FLYING STORIES

Flying the Hudson River There was a terrific post on VAF this week. Ted Chang lived out a dream of flying the Hudson River route in an airplane he built himself -- an RV-9A. Ted's got a terrific Web site on which he wrote, "My wife and I took a four day trip to visit a friend in Poughkeepsie, NY and my sister's family in Long Island. We decided to take the opportunity to fly the Hudson River route from Poughkeepsie to Statue of Liberty before turning eastward to Long Island. Before we left, I found a wonderful website by Scott Germaise on Flying the Hudson. Upon arriving at Poughkeepsie I also purchased a copy of the New York Terminal Chart. The NYC airspace is quite complex to say the least. I definitely do not want to be forced down by a Blackhawk helicopter, or, worse, hitting a building or another aircraft.  Since my RV-9A is equipped with a moving map GPS, the task of keeping myself out of the wrong airspace is made easier." If you're looking for some builder's motivation this week. Spend a few minutes with either of these fine Web sites and enjoy the pictures. Related link: Bahama bound trip report (VAF)

So... what's new?
I knew when I started it in March 2006 that sooner or later -- probably earlier than I anticipated -- I'd let the Hotline go. That's what I do. I like to experiment and try things out to see if they work, get them going, and then hand them off to the world and see what happens. (More)

Selecting the proper approach speed
Many type-certificated aircraft, especially Transport Category aircraft, have a landing reference speed (Vref) that is equal to 1.3 times the stall speed. Some owners of amateur-built aircraft believe that they can select an appropriate approach speed by simply noting the indicated airspeed reading at the stall, and multiply this by 1.3. This approach is not appropriate in many cases. (Kevin Horton)

Thirty fatals in 30 days
Considering the undisputed fact that 4 out of every 5 fatal wrecks are due to pilot error, the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of us pilots. We're the ones who, when things go wrong aloft, have proven ourselves incapable of saving the day. But there are reasons for this. Considering the fact that we are the products of a broken flight training industry, we can be justified in deflecting criticism of our lack of apparent airmanship skills. (Bob Miller in Over the Airwaives)

High-flying career choice
Mike Saylor began AirCrafters to help amateur pilots get their kit planes or other experimental aircraft built at a quicker pace than they might if they continued working on it themselves. (Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Now that's mileage
Dan Checkoway completed a 3,000-mile round trip between California and Oshkosh. In a spreadsheet posted to the SoCal group, he reported a 14-cents-a-mile cost with mileage of 23.7 nautical miles per gallon. (See the spreadsheet)
Related Links:
Amazing machines (SoCal Y group thread)

Canopy frame-skin gap
A couple of weeks ago I encountered a problem with the canopy frame fitting. Everything was great and I was ready to drill until I looked under the skin and noticed the hinge bracket was riding low on the forward canopy c-channel. I couldn't raise it up because then the hinge would be above the skin line. What to do? (See YGroup thread here). This week I got the answer back from Bruce Reynolds at at Van's. "I would go with the way that things fit best, then shim as necessary. Of all the tech guys here, I'm the only one that built a tip-up. I used lots of shims on the plane (-6A) to make things fit better. The tip-up is a challenge, but I feel that it's the superior canopy," he said.

Finishing the glare shield
Something's wrong with me. I spend more time than ever looking at pictures of RV interiors and the occasional engine. Victoria's Secret: eat your hearts out! Anyway, in this online thread -- on the RV-10 List -- Scott Schmidt inquires about how to finish the dash (glare shield). Some good responses and, even better, pictures. (More)