. He trying to tell me that I cleared to taxi back to the reamp, and then both me and my instructor got into another confusing discussion with him about because he kept clearing us to taxi to park, when I expected him to tell us to monitor toweer frquency. After we finally got that cleared up we were cleared to take off runway 10 and the plan was to remain in the traffic pattern for runway 17R. I was also aware via notams I received during my briefing from flight service that the other primary runway at KAPA (17L and 35R) was supposed to closed, but apparently learned that this was not going to happen until 7:30, so we had time to get a few landings in.
The plan was to do one or two 3 point landings to get warmed up, and then we would start working on the heel landings. Winds were slightly out of the southeast at a bout 4 knots, so not too bad of a crosswind. My first landing pretty much sucked - landing was OK, but directional control afterward really sucked. THe second one turned out much better, so off we went around the pattern to start working on the wheel landings. The first step was to simply fly the plane level a couple of feet off the runway for a period of time to get used to the sight picture and speeds, etc. Once this was done we proceeded around the pattern for my first wheel landing attempt.
I approached the landing point, leveled out, added a little bit of power to arrest the descent, adn then got the first bounce of the landing gear, followed by power off, adn then came the fun part of pushing forward on the stick to adhere the wheels to the runway and not allow them to come back up. THis is where it all started going not so good. I could not get the muscle motor function down to reduce the power with one hand AND push forward _and I mean WAY forward on the stick to plan the wheels on the surface. I was a bit confused as to how to handle the slight bounce of the wheels - go around? let it settle again nad then apply the forward stick? So I ended up not getting the stick pushed forward quite enough and pretty much did not do that landing very well.
Then we tried another one and I still had the same problem. Then, just before the other runway was about to close, I was on one last takeoff run. the tail was up and I was about 5 MPH from lieft off speed when I saw a hawk from my right peripheral vision flying directly across the runway about 1 foot high off the ground - just high enough to impact the bottom part of the prop - or so I thought. I had already had a conversation about this with my instructor when we first got started flying several days ago, adn I assured him that I would definitely go ahead and hit the animal and not try to serve to miss it. SO what did I end up doing? Exactly what I said I wouldn't/ I tried to swerve left jsut a bit to buy some time, and the next thing I know I am headed in a controlled manner off to the left side of the runway.. Thanks to John He got the power reduced and kept telling me to lower the tail since we still had enough room to abort the takeoff.
Man what an experience. There were other birds all over the place today - a very hazardous situation to say the least. I was totally unprepared for what happened. I guess it goes to show you that a bird of prey will stop at nothing to get to the morning breakfast poking it's head out of some hole in the ground at some distant location. Anyway, turns out we never did hit the hawk - but it was real close. At that point John asked if I wanted to try one more before we had to come in due to the runway closure, and I said I had had enough for one day. So we taxied her back to the barn. Then, as if to add insult to injury, I went outside to my car in the parking lot, where I was parked right next to a small patch of grass and a tree, UNfortunately the sprinklers was on full blast nad were completely engulfing my car with water. I only have a key to unlock the car - both remotes are toast, and there is only one door lock on the drivers side - you know - the one completely emersed with water.
Well, since I was in my work clothes for the day I was not about to dive in to the fray to get the door unlocked, so I just stood there and waited for the water to stop - 5 minutes, 10, 25, 20 minutes later they finally stopped and I was on my way to work. No that I am horribly supersticious or anything, but I ddid notice that there was a full moon out tonight as I was walking the dog - - just another tale tale sign of days that are sometimes better left to the birds.......
Anyway, I am not discouraged and will press on. Just a little disappointed in my performance, or lack thereof. John kind of gave me a boost when he said that with less than 5 hours of flight time I was already at about a 90% completion status for the rating. That made me feel pretty good. He also reminded me that I am embarking on something that not too many people do - becoming a taildragger pilot. When I ahve this under my belt I will be in the company of some relatively exclusive pilots out there. I have to keep reminding myself that I am currently in the process of fullfilling one of my lifelong dreams, and sometimes that is not an easy thing to do. We are both taking a break for the holiday and will hit it hard again next week.
Happy Labor Day everyone. Stay safe and stay sober if you are behind the wheel - or a joystick, or whatever. My training theme to work on for next week is:
Wheels touch tail up
power off
stick forward
Sounds simple, huh?
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Tailwheel lesson 3 in the books - crosswinds!
To sum up this morning's flight - it was just plane FUN! Winds were out of the south this morning at about 10 knots, and APA was a bit busy - even at 6:00am in the morning. This means that runway 17 was already in use at APA, so not too much opportunity for good crosswind practice there on runway 28. I was actually encouraged by the amount of flight activity because it means that people are getting out there and flying again.
Unfortunately, we needed to find a good crosswind runway so that John could put me through my paces. So it was off to Front Range airport (KFTG), where the tower let us use runway 26 for a few landings. Crosswind takeoffs were pretty good. I am starting to get the rudder motor skills down a little better. I had also done a bit more reading and learned that the method to counteracting any swerving tendency is to maintain positive pressure on both rudder pedals, and recognize any turning tendency adn apply corrective rudder as soon as possible to arrest the turning tendency. The thing that I did not realize is that once the original turning tendency is stopped, you need to apply opposite rudder pressure to neutralize the possiblity that a turn in the opposite direction may occur. In short, you really have to pay attention to the directional movement of the airplane and take constant corrective action.
Another thing that I did today that helped eliminate the "sudden" left turn was to bring up the tail a bit slower than I did before. This, as far as I am concerned, made a huge difference for me. The airplane wanted to track more of a straight line, and I was able to arrest any turning tendencies fairly easily. The challenging part of today's lesson was that I also needed to work the aileron inputs and outputs during the takeoff roll to handle the crosswind as well. So the rudders, elevators, and ailerons all have to do the right thing at the right time to make it turn out the way it is supposed to.
I made a few pretty good cross landings today - I love touching down with no gear side loads and in a proper crosswind landing attitude, touching down on the upwind wheel first, followed shortly thereafter by the settling of the downwind wheel, with a little chirp or squeak when it meets the asphalt. Always I nice feeling to do any crosswind landing correctly - twice as nice to do it in a tailwheel airplane! I told myself just before my first landing that I would not allow the airplane to fly me, but I would fly the airplane. that is afterall what a pilot is supposed to do. If you end up letting one of these types of airplanes do what they want to do then your tailwheel flying career may indeed be a very short one.
We left KAPA with a slightly lower fuel capacity than usual, so we decided to land full stop and get some fuel from the self service fuel pump at KFTG. This was the first time I have ever used that pump - so it was good to learn how to do that as well. Then we had a cup of coffee and a cookie (the restaurant was not open yet), and then we hopped back in the plane and made our way back to KAPA, where John demonstrated a very nice wheel landing for me.
So can you guess what is on tap for tomorrow's lesson? Yup - wheel landings! I finally get to feel like that WWII fighter pilot that I have always admired. Wheel landings are simply landings on the main gear only, leaving the tail up until the speed dissipates enough to allow the tail to come down, at which time I resume control of the airplane via the tailwheel instead of the rudder. Good directional control and crsswind handling are essential for this type of landing, not to mention the ability to "stick" the wheels on the runway without bouncing. This is the landing that creates the WOW factor in all those WWII aircraft you see at the airshows and at Oshkosh.
I currently have 3.9 tailwheel hours logged. Sure feels like I should have a lot more.After every flight I have felt a bit mentally and physically exhausted. I guess I consider that a sign that I must be devoting the right amount of attention to everything while we are in the airplane. You need to operate these types of airplanes with the utmost attention from the time you do the preflight to the time you tie it back down again. You just can't let your guard down very much if you want to fly these airplanes correctly.
Aspen Flying club's insurance requirements are actually quite surprising to me. For folks with no tailwheel time they require 10 hours dual and a checkout in the plane. I have already told John that I won't even allow him to sign me off unless I feel like I have accumulated enough skill to feel comfortable operating the airplane in a variety of flight conditions.
I am gaining confidence with each flight lesson. That, combined with learning the feel and muscle motor skills that are required for such things as operating the rudder pedals and positioning the controls for crosswind handling, is making this a really fun and enjoyable experience. That said, tomorrow is the last lesson for while as we are approaching the long holiday weekend for Labor Day. Both John and I are committed to other plans over the holiday, so we will need to resume the training later next week. We will see how well I retain all this stuff after letting it settle for a few days.
All pilots flying out of KAPA tomorrow, watch out, cuz I will be terrorizing the skies yet again!
