Hot threads online • Where to put Garmin GPS? Kyle Boatright takes a 396 for a test ride. (RV List) • Flight following Tips from the pros (SoCal Yahoogroup) • AOA install tips When the manual is "too light." (VAF) • Choices, choices An RV-7 or an RV-9 (RV List) • When to paint the interior Paint as you build? (VAF) • Electric flaps option Going from manual to electric (RV List) • Compass location Not friendly with the rollbar (The RV Squadron on Yahoo) • Max altitude in an RV 28,600? (RV-List) • Power off descent rates A comparison between the models (VAF) • Putting on the wings Can it really be done one at a time? (rvsqn) Related link: Do it yourself wing mating • Fuel injected vs. carbureted? Is the price gap closing? (VAF) • Oil cooler on the firewall Instead of the engine (Yahoogroups) • Starting washers and spacers A tip (RV-List) • Aircraft interior ideas and cost This should be a good thread. (SoCal) • Fiberglassing When Darwin Barrie speaks on the subject, listen up! (Yahoogroup)

FIRST FLIGHTS Howard Handelman, Saint Clare Shores, MI. RV-7A. 8/17/06. (More) Simon Bromiley, Tooradi, Aus. RV-7. 8/19/06 (More at RV Squadron on Yahoogroups | Pix) Marcus Cooper. Ahira, GA. RV-10. 8/19/06 (More | Pix) Richard Jordan, Malvern, PA. RV-8A. 8/22/ (Pix) Steve Hurlbut, RV-7A. 8/23/06. (More on Yahoo) Tom Hoover, Oxford, Miss. RV-7A. 8/15/06. Scott Serani, Broomfield, Co. RV-10. 8/20/06. (Pix) Ron Patterson, Fallbrook, CA. RV-4. 8/10/06. (Pix)

WEB SITE UPDATES Dana Overall, building an RV-7 slider, is installing a Trio Autopilot System. He has just started documenting his daily program. (Go there)

FLYING Portable devices for renter pilots GPS, traffic avoidance, electronic flight bags and more. (AOPA) Aircraft hull insurance Now you've got options. (EAA)

Future investments

When I first started building an RV, I thought it would be a great way to spend time with my two sons. And, indeed, we did pound a few rivets. But by the time I started building, both kids were at or near the stage where girls are sexier than airplanes (it's an evolving formula but eventually airplanes become sexier again). Several threads in the last week have focused on the builder-spouse relationship, and while that's important, there's almost never any chatter about the benefits of a father who builds and a youngster who watches, then flies. And that's too bad because there's a lot of interesting stories out there. There's significance in this relationship and although guys don't talk about such things, it's hard to escape it in the pictures accompanying Mark Navratil's article in the July edition of EAA Chapter 33's newsletter called "Skyler Turns Five." I don't mean to go all "Dr. Phil" on you, but I'd like to collect some stories about father (or mother)-son (or daughter) experiences and what each gets out of it the building process... short- and long-term. There are very few treatises on the subject out there. (More)
Related links:
Randy Griffin builds RV-8 with son

Pilot killed in crash
According to the Seattle Flight Standards District Office, which handles calls concerning plane crashes when the Casper Flight Standards Field Office is closed, the plane was an experimental RV-3 single-seat airplane. (More)

Going slow
If you're transitioning from a Cessna 172 to an RV, you're notice it quickly: it's hard to slow an RV down for landing. A recent thread on VAF offers up some tips. (More)
Related links:
RV-3 report
RV-4 report

Big Country Airfest
Doug Reeves at Van's Air Force provides pictures of last weekends Wheels n' Wings get-together in Abilene, Texas.(More)

Tackling the flap hole
It's a rather simple process but one of the areas where folks have to figure out what to do for themselves is the enlarging of the holes for the flap pushrod on the 7/9. Maybe we can do something about that. (More)

GPS of a different dimension
The reason it took me so long
to pick a particular GPS unit probably was that every time I had enough money saved up
for the GPS I thought I wanted, someone came out with a another feature on their unit that shifted my attention away from my previous decision. (Alex Von Bosse in EAA 1414 newsletter)

Going home
They start as parts on a shelf and eventually -- well, most of the time -- they end up flying. Like salmon, RVs across the world are heading for their native ground: of Aurora, Oregon as Van's holds its annual homecoming. (More from Van's)
Related links:
2004 homecoming photos

Impressions of the RV-4
From Rick Gray on the Ohio Valley RVators Web site: " recently did a pre-buy for a gent on an RV4 up at Packer field. While I was there I met 'Cam' who was also looking at the plane. We hit it off real good. Here's a great report/comparison that Cam sent to me on his impression of his new RV4." (More - membership req'd)