|
|
RV
SAFETY |
Despite recent crashes, homebuilt plane pilots remain
enthusiastic
RVers, and homebuilders in general, are
crashing their airplanes at a record rate. That's not
surprising given the number that are being built. But
the perception of homebuilding among the general public
may be declining. The
Philadelphia Inquirer this week took a look at homebuilding.
Fortunately, they did so from the pilots' perspective
But
one person who commented on the article had a good point
for all of us. "If pilots continue to fly with air
instead of fuel in the tanks, continue into bad weather
conditions for which they are not trained and get low
and slow to close to the earth where a spin/stall can
not be recovered from then accidents will still occur."
If it's that simple to prevent them, then why don't we?
(See
Article)
One
interesting aspect of two recent RV crashes. What you
post on Van's Air Force, and other Internet bulletin boards,
can come back to be your final words, and your side of
the story. (See
article)
For
more information:
RVator: Van on "how to live when your engine dies
(See 2006 Issue 2 pg. 8)
Richard
Jahns remembered
NTSB
issues report on TX plane crash (Abilene Reporter
News)
Updated news links:
New theory in MacKinnon crash (Barrie examiner)
RVer's grandfather, father-in-law also died in plane crashes (RGJ.com)
|
Birthday
present has 86 year old flying high
 You
think your RV is only about you? Check again. Just ask 86 year
old John Vogl, who hadn't flown in years until Matthew and Sandi
Brandes stepped in. It's a a great story and a perfect example
of how little it takes to get some good publicity for aviation.
(KansasCity.com)
Related link:
The
Brandes' Web site
The
Furey fly-in
 Last
Saturday, RVer John Furey hosted a fly-in of Ohio Valley RVators
at his airport. Hotline reader Tom Webster reports that, "Most
everyone had arrived by noon. About 15 RVs. After a great lunch,
it was observed the weather wasn't going to be CAVU all afternoon
as forecast. Some RVs left right after lunch and all the other
RVs were gone when I took off around 3 P.M. While at the UFO,
some of us firmed up our plans for the upcoming OSH show. Great
UFO and great friends." By the way, look at all those tri-gears
landing on turf!
Related link:
See
Ted Chang's pictures from the fly-out
Rick
Gray's pictures
Arlington
fly-in
One Arlington fly-in down, a little less than a year to the next
one. The NW EAA has already replaced its 2008 fly-in Web page
with the 2009
one. If there's an improvement to be made, it would be that
organizations would pay more attention to properly archiving their
fly-in pages. They should be more than brochureware. But I digress.
Here's a slew of links for recaps of the Arlington EAA fly-in.
Arlington
fly-in attracts pilots and fans of aviation (HeraldNet)
Thread:
Brian Carroll's review (VAF)
Pictures
from an unknown source 'Naug' (PicasWeb)
Greenland ultra-light fly-in (EAA 740)
The pre-made fairing
 Now here's a timely product that Robert Cullinan wrote to tell me about this week. I'm working on my fiberglass tips this week, trying to build up the confidence to attack the fiberglass fairing on my RV-7A project. But Robert's company is marketing this product. And, no, he's not paying for this mention. Unfortunately -- for me -- this product is for sliders and I'm building a tip-up.
It's made from 8.8 ounce cloth and Aeropoxy and sells for about $500 and fits the 6, 7, and 9 models. He expects it will save builders 10-30 hours of time. (Check out the Web site)
Related Links:
AL windscreen thread starting (rivetbangers)
Fairings page (Randy Lervold's RV-8 site)
| WANTED FOR A FUTURE ISSUE |
We all know the usual hard parts of building an RV airplane -- fuel tanks and canopies, mostly. But what part of building an RV surprised you most of all when it came to the degree of difficulty? And how did you overcome it? For a future RV Builder's Hotline story, please share your experience.
|
|
|
| LETTERS
FROM FLYOVER COUNTRY |
Why I'm not going to Oshkosh this year
It's nothing against the EAA event at all. But what concerns me most is I didn't get excited by the prospect of Oshkosh this year. It was looking like just another week on the calendar that had been scheduled. I need to go fly in an RV. (More)
Related link:
VAF thread |
|
| RV
FORUM SCHEDULE AT OSHKOSH |
THE
RV-12
Tuesday
7/29
8:30 - 9:45 a.m.
Discussion about building and flying a Van's RV-12
from a pilot's perspective. Van presents. Forum
Building 7 (The big one) More...
FIBERGLASS
FOR RVs
Tuesday
7/29
11:30-12:45 p.m.