Unfortunately, we needed to find a good crosswind runway so that John could put me through my paces. So it was off to Front Range airport (KFTG), where the tower let us use runway 26 for a few landings. Crosswind takeoffs were pretty good. I am starting to get the rudder motor skills down a little better. I had also done a bit more reading and learned that the method to counteracting any swerving tendency is to maintain positive pressure on both rudder pedals, and recognize any turning tendency adn apply corrective rudder as soon as possible to arrest the turning tendency. The thing that I did not realize is that once the original turning tendency is stopped, you need to apply opposite rudder pressure to neutralize the possiblity that a turn in the opposite direction may occur. In short, you really have to pay attention to the directional movement of the airplane and take constant corrective action.
Another thing that I did today that helped eliminate the "sudden" left turn was to bring up the tail a bit slower than I did before. This, as far as I am concerned, made a huge difference for me. The airplane wanted to track more of a straight line, and I was able to arrest any turning tendencies fairly easily. The challenging part of today's lesson was that I also needed to work the aileron inputs and outputs during the takeoff roll to handle the crosswind as well. So the rudders, elevators, and ailerons all have to do the right thing at the right time to make it turn out the way it is supposed to.
I made a few pretty good cross landings today - I love touching down with no gear side loads and in a proper crosswind landing attitude, touching down on the upwind wheel first, followed shortly thereafter by the settling of the downwind wheel, with a little chirp or squeak when it meets the asphalt. Always I nice feeling to do any crosswind landing correctly - twice as nice to do it in a tailwheel airplane! I told myself just before my first landing that I would not allow the airplane to fly me, but I would fly the airplane. that is afterall what a pilot is supposed to do. If you end up letting one of these types of airplanes do what they want to do then your tailwheel flying career may indeed be a very short one.
We left KAPA with a slightly lower fuel capacity than usual, so we decided to land full stop and get some fuel from the self service fuel pump at KFTG. This was the first time I have ever used that pump - so it was good to learn how to do that as well. Then we had a cup of coffee and a cookie (the restaurant was not open yet), and then we hopped back in the plane and made our way back to KAPA, where John demonstrated a very nice wheel landing for me.
So can you guess what is on tap for tomorrow's lesson? Yup - wheel landings! I finally get to feel like that WWII fighter pilot that I have always admired. Wheel landings are simply landings on the main gear only, leaving the tail up until the speed dissipates enough to allow the tail to come down, at which time I resume control of the airplane via the tailwheel instead of the rudder. Good directional control and crsswind handling are essential for this type of landing, not to mention the ability to "stick" the wheels on the runway without bouncing. This is the landing that creates the WOW factor in all those WWII aircraft you see at the airshows and at Oshkosh.
I currently have 3.9 tailwheel hours logged. Sure feels like I should have a lot more.After every flight I have felt a bit mentally and physically exhausted. I guess I consider that a sign that I must be devoting the right amount of attention to everything while we are in the airplane. You need to operate these types of airplanes with the utmost attention from the time you do the preflight to the time you tie it back down again. You just can't let your guard down very much if you want to fly these airplanes correctly.
Aspen Flying club's insurance requirements are actually quite surprising to me. For folks with no tailwheel time they require 10 hours dual and a checkout in the plane. I have already told John that I won't even allow him to sign me off unless I feel like I have accumulated enough skill to feel comfortable operating the airplane in a variety of flight conditions.
I am gaining confidence with each flight lesson. That, combined with learning the feel and muscle motor skills that are required for such things as operating the rudder pedals and positioning the controls for crosswind handling, is making this a really fun and enjoyable experience. That said, tomorrow is the last lesson for while as we are approaching the long holiday weekend for Labor Day. Both John and I are committed to other plans over the holiday, so we will need to resume the training later next week. We will see how well I retain all this stuff after letting it settle for a few days.
All pilots flying out of KAPA tomorrow, watch out, cuz I will be terrorizing the skies yet again!
Monday, August 27, 2012
Lesson 2 for Tailwheel Endorsement - T-offs and Landings
Having been spoiled by my instructor for the first lesson when he handled the first takeoff and landing, we scheduled the second flight for early this morning. Folks that know me know that I am not a morning person at all, except when it comes to two things: hunting and flying. We met at the club at 6:00am and drove to the airplane. After the preflight and some fuel, we talked through the power and airspeed settings, and also had some discussion about slips, similar to Ron Duren's experience in his first couple of flights, since this airplane has no flaps or other devices to slow the airplane down.
With the runup complete, we taxied for takeoff onto runway 10 at KAPA. The first takeoff pretty much scared the hell out of me. I was going to use words like "humbled" and such, but the truth was I was not prepared for the amount of the left turning tendency due to gyroscopic precession and p-factor, nor was I prepared for how much right rudder is required to correct for it. The most noteable thing I took away from this experience was that the airplane will accelerate nicely and the tail will come up largely on its own, but the airplane will remain going straight down the runway until some point is reached several seconds after the tail comes up, and when it hits, the airplane just wants to go left in a big hurry. After seeing my life flash briefly in front of my eyes as I headed for edge of the runway, I managed to put in enough right rudder to get things going striaght ahead, and then the airplane wanted to fly. As the old avaition addage goes: "Flying is the easy part - its the takeoffs and landings that are hard." Sure wish I would have gotten a bit more warning about that. Oh well, now I knew.
Then we got up to pattern altitude. 2200 RPM adn 75 MPH were the target settings for downwind. Then the CGUMPPP check: Carb heat (if installed-NA for this airplane since it is fuel injected), Gas checked, Undercarriage checked, Mixture set, and finally Pumps (fuel in this case) Props, and Power Settings. Abeam the landing point I reduce to 1500-1800 RPM to start a 500 FPM descent, and trim to keep the same 75 MPH for the remainder of the downwind. At the 45 degree point back to the landing point, the turn to the base leg occurs, and you trim to slow the airplane to 70 MPH. Then comes the turn to final and you keep it at about 65-68 MPH on a stabilized approach, which basically means that your landing point stays in the same position on the wind screen all the way down. I think for the first one or two landings I found myself needing to slip just a small amount to lose a little altitude. THis is cross controlled condition where the wing is banked in one directions while opposite rudder is appled, This basically makes the airplane fly forward in a sideways manner, and it introduces a whole lot of drag which makes the airplane lose altitude very quickly. Whne you are at your desired altitude, the controls are returned to their normal positions and the airplane straightens itself out for the remainder of the approach.
Now fo the first landing. I had expected that my instructor was going to demonstrate one more 3 point landing for me, but I guess he was so impressed with my approach that he decided to let me take it down "all the way!" as I reached short final with about 100 feet left to go I think I said something like " are you going to take it or let me do this?" He said - "you can take it all the way down." So here comes pucker factor number two. I focused on remaining on the center line of the runway, got down to about 10 feet off the ground, and started to level out. Then I gradually eased back on the stick as the airspeed bled off, and WOW! before I knew it, all three wheels were nicely on the ground with a minimum of bounce, and tailwheel landing number one was in the books as a huge success. Of course, there was little or no wind at this time..........
My instructor John told me that the landing was the best first landing he had ever seen anyone complete. Oh great, now my head is swollen with pride and confidence, so I will most certainly screw the next one up royally. Well, as it turned out, I think we did about 5 or 6 more takeoffs and landings, and it wasn't until I was good and fatigued and the end, and the crosswind started to pick up, that I royally botched the last landing. At least it wasn't so bad that I couldn't recover, but it was bad enough - kind of a repeat experience of the first takeoff, only this time being blown toward the edge of the runway to the right because I forgot to keep applying my control inputs into the crosswind. Humbled? To say the least -yes. Scared out of my britches for a second or two?Pretty much.
Except for the last one, all the other landings were pretty good. A little over rotation here and there during the flare on a couple of them but otherwise pretty much in the groove for a 3 point landing. I still have some work to do to figure out the correct timing and amount of rudder pressure to keep her flying straight down the runway on takeoff, but I almost had it worked out by the end of this lesson.
As for slipping the airplane, I found that this was not needed very much if you flew the proper airspeeds and power settings, and maintained a proper pattern. Slips are the exception and not the norm, when a loss of altitude is needed in a short period of time, when no other means of altitude loss is available such as power management, or flaps, etc.
As a flight instructor with my fair share of students under my belt, I can tell you without question that those students that go on to pursue a commercial pilot certificate are the ones that will truly understand how an airplane needs to be controlled to achieve a specific outcome. Another old aviation addage comes to mind: Those who are able to do what is necessary to obtain a Private Pilot Certificate are essentially given a license to continue to learn how to fly. They understand the basics of flying and navigating themselves through the air. Those who then decide to pursue a Commercial Pilot Certificate gain a specific understanding of the performance capabilities and limitations of an aircraft, and possess the necessary skills to make it perform exactly the way that you want it to. Those who receive an instrument rating gain the skills to smoothly and precisely fly the airplane with no outside reference to the ground or the air, or in other words, you learn how to fly the airplane with finesse.
