An interview with Rick Gray
Ohio Valley RVator Rick Gray won grand champion at Sun 'n' Fun for his Rocket. It's the second grand champion he's built. Rick says he's "particular" about how he builds his airplanes, which is one of the reasons he's got three years worth of work in his builder assist company. On Thursday, we both took a break from our respective projects for a chat. (Listen)

RVing at Sun 'n Fun
For most of us northerners, especially those of us who are still building, Sun 'n Fun is an exotic land, the first "big" fly-in of the season. There are a variety of write-ups and photos available below.
Related links:
Dana Overall's observations and pix (VAF)
JerryG's photos from SnF
RV-12 news from SnF (VAF)
Ted Chang's trip report pictures
Brian Wallis' photos
EAA photo gallery (gorgeous air-to-air shots)

RVs, aerobatics, and you
For a product to be successful in any market, but especially in the homebuilt airplane market, it has to be a good product that tickles your emotions and has a good company behind it. And that pretty well sums up Dick VanGrunsven’s RV family. Oh, yeah, one other thing—all but a few of his airplanes are designed to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aerobatic category standards.(US National Aerobatics.org)

Veteran aims for flight record
His friends say he’s “nuts” because of the mammoth task ahead of him, but veteran pilot Charles “Chalkie” Stobbart is determined to break a 70-year-old aviation record. Stobbart, 60, an SA Airways pilot, will next week attempt to fly his small Osprey GP4 aircraft to London and back in less than four days. He's an RV pilot, too. (The Times)

Mike Willis' rotary-powered RV-4
"My buddy Tom and Ron Shuler both watched the entire flight. Both mentioned that the dull metal finish was hard to see but they never had a problem figuring out where I was - they could hear me! But they both said the airplane is less noisy than Ryan's old Mazda powered E-Racer. Thankfully it was quite a bit quieter in the cockpit once I got up in the air."(EAA 14 newsletter)
Related link:
RVs the rotary way

Two Piece anti hang up guide for flop tube fuel tanks
I didn't like how Vans anti hang up guide for the flop tube fuel pick up system blocks your access into the left fuel tank (if you used a flop tube on that tank). RV8 builder Steve Dixon came up with a nice two piece guide design which allows complete access to the first bay of the fuel tanks with a flop tube system. I modified Steve's design a bit, to ensure that the tube cleared my NAS 1474-A08 nut plates. See enclosed photos of my access cover and the inside of my left inner fuel tank rib. (Charlie Kuss on VAF)

The sock solution
The "standard" protective case for most hand-held instruments is a relatively hard leather enclosure that adds considerable volume to the toolbox . . . and doesn't get any smaller when the instrument is out of the case. I've found it useful to re-cycle my "holey-socks" into a soft instrument case as follows... (AeroElectric Connection)

Cutting instrument holes with a hole saw
This EAA homebuilders video shows how to cut instrument holes (steam gauges). One flaw I see: Many drill presses lack the depth to accommodate a Van's panel. Of course, I just spent $139 to drill three stinking holes in my panel. (Watch)

PICTURE OF THE WEEK I was reading Jerry Thorne's Web site when I stumbled across this picture of damage to a hangar by April storms. A barrel whacked the side of his fuselage and "something round" hit the trailing edge. Ugh. Repairs were made quickly to the RV-9A. The hangar took a little longer.