Composite Workshop 16
Sam James demonstration of fairing with use of glass;
correct procedures and use of glass. (Editor's note:
This, again, is a horrible place for this forum.
It needs to be on stage with a projected view. Get
their early. If you're not in the first dozen or
so, you can't see anything). (More).
RV-10
TO ECUADOR
Tuesday 7/29
2:30-3:45 p.m.
Pavilion 9
Steve Saint took a flight in an RV-10 down to Ecuador
to have it repainted, a new panel and new interior
was a great adventure. A non-stop from Costa Rica
to Cozumel, Mexico then across the Caribbean to
Key West and landed with 30 gallons of fuel, it
wasn't around the world, but this sort of trip is
an easy "one stopper" for the new generation
of Experimentals like the RV-10. (More...)
SO
YOU WANT TO BUILD AN RV
Wednesday 7/30
11:30-12:45 p.m.
Ken Scott tells you what you need to know. (More...)
BULDING
AN RV FASTER AND BETTER
Wednesday 7/30
1 p.m. -2:15 p.m.
Techniques, Tools & Tricks for Building an RV
Aircraft Better and Faster from Wally Anderson.
(More...)
MY
RV-6 WITH A ROTARY ENGINE
Thursday 7/31
8:30-9:45 a.m
Forum 2
David Atkins will share his 14 years of flights
in a rotary engine. He has flown to Oshkosh for
EAA AirVenture for 14 consecutive years and to Lakeland,
Fl four times in his RV-6. He'll discuss some of
his fun and experiences of RV flying, as well as
improvements he's made over the years. (More).
THE
RV FROM AN ENGINEER'S PERSPECTIVE
Thursday 7/31
8:30-9:45 a.m.
Pavilion 7
Discussion of Van's RV kitplanes from an engineering
perspective from Van. (More)
FIBERGLASS
FOR RVs
Thursday
7/31
11:30-12:45 p.m.
Composite Workshop 16
Sam James demonstration of fairing with use of glass;
correct procedures and use of glass. (More).
Related links:
Who's flying to Osh and on what days (RV-10 List)
Doug Reeves' coverage live from Oshkosh (VAF)
|
|
|
|
Grease
gun fitting modification
 Aircraft
fittings are often close tolerance and greasing them can be a
challenge. The grease gun sometimes won’t easily release
from the Zerk fitting until the pressure is relieved. If you are
not careful, you can break the head off the Zerk fitting removing
the grease gun. I solved this problem by adding a pressure relief
valve to my grease gun. I bought the parts online from McMaster-Carr.
Be sure to get high-pressure fittings. They cost a bit more but
a grease gun can deliver 10,000 psi. The valve I used is rated
at 7,500 psi. When the valve is opened to relieve the pressure,
only a small amount of grease comes out. I installed a longer
flex hose at the same time. This makes it easier to reach out-of-the-way
fittings and when you have someone helping with the work. (Peter
Cassidy in EAA 162 newsletter)
Filing
aluminum
 This
week's EAA homebuilders tip:. A vixen file is idea for rapid removal
of aluminum, brass, copper and hard rubber. In this video, Jason
Monnett of Sonex Aircraft demonstrates using a vixen file to clean
up a piece of aluminum cut on a bandsaw. (More)
ND alternator mod
 After reading way too much verbal abuse and other hand-wringing about the subject of internally-regulated alternator "dangers", I finally decided there has to be a better way than Kilovac contactors and transorbs or praying to various deities to making these things "safe".
Why not just modify the alternator in such a way as to prevent its ability to run away in the first place? One vendor in particular does it already, so I thought that if they can do it, surely it isn't impossible. So, I took my ND alternator apart one afternoon and stared at the pieces for a while. I also found manuals of the internal workings on the web and studied those too. I came up with a method, which I've attached here, that takes about an hour to accomplish and costs next to nothing. The modification makes it impossible for the alternator to "run away" (unless the 5A field breaker malfunctions). In a nutshell, what it does is remove the always-on B+ field feed and replaces it with power from the "IG" terminal. This way, all of the field current goes through the IG terminal. Pull the field breaker and there is no possible way for the field to get power any other way.
(Heinrich Gerhardt on Aeroelectric list. Documentation provided)
ARCHIVES |
| See
a list of previous RV Builder Hotlines organized by
date and subject. (Go) |
|
|
PICTURE
OF THE WEEK
 |
A turf
runway, right next to the volleyball court. And pretty
women taking your picture while you turn on the smoke
and zip by in your RV. Is this heaven? No, it's John
Furey's strip in Malvern, Ohio. (Photo by Ted Chang) |
|
|