If you fly a proper traffic pattern and are able to maintain precise control of your descent rate and airspeed, then you should not have to perform forward slips very often at all. OK - my instructor hat is back off now. Just had to get that out there...
Do I still wish to pursue this journey of piloting a tail wheeled aircraft - you bet I do. Do I now have a much greater understanding of what can happen if you let this type of airplane get away from you - you bet I do. When it is all said and done, all it takes is proper training and maintaining a certain level of proficiency, just like any other facet of aviation, with someone sitting in the back seat that is experienced enough to know how to keep you out of real trouble at any time during the training.
I'll have more about the build in the next post, but a quick summary is that I needed to do a bit more research on conduit placement before I forged ahead. I was searching for a post on VAF that I was having a very hard time finding, but I finally located it yesterday... More to come..... Oh yeah, so guess what the next lesson is all about? Crosswind t-offs and landings! I can hardly wait!
With the runup complete, we taxied for takeoff onto runway 10 at KAPA. The first takeoff pretty much scared the hell out of me. I was going to use words like "humbled" and such, but the truth was I was not prepared for the amount of the left turning tendency due to gyroscopic precession and p-factor, nor was I prepared for how much right rudder is required to correct for it. The most noteable thing I took away from this experience was that the airplane will accelerate nicely and the tail will come up largely on its own, but the airplane will remain going straight down the runway until some point is reached several seconds after the tail comes up, and when it hits, the airplane just wants to go left in a big hurry. After seeing my life flash briefly in front of my eyes as I headed for edge of the runway, I managed to put in enough right rudder to get things going striaght ahead, and then the airplane wanted to fly. As the old avaition addage goes: "Flying is the easy part - its the takeoffs and landings that are hard." Sure wish I would have gotten a bit more warning about that. Oh well, now I knew.
Then we got up to pattern altitude. 2200 RPM adn 75 MPH were the target settings for downwind. Then the CGUMPPP check: Carb heat (if installed-NA for this airplane since it is fuel injected), Gas checked, Undercarriage checked, Mixture set, and finally Pumps (fuel in this case) Props, and Power Settings. Abeam the landing point I reduce to 1500-1800 RPM to start a 500 FPM descent, and trim to keep the same 75 MPH for the remainder of the downwind. At the 45 degree point back to the landing point, the turn to the base leg occurs, and you trim to slow the airplane to 70 MPH. Then comes the turn to final and you keep it at about 65-68 MPH on a stabilized approach, which basically means that your landing point stays in the same position on the wind screen all the way down. I think for the first one or two landings I found myself needing to slip just a small amount to lose a little altitude. THis is cross controlled condition where the wing is banked in one directions while opposite rudder is appled, This basically makes the airplane fly forward in a sideways manner, and it introduces a whole lot of drag which makes the airplane lose altitude very quickly. Whne you are at your desired altitude, the controls are returned to their normal positions and the airplane straightens itself out for the remainder of the approach.
Now fo the first landing. I had expected that my instructor was going to demonstrate one more 3 point landing for me, but I guess he was so impressed with my approach that he decided to let me take it down "all the way!" as I reached short final with about 100 feet left to go I think I said something like " are you going to take it or let me do this?" He said - "you can take it all the way down." So here comes pucker factor number two. I focused on remaining on the center line of the runway, got down to about 10 feet off the ground, and started to level out. Then I gradually eased back on the stick as the airspeed bled off, and WOW! before I knew it, all three wheels were nicely on the ground with a minimum of bounce, and tailwheel landing number one was in the books as a huge success. Of course, there was little or no wind at this time..........
My instructor John told me that the landing was the best first landing he had ever seen anyone complete. Oh great, now my head is swollen with pride and confidence, so I will most certainly screw the next one up royally. Well, as it turned out, I think we did about 5 or 6 more takeoffs and landings, and it wasn't until I was good and fatigued and the end, and the crosswind started to pick up, that I royally botched the last landing. At least it wasn't so bad that I couldn't recover, but it was bad enough - kind of a repeat experience of the first takeoff, only this time being blown toward the edge of the runway to the right because I forgot to keep applying my control inputs into the crosswind. Humbled? To say the least -yes. Scared out of my britches for a second or two?Pretty much.
Except for the last one, all the other landings were pretty good. A little over rotation here and there during the flare on a couple of them but otherwise pretty much in the groove for a 3 point landing. I still have some work to do to figure out the correct timing and amount of rudder pressure to keep her flying straight down the runway on takeoff, but I almost had it worked out by the end of this lesson.
As for slipping the airplane, I found that this was not needed very much if you flew the proper airspeeds and power settings, and maintained a proper pattern. Slips are the exception and not the norm, when a loss of altitude is needed in a short period of time, when no other means of altitude loss is available such as power management, or flaps, etc.
As a flight instructor with my fair share of students under my belt, I can tell you without question that those students that go on to pursue a commercial pilot certificate are the ones that will truly understand how an airplane needs to be controlled to achieve a specific outcome. Another old aviation addage comes to mind: Those who are able to do what is necessary to obtain a Private Pilot Certificate are essentially given a license to continue to learn how to fly. They understand the basics of flying and navigating themselves through the air. Those who then decide to pursue a Commercial Pilot Certificate gain a specific understanding of the performance capabilities and limitations of an aircraft, and possess the necessary skills to make it perform exactly the way that you want it to. Those who receive an instrument rating gain the skills to smoothly and precisely fly the airplane with no outside reference to the ground or the air, or in other words, you learn how to fly the airplane with finesse.
If you fly a proper traffic pattern and are able to maintain precise control of your descent rate and airspeed, then you should not have to perform forward slips very often at all. OK - my instructor hat is back off now. Just had to get that out there...
Do I still wish to pursue this journey of piloting a tail wheeled aircraft - you bet I do. Do I now have a much greater understanding of what can happen if you let this type of airplane get away from you - you bet I do. When it is all said and done, all it takes is proper training and maintaining a certain level of proficiency, just like any other facet of aviation, with someone sitting in the back seat that is experienced enough to know how to keep you out of real trouble at any time during the training.
I'll have more about the build in the next post, but a quick summary is that I needed to do a bit more research on conduit placement before I forged ahead. I was searching for a post on VAF that I was having a very hard time finding, but I finally located it yesterday... More to come..... Oh yeah, so guess what the next lesson is all about? Crosswind t-offs and landings! I can hardly wait!
Sunday, August 26, 2012
The Tailwheel Endorsement Adventure Begins!
After some disappointing attempts to find an instructor and a tail dragger plane that I could use to start working on my tailwheel wheel transition training, it all finally came together today. I got my first ride in a Citabria on leaseback with Aspen Flying Club at Centennial Airport. My instructor is also part owner in the airplane - John Good. He is a really nice guy and I am looking forward to completing this next episode in my flying experiences with him.
We flew for 1.4 hours after an additional hour or so just spent getting familiar with the plane, prefight procedures, etc. This airplane has basic configurations that are similar to the RV - tandem seating for two, throttle on the left side, and a joystick in the middle. I believe it has a fuel injected IO-320 engine in it, and it is aerobatic capable. It is a tube/wood/and fabric covered airplane. After that, most everything else is just a bit different than anything else I have ever flown before. There are also no flaps on this airplane, so you have to work with power, pitch, airspeed to get this baby back on the ground correctly. The panel is anything but conventional, and there is no attitude indicator on this airplane (not required for VFR flight). From left to right, there is a VSI, Altimeter, Airspeed indicator, G-meter, Tachometer, and then the engine instruments. The fuel guages are in each wing root, and are float-based (not electric). It has only one comm radio and a transponder. It has a plugin for a handheld or portable garmin GPS, but no VORs. In short, this is really a VFR day, local-area airplane, which is just fine with me.
All of the avionics switches are are on the left sidewall behind my left shoulder, and some of the switches are very hard to reach from the front seat. The mixture control is a push/pull knob with no verneer adjustment, and is located on the instrument panel. The startup procedure is the same as other fule injected lycomings, but it involves a rather awkard arm/hand positioning exercise where the right arm drapes around the joystick to hold the elevator in the up position during start, and then the left hand goes on the mixture control. The right hand crosses over the left arm to push the starter button (yes, I said button) - no keys needed to start this puppy.
So your arms are crossed up to get the thing started - a bit strange, but the procedure worked like a charm. I got her started with no trouble at all. WE then performed som basic taxi drills on an open part of the ramp with no other airplanes so I could get the feel of the throttle, power, rudder authority and braking action. That all went fairly well. The instructor did the takeoff and landing on this first trip, but I am already scheduled for a next flight early tomorrow morning, and I imagine it won't be long before I will be performing those actions as well.
