Hot threads online • Engine kickback IO-360 What broke the starter? (RV-List) • 4=6? A little friendly fly-off (rvsn) • Fitting canopy skin to frame Filling the gap (VAF) • Power settings for instrument approaches In an RV-10, of course. (RV-10 List) • Ivo props Up to 700 hp? (VAF) Rant, question, suggestion Classic RV List, if you know what I mean. (RV-List) • Engine mount out of spec Guess the cause? (RV-List) • Noise filter noise Can a noise filter sing too? (AeroElectric List) • Should I redo these rivets? Only you can decide. (VAF) • Rod bearings/jam nuts Torqued or snug? (VAF) • Cowl pins How to secure them. (rvsqn) • Van's and the builder community Get to know 'em, if you can. (Yahoogroup) • Build or buy? An oldie but a goodie. (VAF) • Ode to a taildragger There once was a homebuilder from Nantucket... (Rivetbangers) • Filter bypass Is it necessary? (VAF) • Nose wheel problem fix On the RV 10 RV 10 List) • Full castoring? It's a tailwheel-nosewheel thread in disguise, actually. (Rivetbangers) • Compressors Why you shouldn't leave them pressurized. (VAF)

FIRST FLIGHTS Bryan Flood, Iowa City, IA. RV-9A. 8/25/06 (More) David White & LeRoy Johnston, Westerville, OH. R-6. 8/26/06. (More) Chuck Borne, Napoleonville, LA. RV-4. 8/26/06. (See video) Jim McGrew, Portland, OR. RV-10. 8/13/06.

MESSAGE FROM VAN'S We will be closed Monday September 4th for Labor Da. Processing of orders will begin on Tuesday, Sept. 5th for: Fax, E-Mail and Web Orders placed after 1PM (Pacific Time) on Thursday, Aug 31st and Phone Orders placed after 1PM (Pacific Time) on Friday, September 1st.

When the bubble breaks
"The canopy is the finishing kit version of ProSealing the fuel tanks" according to one builder. He's right.

RV builder John Stiegelmeyer sent this picture of a crack in the canopy. "After talking to the guy who builds these things, he says 'put a sticker over it,'" John said.

The RV Builders Group on Yahoo took on a valuable subject this week after Brooks Wolf ran into a problem on his canopy. "On the very final forward hole to be drilled in my tip-up canopy, I was rewarded with a 6-inch crack. In retrospect, perhaps I should have had my helper focus on the area just above those tabs on the skin into which the canopy fits," he said (See pictures | Read thread 1 | Read thread 2).

What was fascinating -- and ultimately frightening for those of us who have yet to drill into plastic -- was how many other builders had the same problem in the same spot; something that always makes the old editor's alarm go off. Tim to provide some resources for this task!

For that, Sam Buchanan always comes in handy."I may expose my lack of knowledge of the -7 tip-up canopy, but waaaay back in the middle/late '90's it was common knowledge that it was best not to drill the forwardmost canopy hole on each side. The canopy really gets torqued if the holes are drilled and screws used, and the last screw isn't necessary for securing the canopy to the frame. Seems I recall this detail was well documented in the Frank Justice and Will Cretinger supplemental instructions after several canopies got cracked.

"Frank and Will's documents are what we followed long before anyone ever knew what a Dan Checkoway was....!! As a side note to current builders, don't write off the legacy web sites just because you are building a newer model; there are some real nuggets of wisdom out there. :-)"

Here then are some canopy tips accumulated from a variety of locations:
Windshield and window trimming (ceebailey's)
Tilt canopy notes (Cretsinger)
The finishing kit (Justice)
Canopy tribulations (Kevin Horton)
Canopy (Phil's RV-7)
Stopping plexiglass cracks (Rideout Plastics)
Tips for the canopy (BowenAero)

A plane in the backyard
Falmouth, resident Jack Adams can only watch airplanes take off from his backyard. His airplane isn't quite finished. ''To build an airplane and not live in an air park ... as a person I couldn't do it,'' he says. (Cape Cod Times)

RV-6 crash kills two in California
Terry Tevis and his wife, Mia, died Sunday night when their two-seat experimental aircraft crashed into a hillside on a dairy farm near the Marin-Sonoma county line. (Marin Independent Journal)
Related links:
Novato couple killed in crash on Sonoma hillside (Novato Advance)

Where should I run my engine?
Keeping with the theme of relying on old resources, John Deakin, who used to write a great column, takes on an issue that is constantly coming up on the RV boards: leaning the engine. They don't come any better than this. (Requires registration)

Botswana fly-out
Our route for Saturday took us along the Zambezi to Kesane where the Chobe and Zambezi branch off. Low-level, this was awesome and we saw hippo’s in the river and real elephant (with trunks!). (RV Club SA)