| WHAT THEY'RE BUILDING |
Milton Bland. RV-7A. Installing fuel lines. (More) |
Kevin Horton, RV-8. Working on a modified heat muff. (More) |
Ray Swanson, RV-9A. Installing steps and center section baggage floors. (More) |
David and Mary Maib. RV-10 emp fairing. (More) |
David Parsons. RV-7A. Attaching the HS and getting closer to first flight. (More) |
Smitty. RV-9A. Fuel tanks. (More) |
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TOP STORY |
Meet #5,000: Steve Formhals
The other day, I finally submitted notice to VAN's that there was one more flying RV8 out in the skies of southern Texas. Within a few hours, Bob Devore at Van's sent me an e-mail letting me know that I had submitted the 5,000th report of a flying RV! Now, I can almost guarantee that mine isn't really number 5,000, because I know a lot of people don't bother to send a flying report to Van's, but still, 5,000 reported RVs is really something. I'm proud to be the one to represent that milestone.
RV8 N628RV started life somewhere in Kansas, as kit # 80227, but soon got shipped to NewYork by the original owner. Before too long, a second owner took possession and moved # 80227 to New Berlin, Texas, near San Antonio where it languished for a while longer. In September 2004, I was lucky enough to load kit # 80227 onto my trailer for the short trip to it's new home in San Antonio, where my garage was turned into the proverbial aircraft factory. Twenty months later, N628RV rolled out onto the runway for it's maiden flight.
During construction, I stayed true to Van's design with only a few minor modifications. Building interior consoles took quite a while, as did the removable floor sections and a plenum instead of the typical baffles, but other than that, it was a straight plans built project. The prop is a Hartzell blended airfoil and the engine is a 180 HP IO 360 ECI kit. Although building up the engine kit was straight forward, fitting things such as the snorkel was more of a challenge, since it was originally fabricated to fit the larger angle valve engine and required major surgery, but over time it all eventually came together.
Over the years, I have had a chance to look at a lot of RVs and tried to incorporate as many of the great ideas that I have seen, as well as a few of my own. Special thanks go to several of my local builder friends, especially George Meketa, Ron Carson, Steve Murley and George Houston who were there to lend a hand, or an idea, when I needed it.
I don't claim to really have RV number 5,000, but I do claim to have a representative version of the most successful, and popular, kit plane on the market today. So all of you builders out there, whether you have RV number 5 or 5,000, it is certainly safe to say, at least in my opinion, you have the number one kit built brand of plane available today. Keep building and I hope to see you at Oshkosh this summer. Hopefully, by then I'll have stopped flying long enough to paint.
-- Steve Formhals
Related Link:
See #5,000's Panel
First flight reports
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The long road to building an airplane
 The road to my airplane building adventure has been
a long one, but probably a familiar one to many who
have taken the plunge to build a flying machine.(More - PDF)
Related Link:
Something big is building in the garage
Pilot hopes to take off for Florida air show in his home-built plane (Prince Edward Island Guardian)
Mark Chamberlain in engine-out ordeal
 Mark Chamberlain, profiled here a few weeks ago, was flying over inhospitable Arizona terrain last week when his engine faded. He was 10 miles from the nearest airport, thinking "this would be a bad place to have an engine out," when all of a sudden.... Well, fortunately, he can tell you the rest. (SoCal Yahoo List | VAF | Mark's photos)
In the Mags debuts
The latest project here is an ongoing list of RV-related or flying-related information that may be of interest to RV builders and pilots. Search the index to find out where that article is in your stack, or use it to fetch it from the local library. (More)
Related link:
How not to buy an aeroplane (PF Mag)
Product review: headsets
 Quiet Technologies had a
demo at SWRFI their in-the-ear headset which caught the
eye of many of the Pecan Plantation RV people. Specifically,
Martin Sutter and Tom Lewis loved their new sets. I
went for the Lightspeed In-The-Ear set because of my
good experience with their service and the 30-day trial period.