The plane was very tight to get in and out of. I will have to keep working on my technique for that. It has one of the smallest transponder control heads I have ever seen in any airplane. It has a multi-strap harness (not sure if it is a 4 or 5 point harness). Either way, it takes a bit to get all the straps hooked up and tightened down properly. This will be the same as the RV, which will also have a multi-point harness for each seat.
I can't even describe the feeling as we took off. WOW! The last time I had this experience was when I flew in the back seat of John Loretz' RV-8. The difference is that this time I was in the front seat. While the Citabria did not necessarily push me back in my seat when we began the takeoff roll, it accelerated cleanly and quickly to flying speed, and the tail came up in very short order after the takeoff roll began. One of the most amazing things I experienced on this flight was the way in which the instructor needed to manipulate the trim lever, which is right next to my left hip. He used his left foot to move the trim lever wherever he needed it while he as controlling the plane. I can't even imagine the amount of work it would take to train someone from the very beginning in an airplane like this. I have a newfound respect for those that instruct in these types of airplanes. No wonder they are so hard to find in a local flying club setting. If you have to work a bit harder adn stay a bit more proficient to fly one of these types of planes, then to instruct in one must require at least twice as much proficiency.
I gotta admit - right now I am still all about building and flying a taildragger. Part of my dream is to come as close as possible to flying a WWII fighter airplane, and so the taildragger element is obviously a very important part of that. I may have to make some concessions about certain wind and weather conditions if I maintain that direction, but in my older years, being a chicken and waiting for the "better weather" days to fly is not such a big deal for me. Especially after already experiencing some of the most difficult flying there is while serving as a Civil Air Patrol Search and Rescue pilot for 26 years.
So now the hard work begins. I must be able to practice taking off and landing in a variety of cross wind conditions during this training to determine once and for all if I will continue to build my RV as a tail dragger or a nosewheel airplane.
I will provide pictures and maybe some video later on after I get a few more flights under my belt. The plan is to have my endorsement completed by mid September or sooner - time, weather, and airplane permitting. Sure felt good to get up in the air again!
We flew for 1.4 hours after an additional hour or so just spent getting familiar with the plane, prefight procedures, etc. This airplane has basic configurations that are similar to the RV - tandem seating for two, throttle on the left side, and a joystick in the middle. I believe it has a fuel injected IO-320 engine in it, and it is aerobatic capable. It is a tube/wood/and fabric covered airplane. After that, most everything else is just a bit different than anything else I have ever flown before. There are also no flaps on this airplane, so you have to work with power, pitch, airspeed to get this baby back on the ground correctly. The panel is anything but conventional, and there is no attitude indicator on this airplane (not required for VFR flight). From left to right, there is a VSI, Altimeter, Airspeed indicator, G-meter, Tachometer, and then the engine instruments. The fuel guages are in each wing root, and are float-based (not electric). It has only one comm radio and a transponder. It has a plugin for a handheld or portable garmin GPS, but no VORs. In short, this is really a VFR day, local-area airplane, which is just fine with me.
All of the avionics switches are are on the left sidewall behind my left shoulder, and some of the switches are very hard to reach from the front seat. The mixture control is a push/pull knob with no verneer adjustment, and is located on the instrument panel. The startup procedure is the same as other fule injected lycomings, but it involves a rather awkard arm/hand positioning exercise where the right arm drapes around the joystick to hold the elevator in the up position during start, and then the left hand goes on the mixture control. The right hand crosses over the left arm to push the starter button (yes, I said button) - no keys needed to start this puppy.
So your arms are crossed up to get the thing started - a bit strange, but the procedure worked like a charm. I got her started with no trouble at all. WE then performed som basic taxi drills on an open part of the ramp with no other airplanes so I could get the feel of the throttle, power, rudder authority and braking action. That all went fairly well. The instructor did the takeoff and landing on this first trip, but I am already scheduled for a next flight early tomorrow morning, and I imagine it won't be long before I will be performing those actions as well.
The plane was very tight to get in and out of. I will have to keep working on my technique for that. It has one of the smallest transponder control heads I have ever seen in any airplane. It has a multi-strap harness (not sure if it is a 4 or 5 point harness). Either way, it takes a bit to get all the straps hooked up and tightened down properly. This will be the same as the RV, which will also have a multi-point harness for each seat.
I can't even describe the feeling as we took off. WOW! The last time I had this experience was when I flew in the back seat of John Loretz' RV-8. The difference is that this time I was in the front seat. While the Citabria did not necessarily push me back in my seat when we began the takeoff roll, it accelerated cleanly and quickly to flying speed, and the tail came up in very short order after the takeoff roll began. One of the most amazing things I experienced on this flight was the way in which the instructor needed to manipulate the trim lever, which is right next to my left hip. He used his left foot to move the trim lever wherever he needed it while he as controlling the plane. I can't even imagine the amount of work it would take to train someone from the very beginning in an airplane like this. I have a newfound respect for those that instruct in these types of airplanes. No wonder they are so hard to find in a local flying club setting. If you have to work a bit harder adn stay a bit more proficient to fly one of these types of planes, then to instruct in one must require at least twice as much proficiency.
I gotta admit - right now I am still all about building and flying a taildragger. Part of my dream is to come as close as possible to flying a WWII fighter airplane, and so the taildragger element is obviously a very important part of that. I may have to make some concessions about certain wind and weather conditions if I maintain that direction, but in my older years, being a chicken and waiting for the "better weather" days to fly is not such a big deal for me. Especially after already experiencing some of the most difficult flying there is while serving as a Civil Air Patrol Search and Rescue pilot for 26 years.
So now the hard work begins. I must be able to practice taking off and landing in a variety of cross wind conditions during this training to determine once and for all if I will continue to build my RV as a tail dragger or a nosewheel airplane.
I will provide pictures and maybe some video later on after I get a few more flights under my belt. The plan is to have my endorsement completed by mid September or sooner - time, weather, and airplane permitting. Sure felt good to get up in the air again!
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Wings 84, Total 547 - Deburring Leading Edge Ribs
And the never ending Wing rib deburring process commences. I finally got the window in my trailer repaired, and so I took some time to get that re-installed on the trailer. Afterward, I was able to spend about an hour smoothing out the forward cut out sections of some of the leading edge ribs. Vans explains in the instructions to ensure that the contours of the front end of the nose ribs are smooth. IN their raw form, if you rin your fingers over this section of the rib, you can feel the uneven-ness of each of small sections of each cutout. I used a combination of the scotchbrite wheel and some aluminum oxide 220 grit sand paper to make these sections as smooth as I could without compromising too much metal.
Doing this allows the nose ribs to be positioned and aligned with the holes in the skins without getting caught on the skin surface. I did reduce the thickness of the the metal on some of these cutouts to accomplish this, but it was necessary to achieve a reasonably smooth surface over that part of the rib.
Here are some pics of the process:
I did quite a bit of surfing VAF last night to find out more about what type of Conduit connectors are available for use in setting up my wire runs for each wing. I will post more about that tomorrow.
Doing this allows the nose ribs to be positioned and aligned with the holes in the skins without getting caught on the skin surface. I did reduce the thickness of the the metal on some of these cutouts to accomplish this, but it was necessary to achieve a reasonably smooth surface over that part of the rib.
Here are some pics of the process:
I did quite a bit of surfing VAF last night to find out more about what type of Conduit connectors are available for use in setting up my wire runs for each wing. I will post more about that tomorrow.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Wings 83, total 546 - Back in the Saddle Again......
Besides being a great Aerosmith tune, my post title is a true testament to the way of things. Seems like I had been out of the saddle for quite some time, but the reality is that I have still been immersed in many things regarding my build, just no actual time spent actually building it lately. To accentuate my lack of progress over the past month or so, I ahve to inclde this next pic. To other builders out there, let this pic serve as "motivation," or you can look at it from my perspective, which is an embarrasing kick in the pants to get this flying machine finished as soon as possible.
Thanks goes once again to Mike Rettig for this lovely work of art, written on my dust-filled horizontal stabilizer, that I have not hung back up on the wall since my build party a couple (few) months ago. I stil have some touch up priming and a couple other things to do before I hang it back up again. Sadly, it does not take very long for just about anything in my garage to accumulate a rather thick coat of dust. I am ashamed to have let it get this bad.
Since my last post I have suffering from a bit of analysis paralysis regarding how many additional holes I need to drill in my wing ribs to install the necessary conduit to run all of my electrical wires through the wings. In order to figure this out, I also needed to come to terms with some avionics decisions that would also determine what kind of electrical wires and antenna wires I would need to run.
