Craig Vincent, Stockton CA. RV-9A. Seat backs. (More)
Mike Hoover, South Carolina. RV-9A. Brake lines. (More)
TOP STORY
Causes of RV accidents
As this week's edition sadly shows, this was a tragic week for RVers. Coincidentally, a few weeks ago I saw that Ron Wanttaja was doing a presentation at his EAA chapter on the causes of accidents -- homebuilts and RVs -- and asked him to provide any data he could. He was kind enough to forward some details which make for excellent reading. (More) Related links: Hotline: A look at the fatal RV accident rate
RVs reunite high school classmates Thirty-five years can be wiped away in a hurry in an RV. Take James Clark of South Carolina who found himself the first to land at the first-ever Watson Farm fly-in. Fitting, because RV-8 builder David Watson and Clark were in the same class.(EAA 242)
RVator killed in Texas crash Authorities said the victim -- Scott James Schilleci -- was on his way to visit friends and that the monday morning weather may have contributed to the accident. (KRIS-TV.com) Related links: Plane crash kills Spring Branch man (The Herald-Zeitung)
Pilot injured when plane flips on landing According to a theory making the rounds at Sky Park, the plane's parking brake may have been unintentionally set. On landing, the locked-up wheels didn't spin. The plane became unstable, veered sharply and hit the dirt. That's just a rumor, though. (KSL.com)
Fly-ins
A great day at Tenkiller Airpark A few weeks ago, the folks at Barrett Precision Engines had a breakfast fly-in at their Oklahoma facility. RVator Alan Judy provided a glimpse. (Page 5 EAA 377)
Related links:
The two stages of funding your project
In a very quiet week for RV builders this week, I decided to press ahead checking out financing for the avionics and engine. A post on the RV Builders Yahoogroup I made ended up providing some interesting information -- like you have to have flight insurance for a big loan, even if your plane isn't flying. Got more information? Feel free to post it here. (Yahoogroup) Related links: Loans/financing (RVproject.com) Aircraft financing and insurance (Van's)
Talking pictures Doug Reeves (who I'm going to do a story on one of these days) has done it again! Video interviews. Who'd have thought? His first episode with Jay Pratt of RV Central on tools is a classic already. (YouTube- Part one| YouTube-Part two | VAF)
East Side Builders Group talks RVs The good folks at EAA Chapter 902 in Oregon had a good evening looking at a great plane; in this case, Mike Rhodes' RV project with an auxiliary fuel tank mock-up. (Chapter 902)
IL: Marion. Midwest fly-in. Door prizes and raffles. (KMWA)
COMING
UP
CA: Rosamond Skypark pancake breakfast. Sat. April 21. (More)
ACCIDENT
REPORTS
NEW
INCIDENTS
UT: Bountiful. 3/31/07. RV-3 veered off runway on landing and flipped. Serious injury. (More | Regis)
TX: Sinton. 4/2/07. RV-6 destroyed while executing an instrument approach. (Data)
OTHER NEWS
Don't Set Mixture with CHT
There seem to be a growing number of people who think that a cylinder head temperature (CHT) of 380 °F is a universally good target to use for setting the mixture. Folks, it just ain't so. (AvWeb)
Getting finished
EAA Chapter 79 (Spokane) speakers look at what keeps us from being more productive on our projects. (Registration required)
RV-9A project
Lloyd Hemman started building in 2005. Page 15 of the Fresno EAA chapter newsletter.
In next week's issue we'd like to feature a few events happening this week, but we need you to forward photos, links, and/or text.
* Portugal RV fly-in
* Palmetto RV fly-in
We'd also like to find someone willing to write an article on Sun 'n Fun later this month and provide some images.
