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A weekend of tragedies Bob Noble, 50, of Choctaw, OK., and his passenger, Dwight Black were killed Saturday morning when their RV-7A crashed on approach to Max Westheimer Airport in Norman. Witnesses said it appeared Noble was trying to avoid another airplane when the homebuilt, powered by a Rotax engine, crashed. It's the second fatal accident in the history of the "7" line. Witnesses to the crash told The Transcript (Norman, OK.) Saturday the plane seemed to have engine problems and Noble appeared to have made an effort to land the plane away from buildings or people. (First article | More on Black | Letter from Black's son) Meanwhile, two people were killed over the weekend near Bend, Oregon, when their RV-6 plunged into the ocean. Dr. Chuck Holloway, 62, of Coos Bay; and Dan B. Kelly, 38, of North Bend.Or., were aboard the plane that, witnesses say, was traveling about 300 feet over the ocean when it plunged in (Story). Threads and links: Picture of Dan Kelly RV structural redundancy (Yahoo) Engine-out operations (EAA 35)

Genesis of an RV-10 building group
Reading the EAA Chapter 105 -- the Home Wing of Van's Air Force -- newsletter every month is enough to make me want to move to Oregon. This month's issue has more great stuff, including John Jessen's account of an RV-10 group that's formed. And apparently they like good food too. (EAA 105)

RV aircraft turbine engines
Jeff Bordelon has created a Web site for those interested in the idea of turbine engines for their RVs. He features the pros and cons of the design and provides links to video and other details. You decide. (More)

The art of nose art
"I commissioned an artist that I knew would work for free to draw me a nice picture to put on the nose of the plane, more or less to play along with the military fighter motif." (The PapaGolf Chronicles)

It's still fly-in season
Sure, the Northern hemisphere is buttoning up, but in South Africa, they're on the doorstep of a lush summer. Rudi Greyling gives us a shot of last Sunday's RV airplane trip to "Eva's Field." Lucky guy. (More)
Related link:
RV Club South Africa

The Rocket 100
In the best tradition of the history of the pursuit of performance that on 11 November, 2006, Team Rocket hosted the First Annual Rocket 100 Air Race (110 sm, actually) in conjunction with the annual Rocket Fly In at Macho Grande airport, near Taylor, Texas. (More)
Related Link:
OuchRockGallery.com

First RV-10 parts arrive in France
I don't speak or read French but the Google translation module is better than it used to be. And the RV airplane club of France reports the first RV-10 kit arrived has arrived in France. Antoine Garcia is the lucky recipient. (More)
Related link:
Diesel powered RV airplane flies (First flight report)

Plastic peel ply
So what's this tutorial on fiberglassing doing on the RV Builder's Hotline? It's a metal plane, not fiberglass! Because you're putting off that fiberglass work 'til, well, later. But it's never too early to start reading how those toy airplane makers do it. Plus I didn't get any great ideas from you metal-eaters this week. (More)

Copy those waypoints!
We had a "Internal Battery Low" warning message come up on our Garmin 430 a couple of weeks ago. In the past, this has been a "send it back to the factory fix". Just recently Garmin has decided to let the maintenance shops replace the battery. When they replace the battery, all flight plans and user waypoints go to the "great ether in the sky", so I copied them down before taking it to the shop. (Laird Owens on SoCal RV Group)

ARCHIVES See a list of previous RV Builder Hotlines organized by date and subject. (Go)

PICTURE OF THE WEEK During a late November tour of Chicago, (See more) Allen and Christopher Checca snapped this fine view. Funny, it doesn't look as cold as it is this time of the year.