One of the key decisions you have to make in this day and age is to determine if your airplane will fly using mainly GPS navigational assistance, or if you intend to continue to take advantage of the VOR,Localizer, and glide slope information that is still in use and available to both VFR and IFR pilots alike. My decision? Since I am a pilot that is rated to conduct flight in both VFR and IFR environments, I plan on being able to exercise either one when the opportunity suits me. I threfore plan on installing a GPS unit that is qualified for both enroute and approach IFR (WAAS capable), and, as an independent back up system, I plan to to continue to use, or have the capability to use the existing ground-based VOR navigation system.
In order to do this, you have to install the avionics equipment for each system, and run the electrical wiring and the antenna wiring for both.
Up to now, my experience with VOR antennas has always involved what is known as a cat's whisker antenna. This is basically a rather thick wire antenna that is shaped like two sides of a triangle with the base missing. The pointed end of the antenna is usually mounted on the top of the vertical stabilizer, with the "whiskers" spreading outward towards the rear of the airplane. THe traditional IFR installation for this system was to install two separate VOR receivers, both of which would be tied to the same antenna. I don't see too many experimental aircraft using this installation method, nor do I see many cat's whiskers antennas.
I have since learned of a different option that was introduced by an antenna whiz by the name of Bob Archer. He has invented some Nav and Com antennas for a variety of different airplanes that can be installed inside a Wing tip, thus reducing drag and allowing faster cruise speeds. I have seen many pics of this antenna and I have access to several builders who have used this same installation. This weekend I attended the annual EAA Chapter 301 picnic, complements of Rudy Kniese and Ted Lemen. While there I met Lyn (Will get last name and add later) who is building an RV-7A. He invited me to look at this Wings so that I could see how he had routed his wires nd so I could see the Archer antenna installation in his WIng tip. It was fantastic to see another build again. I learned so much more than just about wire runs while I was there.
I learned about the distinction between fuel injected engines with vertical induction vs. horizontal induction. Horzontal requires an inlet mod that most make out of fiberglass. This eliminates the need for the scoop on the bottom of the engine cowl, which still has to be used if you use vertical induction. I also learned about the routing of the fuel vent lines, placement of the engine cooling baffles, and directing airflow to various components within the engine compartment.
Anyway, back to antennas. One of the other things I had read somewhere was that the antenna needs to be run separately from the wires for nav and strobe lights, landing lights, autopilot servos, etc. It is also supposed to be at least 1 foot away from all other wires to prevent RF interference from distorting or disrupting the signal. Lyn showed me that he as able to run the main wiring bundle for the lights and such up toward the front of the main ribs, and the VOR antenna cable can run through some conduit that is attached by a hangar through the rear lighteining hle of each rib. Lyn had a very spiffy looking zip tie clamp that was riveted to the outside of the rear lightening hole with two rivets. THe conduit is then attached by a zip tie assembly. Very neat setup. I also found some other hangars today at HD that I had read about from several others. the 3/4 inch hangar should work just fine. THis puts the conduit right through the center of the rear lightening hole, so you don't even have to drill another 3/4 inch hole in your wing rib, which is also a plus. The antenna cable will also be at least 16 inches away from any other wiring through the wing, so this will work nicely.
The antenna cable being used these days is RG400 - really expensive stuff I guess, but my life and the lives of my passengers is worth it. My plan is to run the Nav antenna out to the right Wing tip, another comm antenna out to the Left Wingtip, and then most all remaining antennas except for the GPS antennas will go on the belly of the airplane.
TO close for the night, I spent two hours finishing up the straightening of the remaining fuel tank ribs, and I sorted all the main ribs and stacked them together so that the correct rib sequence is set for each wing. I then numbered each rib so I know which one goes where. I still have deburring that needs to be done to certain areas of each rib, but the hard part is over. Actually the next hard part will be all the scuffing and cleaning of the ribs, but first I get to match drill the holes to the spar - have to get the sapr down off the shelf to do that. Yippee, I am building an airplane again!
Thanks goes once again to Mike Rettig for this lovely work of art, written on my dust-filled horizontal stabilizer, that I have not hung back up on the wall since my build party a couple (few) months ago. I stil have some touch up priming and a couple other things to do before I hang it back up again. Sadly, it does not take very long for just about anything in my garage to accumulate a rather thick coat of dust. I am ashamed to have let it get this bad.
Since my last post I have suffering from a bit of analysis paralysis regarding how many additional holes I need to drill in my wing ribs to install the necessary conduit to run all of my electrical wires through the wings. In order to figure this out, I also needed to come to terms with some avionics decisions that would also determine what kind of electrical wires and antenna wires I would need to run.
One of the key decisions you have to make in this day and age is to determine if your airplane will fly using mainly GPS navigational assistance, or if you intend to continue to take advantage of the VOR,Localizer, and glide slope information that is still in use and available to both VFR and IFR pilots alike. My decision? Since I am a pilot that is rated to conduct flight in both VFR and IFR environments, I plan on being able to exercise either one when the opportunity suits me. I threfore plan on installing a GPS unit that is qualified for both enroute and approach IFR (WAAS capable), and, as an independent back up system, I plan to to continue to use, or have the capability to use the existing ground-based VOR navigation system.
In order to do this, you have to install the avionics equipment for each system, and run the electrical wiring and the antenna wiring for both.
Up to now, my experience with VOR antennas has always involved what is known as a cat's whisker antenna. This is basically a rather thick wire antenna that is shaped like two sides of a triangle with the base missing. The pointed end of the antenna is usually mounted on the top of the vertical stabilizer, with the "whiskers" spreading outward towards the rear of the airplane. THe traditional IFR installation for this system was to install two separate VOR receivers, both of which would be tied to the same antenna. I don't see too many experimental aircraft using this installation method, nor do I see many cat's whiskers antennas.
I have since learned of a different option that was introduced by an antenna whiz by the name of Bob Archer. He has invented some Nav and Com antennas for a variety of different airplanes that can be installed inside a Wing tip, thus reducing drag and allowing faster cruise speeds. I have seen many pics of this antenna and I have access to several builders who have used this same installation. This weekend I attended the annual EAA Chapter 301 picnic, complements of Rudy Kniese and Ted Lemen. While there I met Lyn (Will get last name and add later) who is building an RV-7A. He invited me to look at this Wings so that I could see how he had routed his wires nd so I could see the Archer antenna installation in his WIng tip. It was fantastic to see another build again. I learned so much more than just about wire runs while I was there.
I learned about the distinction between fuel injected engines with vertical induction vs. horizontal induction. Horzontal requires an inlet mod that most make out of fiberglass. This eliminates the need for the scoop on the bottom of the engine cowl, which still has to be used if you use vertical induction. I also learned about the routing of the fuel vent lines, placement of the engine cooling baffles, and directing airflow to various components within the engine compartment.
Anyway, back to antennas. One of the other things I had read somewhere was that the antenna needs to be run separately from the wires for nav and strobe lights, landing lights, autopilot servos, etc. It is also supposed to be at least 1 foot away from all other wires to prevent RF interference from distorting or disrupting the signal. Lyn showed me that he as able to run the main wiring bundle for the lights and such up toward the front of the main ribs, and the VOR antenna cable can run through some conduit that is attached by a hangar through the rear lighteining hle of each rib. Lyn had a very spiffy looking zip tie clamp that was riveted to the outside of the rear lightening hole with two rivets. THe conduit is then attached by a zip tie assembly. Very neat setup. I also found some other hangars today at HD that I had read about from several others. the 3/4 inch hangar should work just fine. THis puts the conduit right through the center of the rear lightening hole, so you don't even have to drill another 3/4 inch hole in your wing rib, which is also a plus. The antenna cable will also be at least 16 inches away from any other wiring through the wing, so this will work nicely.
The antenna cable being used these days is RG400 - really expensive stuff I guess, but my life and the lives of my passengers is worth it. My plan is to run the Nav antenna out to the right Wing tip, another comm antenna out to the Left Wingtip, and then most all remaining antennas except for the GPS antennas will go on the belly of the airplane.
TO close for the night, I spent two hours finishing up the straightening of the remaining fuel tank ribs, and I sorted all the main ribs and stacked them together so that the correct rib sequence is set for each wing. I then numbered each rib so I know which one goes where. I still have deburring that needs to be done to certain areas of each rib, but the hard part is over. Actually the next hard part will be all the scuffing and cleaning of the ribs, but first I get to match drill the holes to the spar - have to get the sapr down off the shelf to do that. Yippee, I am building an airplane again!
Stacks of ribs waiting to be attached to the wing spar.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
If you missed Airventure, you missed...(Cont'd)
Continuing from the previous post. Just had a few more things I wanted to mention about the Airventure Experience this year.