If you are like me, you were wondering how these
headsets work. I hope the following provides some information.
(Martin Brott in EAA 1246 February newsletter)
Related thread:
Which headset? (VAF)
Quiet Technology headset review (VAF)
Judge denies EAA request in RV crash case
On February 6, 2007, Judge David Kurtz heard argument from EAA and NWEAA on their motions for a directed verdict or, in the alternative, for a new trial. At the conclusion of argument, Judge Kurtz denied all of the motions. He offered extensive commentary explaining his decision making process and his view of the trial itself.
(More)
Related link:
Widow wins $10.5 million (Aircraft Maintenance Technology)
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CALENDAR
Dates |
| CA: Cable. Second Occasional RV Rendezvous. Feb. 24. A one-day event including seminars from local RVators. (More)
LA: Shreveport. Feb. 24. EAA Ch. 343 fly-in. First of 10 Louisiana fly-in events. (More)
TX: Through Tuesday. Big Bend RV-fly-out. (More)
WA: Puyallup. Feb. 24-25. NW Aviation Conference. Plenty of seminars. $5. (More)
Coming Up
Ont. Mississauga. Mar. 3-4. Sheet metal basics workshop. (More)
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| ACCIDENT
REPORTS |
| FL: Weirsdale. Probable cause released in 2004 RV-6A fatal crash. Failure of the nose gear and pilot's decision to fly with known defective gear is cited. Read this if you ever have questions about edge distance. (View report) |
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| EDITOR'S PAGE |
| Everybody has a different way of handling these periods of waning enthusiasm. (More) |
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| OTHER NEWS |
Aerodynamic consideration
Weight and balance for the homeowner. (Sport Aviation)
Warm weather and nice RVs
Gary Palinkas provides photos from an RV fly-in in Venice, Fl.
Aviation buffs flock to residential skyparks, commute in planes
Three days a week, Scott Loftin, a biomedical engineer, revs up the engine of his Glasair, RV-6 or Cessna 152 and rumbles down a nearby runway to begin his commute to San Jose or Los Angeles.
(Mercury News)
Van's service bulletin issued
A passenger stick pulled out during landing. (Van's Aircraft)
Logbook love affair
Confessions of a type hunter (Pilot Journal)
Those beautiful contrails
Not RV specific but a darned fine read anyway. (EAA 1414)
Building in the blood
Sometimes you can take this plane stuff too far. (Rivetbangers)
Mark Manda's airplane
EAA
Completed last February,
Mark and wife Paula have flown it over 250 hours. EAA chapter 1 got a close-up look it.
AME: Friend or foe?
As I spoke to
these pilots, I started to notice that they were afraid to
see a doctor for anything because ... they were terrified that,
for some reason, they might be told they couldn't fly any more. (Tiffany Davies)
AirVenture Cup applications available
This year marks the 10th annual air race for homebuilts and is scheduled for Sunday, July 22, the day before Opening Day at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. (EAA)
Related thread:
Race on! (SoCal Yahoogroup)
Aerial photography
Shooting
aerial photographs can be a very simple task, with a
standard point
and shoot film
camera or small
digital camera.
The idea is
simple: point the
camera at something
on the
ground, and take
a beautiful photograph. (Brian Moffet in EAA 119 newsletter)
RV-12's first road trip
A report on the presentation at the EAA chapter in Independence, Or. (VAF)
Young Eagle program in trouble?
New FAA Air Tour rule could limit what pilots and what aircraft can fly YEs. (EAA)
Savvy Aviator
Is your equipment list up to date? (AvWeb)
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When I received my latches from AS, I was disappointed to find that the latches would violently swing open about 150 degrees or so and strike the side of the latch opening on the fiberglass door. I would imagine that this snap action will make a mess of the paint on the oil door, chipping it in no time. I found that if I bent the two little tabs (where the holes are), I could limit the travel of the latch to about 100 degrees or so. Now the latch opens quietly, without striking or contacting the fiberglass door. (