ARCHIVES
See
a list of previous RV Builder Hotlines organized by date and
subject. (Go)
BUILDER QUICK Q & A & TIPS
Removing the cowling with the leg fairings attached UK RV-9 builder Gary Smith recently posted on rvsqn, "I have fitted the bottom cowl to my RV9 (tail dragger) and fitted the leg fairings and it appears that the leg fairings will prevent the lower cowling dropping down and being easily removed. I can not believe people remove the spats and the leg fairings in order to get the lower cowl off so there must be a trick. Do people simply cut the front corner off of the leg fairing in line with the fire wall (seams like a large lump to cut off) and this is not a problem as its hidden under the upper leg "cuff" . Perhaps somebody could confirm what is done here.
Pete Pengilly had the answer, "One of the best ways I have seen to get around this problem is to use springs to hold on the upper intersection fairings. So the idea would be to make the holes in the corners of the cowl large enough to make fitting & removal easy, then make the upper intersection fairing large enough to hide the holes. Glass in a couple of steel reinforcing plates into the upper fairing and attach a 3 or 4” long spring that hooks onto a point on the engine mount. A couple of pictures from Will’s aeroplane below (sorry for poor quality). To get the cowl off the top cowl is removed, the spring unhooked from the engine mount and then detached from the fairing. Fairing is slid down the gear leg and bottom cowl removed."
A tight plexi fit for Duckworth lights The method of attaching the plexi in the lights to the hole you cut out of the wing leading edge is problematic. Phillip Kaye has been working on it this week. "The old fit was done using just the tape handle to pull up on the lense. For the new fit I reached in from behind and applied significant pressure while my wife used a marker to mark the plexi by putting a dot through the existing holes in the skin. Then I took the plexi out, drilled it and replaced the metal backing platenut strip.
I think that one spot with the gap is due to a deformation of the skin (perhaps resulting from cutting and smoothing the cut-out," he says. (Google group)
This section replaces the single static image Picture of the Week. Each week we'll patrol the various sites out there and provide a glimpse of some pictures that have been posted, and also link to the pages on which they reside. If you have a picture on a server you think is interesting, just let us know.
You must have the Flash plug-in installed on your computer to view these images.
Thirty-five years can be wiped away in a hurry in an RV. Take James Clark of South Carolina who found himself the first to land at the first-ever Watson Farm fly-in. Fitting, because RV-8 builder David Watson and Clark were in the same class.(
Authorities said the victim -- Scott James Schilleci -- was on his way to visit friends and that the monday morning weather may have contributed to the accident. (
According to a theory making the rounds at Sky Park, the plane's parking brake may have been unintentionally set. On landing, the locked-up wheels didn't spin. The plane became unstable, veered sharply and hit the dirt. That's just a rumor, though. (
A few weeks ago, the folks at Barrett Precision Engines had a breakfast fly-in at their Oklahoma facility. RVator Alan Judy provided a glimpse. (
Doug Reeves (who I'm going to do a story on one of these days) has done it again! Video interviews. Who'd have thought? His first episode with Jay Pratt of RV Central on tools is a classic already. (
The good folks at EAA Chapter 902 in Oregon had a good evening looking at a great plane; in this case, Mike Rhodes' RV project with an auxiliary fuel tank mock-up. (
UK RV-9 builder Gary Smith recently posted on rvsqn, "I have fitted the bottom cowl to my RV9 (tail dragger) and fitted the leg fairings and it appears that the leg fairings will prevent the lower cowling dropping down and being easily removed. I can not believe people remove the spats and the leg fairings in order to get the lower cowl off so there must be a trick. Do people simply cut the front corner off of the leg fairing in line with the fire wall (seams like a large lump to cut off) and this is not a problem as its hidden under the upper leg "cuff" . Perhaps somebody could confirm what is done here.
The method of attaching the plexi in the lights to the hole you cut out of the wing leading edge is problematic. Phillip Kaye has been working on it this week. "The old fit was done using just the tape handle to pull up on the lense. For the new fit I reached in from behind and applied significant pressure while my wife used a marker to mark the plexi by putting a dot through the existing holes in the skin. Then I took the plexi out, drilled it and replaced the metal backing platenut strip.
I think that one spot with the gap is due to a deformation of the skin (perhaps resulting from cutting and smoothing the cut-out," he says. (