- One of the challenges for folks with kids, especially older kids, is what they can do while attending Airventure. This has been identified in feedback received from those that attend AV. Turns out that our new EAA president also has teen-aged kids, and therefore wanted to focus on that concern a bit more this year. There were some neat changes this year. Part of the package of materials you receive when you enter the campground was a notice about a schedule of events for teens, and this included several meet and greet, Pizza parties, and Bon fires at the volley ball courts throughout the week. Unfortunately, the bon fires could not take place, because of a fire ban in Wisconsin due to drought conditions. (Something I know about all too well this year in Colorado) Regardless, they still met at the courts and had a good time.
My son met several new friends that were his age, which I was happy to see. I also learned something new about the association that EAA has with the YMCA in Oshkosh during the event. There is actually a shuttle bus that runs each day between Airventure and the YMCA. Kids less than 10 years old must be accompanied by an adult, but others can go to the Y without an escort. Bus leaves at 1230 each day and returns at about 3:30 or so. This service is free of charge, and the YMCA in Oshkosh is second to none. It even has a full ice skating rink. Adam took advantage of this a couple of times to go play basketball. I also learned from one of the grown ups that they also allow people flying into Airventure to camp on the soccer fields at the Y. campers have full access to allthe ammenities at the Y, including restrooms, showers, etc.
For the trip up and back, and the few times I saw my son during the event, being able to spend time with him was priceless. He is not an aviation enthusiast as I am, but he has enjoyed each of these past two trips. I am hoping I can share a couple more with him before adult life and work and money and girls take over.....
If you are looking for a way to bond with family, Airventure is an excellent way to do that.
- You missed catching up with old friends, or making new ones from all over the world. Mike Rettig introduced me to a group of RV 10 builders that were in the group camp area of Camp Scholler, which is much closer to the main grounds entrance then I am. These were great folks, and the meet and greet pot luck dinner was fantastic.
- Then there was the "after party" back at my trailer where Mike and I proceeded to do a little card playing and drinking. I was consuming some Batch 19 Pre-Prohibition beer from Coors that Scott Mills graciously provided for me as compensation for hauling his gear to OSH and back. Thanks Scott! Then I introduced Mike to a drink with an interesting history that I call the "El Supremo". Sorry, if you want to know more about that drink, you'll just have to travel to Airventure and meet up with me to find out! Needless to say that we were a little snockered by the end of the evening. After a rather tough journey, and some equally tough weather conditions after we arrived, I was in need of some "relief." Thanks Mike.
- I need to take some time to recognize Mike just a bit further. Other than being a great drinking buddy, MIke deserves honorable mention for a hst of other reasons. Earlier this year a series of events unfolded after he became acqainted with a young man by the name of Alex Cuellar, who had aspirations of becoming a pilot. His dreams were suddenly shattered when he was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor. After Alex had visited Mike's RV-10 project, Mike asked Alex if he had ever been to Airventure. A seed had been planted. Then, after hundreds of events and phone calls and inquiries later, this young man and his falther, Allejandro, were on their way to an all expense paid trip to Airventure.
While many folks became involved to make this all happen, Mike was the corner stone that started it, and then coordinated most of the efforts to make it all happen. The VAF community also came together for this young man, who is still recovering from chemo-therapy and fighting for his very life to this day. It was absolutely awe-inspiring to see what a group of people with different aviation-oriented interests and backgrounds could do in just a matter of a few months to make a young man's dream come true. I am very proud to be a member of an organization such as EAA and Vans Air Force, and to know the wonderful people that make up these organizations. Mike - you are tops in my book.
You can see more info about his trip by clicking here.
Just to give a glimpse of some of the things that Alex was able to experience:
1. Transported in RV style to and from Airventure by an RV-10. Thanks Dwight.
2. Interviewed on EAA radio. You can listen to that interview online here. (Note that as of this posting the 2012 AV interviews do not appear to be available quite yet. I am sure they are working on them, so just be patient.)
3. Was introduced and received a standing ovation at the Vans Banquet
4. Got to meet director George Lucas prior to the screening of the Red Tails movie at the Fly In Theater.
5. Got to ride in the B-29 Fifi (Something that I was seriously considering doing this year until vehicle repairs ate up the funds I had budgeted for that.)
6. Got to tour the Airventure grounds and the Museum in style with a golf cart and transportation arranged by EAA. Thanks Chad Jensen and others).
And that is just a taste of what they experienced...... I was blessed to meet Alex and his dad several times throughout the week. I truly wish the best for Alex and his family, and I pray for his full recovery so that he may continue to pursue his dream to be a pilot someday. Cancer sucks.
Mike, you are truly inspirational for your selfless devotion to making this happen. Thank you for all that you did for Alex and his family.
This was probably the highlight of my week - watching a young man get an experience of a lifetime.
- As a parting remeberance for this post, on the last day of the event, I also watched in amazement as a young girl at one of the concession stands proceeded to make the tallest soft serve ice cream cone I have ever seen. By the time she was done, tis thing was at least one foot tall. As she handed it to me, I kept wondering how in the heck I was going to eat this humungous thing. One thing about me, when it omes to ice cream, I will find a way. I managed to down that thing in a matter of minutes, without spilling a drop. This was followed almost immediately by a though from that oldTV commercial that goes something like "I can't believe I ate the whole thing!" Took some more walking to recover from this amazing feat, but that is never a problem when at Airventure, sinec the average person walks about 7 miles per day while they are here.
So, are you going to go to Airventure 2013, or are you going to keep dreaming about it? Make it happen!
- One of the challenges for folks with kids, especially older kids, is what they can do while attending Airventure. This has been identified in feedback received from those that attend AV. Turns out that our new EAA president also has teen-aged kids, and therefore wanted to focus on that concern a bit more this year. There were some neat changes this year. Part of the package of materials you receive when you enter the campground was a notice about a schedule of events for teens, and this included several meet and greet, Pizza parties, and Bon fires at the volley ball courts throughout the week. Unfortunately, the bon fires could not take place, because of a fire ban in Wisconsin due to drought conditions. (Something I know about all too well this year in Colorado) Regardless, they still met at the courts and had a good time.
My son met several new friends that were his age, which I was happy to see. I also learned something new about the association that EAA has with the YMCA in Oshkosh during the event. There is actually a shuttle bus that runs each day between Airventure and the YMCA. Kids less than 10 years old must be accompanied by an adult, but others can go to the Y without an escort. Bus leaves at 1230 each day and returns at about 3:30 or so. This service is free of charge, and the YMCA in Oshkosh is second to none. It even has a full ice skating rink. Adam took advantage of this a couple of times to go play basketball. I also learned from one of the grown ups that they also allow people flying into Airventure to camp on the soccer fields at the Y. campers have full access to allthe ammenities at the Y, including restrooms, showers, etc.
For the trip up and back, and the few times I saw my son during the event, being able to spend time with him was priceless. He is not an aviation enthusiast as I am, but he has enjoyed each of these past two trips. I am hoping I can share a couple more with him before adult life and work and money and girls take over.....
If you are looking for a way to bond with family, Airventure is an excellent way to do that.
- You missed catching up with old friends, or making new ones from all over the world. Mike Rettig introduced me to a group of RV 10 builders that were in the group camp area of Camp Scholler, which is much closer to the main grounds entrance then I am. These were great folks, and the meet and greet pot luck dinner was fantastic.
- Then there was the "after party" back at my trailer where Mike and I proceeded to do a little card playing and drinking. I was consuming some Batch 19 Pre-Prohibition beer from Coors that Scott Mills graciously provided for me as compensation for hauling his gear to OSH and back. Thanks Scott! Then I introduced Mike to a drink with an interesting history that I call the "El Supremo". Sorry, if you want to know more about that drink, you'll just have to travel to Airventure and meet up with me to find out! Needless to say that we were a little snockered by the end of the evening. After a rather tough journey, and some equally tough weather conditions after we arrived, I was in need of some "relief." Thanks Mike.
- I need to take some time to recognize Mike just a bit further. Other than being a great drinking buddy, MIke deserves honorable mention for a hst of other reasons. Earlier this year a series of events unfolded after he became acqainted with a young man by the name of Alex Cuellar, who had aspirations of becoming a pilot. His dreams were suddenly shattered when he was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor. After Alex had visited Mike's RV-10 project, Mike asked Alex if he had ever been to Airventure. A seed had been planted. Then, after hundreds of events and phone calls and inquiries later, this young man and his falther, Allejandro, were on their way to an all expense paid trip to Airventure.
While many folks became involved to make this all happen, Mike was the corner stone that started it, and then coordinated most of the efforts to make it all happen. The VAF community also came together for this young man, who is still recovering from chemo-therapy and fighting for his very life to this day. It was absolutely awe-inspiring to see what a group of people with different aviation-oriented interests and backgrounds could do in just a matter of a few months to make a young man's dream come true. I am very proud to be a member of an organization such as EAA and Vans Air Force, and to know the wonderful people that make up these organizations. Mike - you are tops in my book.
You can see more info about his trip by clicking here.
Just to give a glimpse of some of the things that Alex was able to experience:
1. Transported in RV style to and from Airventure by an RV-10. Thanks Dwight.
2. Interviewed on EAA radio. You can listen to that interview online here. (Note that as of this posting the 2012 AV interviews do not appear to be available quite yet. I am sure they are working on them, so just be patient.)
3. Was introduced and received a standing ovation at the Vans Banquet
4. Got to meet director George Lucas prior to the screening of the Red Tails movie at the Fly In Theater.
5. Got to ride in the B-29 Fifi (Something that I was seriously considering doing this year until vehicle repairs ate up the funds I had budgeted for that.)
6. Got to tour the Airventure grounds and the Museum in style with a golf cart and transportation arranged by EAA. Thanks Chad Jensen and others).
And that is just a taste of what they experienced...... I was blessed to meet Alex and his dad several times throughout the week. I truly wish the best for Alex and his family, and I pray for his full recovery so that he may continue to pursue his dream to be a pilot someday. Cancer sucks.
Mike, you are truly inspirational for your selfless devotion to making this happen. Thank you for all that you did for Alex and his family.
This was probably the highlight of my week - watching a young man get an experience of a lifetime.
- As a parting remeberance for this post, on the last day of the event, I also watched in amazement as a young girl at one of the concession stands proceeded to make the tallest soft serve ice cream cone I have ever seen. By the time she was done, tis thing was at least one foot tall. As she handed it to me, I kept wondering how in the heck I was going to eat this humungous thing. One thing about me, when it omes to ice cream, I will find a way. I managed to down that thing in a matter of minutes, without spilling a drop. This was followed almost immediately by a though from that oldTV commercial that goes something like "I can't believe I ate the whole thing!" Took some more walking to recover from this amazing feat, but that is never a problem when at Airventure, sinec the average person walks about 7 miles per day while they are here.
So, are you going to go to Airventure 2013, or are you going to keep dreaming about it? Make it happen!
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
If you did not attend Airventure this year, then you missed.....
Now that I have adequately vented about all the less-than-pleasant things that happened on this latest trip to Airventure in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, I need to be sure to point out to anyone reading these small slices of my life, that the good times still far outweighed any of the not so good times. Part of the process of going to Airventure is experiencing the journey along the way. Without the journey, the destination would never be reached. The process of building an airplane is no different.
So, to begin with, if you did not make it to Airventure this year, you missed.....
- A great opening day concert with the Steve Miller Band - absolutely awesome show.
- Quiet time to reflect in the Museum - On the hottest day of the week, I sat down in a chair in air conditioned comfort that faced a quiet wall with several pictures of nose art on some aircraft of pilots in WWII from around the region, each with a story about the pilot behind the art. Some survived, and some did not.... Thank you all for your sacrifice. The museum is one of my favorite places to go - hot or cold, rain or shine.
- Watching Team RV perform for the first time at Airventure to honor the founder of Vans Aircraft - Dick Van Grunsven - 20 or 30 some odd RV aircraft, all built by their owners, performing one of the best mass aerobatic performances I have ever seen - truly inspirational stuff.
- Re-enactments of the Pearl Harbor Invasion by the Tora Tora Tora flight from the CAF. I have not seen this re-enactment for many years, but it was still a haunting experience to see just how quickly the Japanese airplanes can turn and re-engage in the attack. The aircraft that are used were replicas built from original plans for the original 1970s movie called Tora Tora Tora.
- or perhaps you missed the antitheses of that attack that occurred on August 6, 1945, over Hiroshima, as demonstrated here......
- You missed the Vans banquet on Tuesday evening. Admittedly I had a hard time finding this pavilliion which is cleaverly hidden behind several trees and slightly out of sight from the main roads, but once we got there, it was a fantastic experience. Members of Team RV, Vans Staff, and at least 3 hundred other RV-owners, builders, and enthusiasts all came together for food, drink, stories, and just good times had by all.
- You missed the introduction of the new RV-14. This airplane turned out to be a cross between the RV-10 and the RV-7, with a cabin area about 2 inches wider than the RV-7, and wings that hold larger fuel tanks for better cross country endurance. The airplane is also still fully rated for aerobatics. Finally, an RV-7 for big folks, like me. Gotta finish the RV-8 first though!
- Or maybe you missed the movies at the Ford Fly-in Theater. I absolutely love this feature about Airventure. Drive In movies every night with out the cars - just you, your chairs, free popcorn, and perhaps a favorite beverage, all while sitting under the starsv-just beautiful. This year you missed 633 squadron, 30 seconds over Tokyo, Star Trek, The Rocketeer, Red Tails, and one other one that escapes me at the moment.
- Forums and seminars and workshops galore. If you have questions about how to do something, this is certainly the place to ask the questions and get the correct answers. Due to all the car adn trailer issues I was not able to attend all of the forums that I wanted to, but I did manage to attend the RV Composite Workshop, and part of the discussion about ForeFlight and its product offerings for EFB solutions in the cockpit, as well as one other forum that discussed the future of the unleaded fue movement that will invariably keep heading our way. (Stupid ass tree huggers) - there, now you know my unedited opinion about all that stuff. But I digress....
- If you did not make it to the Saturday night Airshow, then maybe you missed the most awesome fireworks and night airshow on the planet. Here is a snippet of that to wet your appetite for next year.
- Or perhaps you missed the opportunity to walk amongst a literal sea of homebuild aircraft all over the grounds. I am happy to report that there were reportedly between 475 to 500 RV aircraft present at Airventure this year, once again breaking a record previously held by Cessna for the largest number of same - make aircraft that have landed at Airventure. RVs rule! There are currently about 7700 reported kits currently flying in all parts of the world.
Here are some pics that I took while roaming the grounds:
- Or you may have missed the Old and new flying together. Glacier Girl - a P-38 Lightening dug out of hundreds of feet of ice and fully restored and flying, teamed up with an A-10 Tunderbolt, aka Warthog.
So, to begin with, if you did not make it to Airventure this year, you missed.....
- A great opening day concert with the Steve Miller Band - absolutely awesome show.
- Quiet time to reflect in the Museum - On the hottest day of the week, I sat down in a chair in air conditioned comfort that faced a quiet wall with several pictures of nose art on some aircraft of pilots in WWII from around the region, each with a story about the pilot behind the art. Some survived, and some did not.... Thank you all for your sacrifice. The museum is one of my favorite places to go - hot or cold, rain or shine.
- Watching Team RV perform for the first time at Airventure to honor the founder of Vans Aircraft - Dick Van Grunsven - 20 or 30 some odd RV aircraft, all built by their owners, performing one of the best mass aerobatic performances I have ever seen - truly inspirational stuff.
- Re-enactments of the Pearl Harbor Invasion by the Tora Tora Tora flight from the CAF. I have not seen this re-enactment for many years, but it was still a haunting experience to see just how quickly the Japanese airplanes can turn and re-engage in the attack. The aircraft that are used were replicas built from original plans for the original 1970s movie called Tora Tora Tora.
- or perhaps you missed the antitheses of that attack that occurred on August 6, 1945, over Hiroshima, as demonstrated here......
- You missed the Vans banquet on Tuesday evening. Admittedly I had a hard time finding this pavilliion which is cleaverly hidden behind several trees and slightly out of sight from the main roads, but once we got there, it was a fantastic experience. Members of Team RV, Vans Staff, and at least 3 hundred other RV-owners, builders, and enthusiasts all came together for food, drink, stories, and just good times had by all.
- You missed the introduction of the new RV-14. This airplane turned out to be a cross between the RV-10 and the RV-7, with a cabin area about 2 inches wider than the RV-7, and wings that hold larger fuel tanks for better cross country endurance. The airplane is also still fully rated for aerobatics. Finally, an RV-7 for big folks, like me. Gotta finish the RV-8 first though!
- Or maybe you missed the movies at the Ford Fly-in Theater. I absolutely love this feature about Airventure. Drive In movies every night with out the cars - just you, your chairs, free popcorn, and perhaps a favorite beverage, all while sitting under the starsv-just beautiful. This year you missed 633 squadron, 30 seconds over Tokyo, Star Trek, The Rocketeer, Red Tails, and one other one that escapes me at the moment.
- Forums and seminars and workshops galore. If you have questions about how to do something, this is certainly the place to ask the questions and get the correct answers. Due to all the car adn trailer issues I was not able to attend all of the forums that I wanted to, but I did manage to attend the RV Composite Workshop, and part of the discussion about ForeFlight and its product offerings for EFB solutions in the cockpit, as well as one other forum that discussed the future of the unleaded fue movement that will invariably keep heading our way. (Stupid ass tree huggers) - there, now you know my unedited opinion about all that stuff. But I digress....
- If you did not make it to the Saturday night Airshow, then maybe you missed the most awesome fireworks and night airshow on the planet. Here is a snippet of that to wet your appetite for next year.
- Or perhaps you missed the opportunity to walk amongst a literal sea of homebuild aircraft all over the grounds. I am happy to report that there were reportedly between 475 to 500 RV aircraft present at Airventure this year, once again breaking a record previously held by Cessna for the largest number of same - make aircraft that have landed at Airventure. RVs rule! There are currently about 7700 reported kits currently flying in all parts of the world.
Here are some pics that I took while roaming the grounds:
- Or you may have missed the Old and new flying together. Glacier Girl - a P-38 Lightening dug out of hundreds of feet of ice and fully restored and flying, teamed up with an A-10 Tunderbolt, aka Warthog.
And as if that is not enough..... To be continued......
Friday, August 3, 2012
Survived Another Airventure
Not a very thrilling title for a post about traveling to the worlds greatest aviation gathering, but as I sit here writing this I am still in recovery mode after returning to a busy work week for the past couple of days. This trip was a challenging one on many different fronts. The journey getting there always holds some interesting challenges, and this year was no exception. Not posting any pics on this post as I spent most of my time taking video. Will try to capture that and put some clips on at a later time.
Everything kind of broke down as follows:
1. Did not get underway until 10:00am due to the usual "must work till midnight the night before to save the world" syndrome, which did not leave me enough time to finish packing up the night before. Then, through no fault of his, after simoly following my instructions, my son opened up the water fill port to fill the water tanks in the trailer, but he opened up the wrong one - the one with absolutely nothing hooked to the other side. Why my trailer is configured like this I will never know - it came that way when I bought it. So that flooded the trailer from front to back before I finally saw what was happening. So not the best start I have ever had.
2. Rolled into Omaha at about 7;00PM after a 10 hour drive - stayed in a nice Motel 6 this time due the extreme heat and humidity in that region right now. It was 104 with an index at 109 degrees when we pulled up, only to find that the entire business side of the street that we were on had experienced a power outage only 15 minutes before I arrived. After a mad scramble to find a gas station that still had power, the other side of the street lit up again, and so we checked into the hotel with no further problems.
3. On I-80 the next day about 20 miles west of the I-380 North interchange, my left rear trailer tire completely blew out. In the process it severed all of my trailer brake wires leading to one side of the trailer (See my post from 2009 for a similar experience), and it also completely ripped out the handle of one of my dump valves for one of the water tanks. I have to say I was in fear for my life while changing that tire on the side of the higway while countless numbers of semi trucks moving at 80 mph just a few feet away. The tire had completely blown apart, and the tread had wrapped itself around the axle about 5 times while it proceeded to do the rest of the damage I have already described.
So I got the spare tire on and off we went again, but I was very nervous that we might experience another blowout, so I was a bit on edge for the rest of the trip. As a side note, after I arrived at Oshkosh, I learned how to determine when my tires were manufactured. When I found the DOT date stamp, it indicated that they were all made in June of 1995! IN other words, my trailer tires were about 7 years overdue for a change based on normal operation, and 4 of those 7 years had been spent traveling to Oshkosh and back. They also determined that the other 3 tires were starting to separate, indeed about ready to give way, so I consider myself a bit lucky there. Should have replaced the tires long ago...... live and learn I guess. I always check the tread before I depart but did not pay attention to too much else, like the conidtion of the tire skin in between the treads, etc. Normal life span is about 8-10 years.
4. Oshkosh was also HOT when we arrived, and it was also very humid. I had a real hard time with the weather this year. A couple of days were nice, but the remainder were either rainy, windy, or extremely hot. One storm that came through on Thursday last week had me personally fearing for my life for about 15 minutes, resulted in damage to at least 2 aircraft that I witnessed, and flooded out just about all tents in the homebuilt camping area. Luckily the strong part of the storm was over the Airventure grounds and not so much in the campground area, so the trailer survived that with no problems.
5. Had an episode where a cabinet door gave way and swung out so hard that it broke one of my windows. I had to get creative with Gorilla tape and carboard box and a plastic trash bag to board it all up for the trip home, since I was not successful finding a place that could fix my window up there in Oshkosh. I am still in the process of getting that repaired.
6. If you ever haul an RV up to Oshkosh, remember a company called Quent's Service Center. THis was the place that the EAA Check in folks referred me to when I walked up to them the day after my arrivial with no idea who to contact to try to get some things fixed while I was there. These guys were fantastic, and were able to get me 4 new tires and even came out on site to my location in Camp Scholler to fix the trailer break wires. Yeah I left there with a little less cash in my pcoket than I had originally planned, but they really helped me out quite a bit.
So, as far as the journey was concerned, were there some challenges with getting up there this year - you bet there were. Will that deter me from doing it all over again next year - probably not. There were so many really cool things going on at AV this year that I can hardly wait to see what is in store for next year. I'll recap some of the highlights in another post.
Everything kind of broke down as follows:
1. Did not get underway until 10:00am due to the usual "must work till midnight the night before to save the world" syndrome, which did not leave me enough time to finish packing up the night before. Then, through no fault of his, after simoly following my instructions, my son opened up the water fill port to fill the water tanks in the trailer, but he opened up the wrong one - the one with absolutely nothing hooked to the other side. Why my trailer is configured like this I will never know - it came that way when I bought it. So that flooded the trailer from front to back before I finally saw what was happening. So not the best start I have ever had.
2. Rolled into Omaha at about 7;00PM after a 10 hour drive - stayed in a nice Motel 6 this time due the extreme heat and humidity in that region right now. It was 104 with an index at 109 degrees when we pulled up, only to find that the entire business side of the street that we were on had experienced a power outage only 15 minutes before I arrived. After a mad scramble to find a gas station that still had power, the other side of the street lit up again, and so we checked into the hotel with no further problems.
3. On I-80 the next day about 20 miles west of the I-380 North interchange, my left rear trailer tire completely blew out. In the process it severed all of my trailer brake wires leading to one side of the trailer (See my post from 2009 for a similar experience), and it also completely ripped out the handle of one of my dump valves for one of the water tanks. I have to say I was in fear for my life while changing that tire on the side of the higway while countless numbers of semi trucks moving at 80 mph just a few feet away. The tire had completely blown apart, and the tread had wrapped itself around the axle about 5 times while it proceeded to do the rest of the damage I have already described.
So I got the spare tire on and off we went again, but I was very nervous that we might experience another blowout, so I was a bit on edge for the rest of the trip. As a side note, after I arrived at Oshkosh, I learned how to determine when my tires were manufactured. When I found the DOT date stamp, it indicated that they were all made in June of 1995! IN other words, my trailer tires were about 7 years overdue for a change based on normal operation, and 4 of those 7 years had been spent traveling to Oshkosh and back. They also determined that the other 3 tires were starting to separate, indeed about ready to give way, so I consider myself a bit lucky there. Should have replaced the tires long ago...... live and learn I guess. I always check the tread before I depart but did not pay attention to too much else, like the conidtion of the tire skin in between the treads, etc. Normal life span is about 8-10 years.
4. Oshkosh was also HOT when we arrived, and it was also very humid. I had a real hard time with the weather this year. A couple of days were nice, but the remainder were either rainy, windy, or extremely hot. One storm that came through on Thursday last week had me personally fearing for my life for about 15 minutes, resulted in damage to at least 2 aircraft that I witnessed, and flooded out just about all tents in the homebuilt camping area. Luckily the strong part of the storm was over the Airventure grounds and not so much in the campground area, so the trailer survived that with no problems.
5. Had an episode where a cabinet door gave way and swung out so hard that it broke one of my windows. I had to get creative with Gorilla tape and carboard box and a plastic trash bag to board it all up for the trip home, since I was not successful finding a place that could fix my window up there in Oshkosh. I am still in the process of getting that repaired.
6. If you ever haul an RV up to Oshkosh, remember a company called Quent's Service Center. THis was the place that the EAA Check in folks referred me to when I walked up to them the day after my arrivial with no idea who to contact to try to get some things fixed while I was there. These guys were fantastic, and were able to get me 4 new tires and even came out on site to my location in Camp Scholler to fix the trailer break wires. Yeah I left there with a little less cash in my pcoket than I had originally planned, but they really helped me out quite a bit.
So, as far as the journey was concerned, were there some challenges with getting up there this year - you bet there were. Will that deter me from doing it all over again next year - probably not. There were so many really cool things going on at AV this year that I can hardly wait to see what is in store for next year. I'll recap some of the highlights in another post.
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