. FEATURED STORY

Why we fly Every now and then, I come across a story that reminds me of why we fly. This week, the Creswell Chronicle (Oregon) provided such a story on flight, friendship, and the Van's RV line of aircraft. Gary Ludeke and Ken MacHargopy were best friends as kids, even developing their own "airline" and dreaming of flying together one day. Life came along and the two scattered to the wind. The two haven't seen each other for 45 years. Recently, the two reunited for a flight in an RV-6. And that's why we fly. (Creswell Chronicle)

Airport Conversations: Tom Berge
I wrote in the last issue about Tom Berge's recent firewall forward workshop, and that got me thinking about starting a new feature on the Hotline, airport conversations with builders. So Tom flew over to the hangar last Saturday and we recorded a podcast that's chock full of advice and experience. It's about a half-hour long and well worth the listen. I'd like to do more of these as time and willing participants allow. Suggestions?(More)

Steve Raddatz killed in Alabama mid-air
Raddatz was killed after his Van's Aircraft RV-8 collided with a Nanchang China CJ-6A during a formation flight. Raddatz reportedly left the Northwest Alabama Regional Airport on Saturday morning to attend the dedication of the new terminal at Pryor Field. Raddatz was profiled in a March 2007 issue of Sport Aviation.
Related links:
Read NTSB preliminary report
Thread: RIP, Steve Raddatz (VAF)
Archive: Building plane from a kit no problem for Alabama man (Ledger.com)
Two killed in Michigan RV-6A crash

Teachers, pilots, and kids
What's this? Another story portraying aviation in a positive light? It's the story of Vicki Jones, who teaches her third-graders to set goals and chase their dreams, and also shows her and her husband's RV-10 to prove it works. (Jackson Sun)

The "F" word
No, not that one…. “Fiberglass”. Fooled you didn’t I? However the other “f” word may have at one time or another been invoked when working with fiberglass on canopy assemblies. The nature of their primary materials and function demands that canopies be built accurately and carefully. But RV- 12 builders need not fear; the engineers and prototype shop guys have made this process as painless as possible. The canopy comes cut to size, save perhaps a bit of trimming in a few places. (It’s possible that even this will be eliminated with more field experience) (Van in RVator 2009 Issue 2)
Related link:
Archive: Fiberglass 102
Thread: Prepping fiberglass surfaces (RV-10 List)

Move to the airport
Neal George of Navarre, Florida moved his RV project to the hangar last week. "Moving’s easy when your hangar-mate owns a roll-back wrecker," he said. He sends along these pictures. (More)
Related link:
Video: Walter Tondu's move to the airport

Alternate RV-8 gear alignment procedure
I bought two 8' long, 1.5" wide pieces of angle aluminum from the hardware store. The kind *without* the radius at the center. I used the bolt pattern from the wheel pant mount to drill two 1/4" holes in the center of each piece and then bolted them to the gear legs. I then measured precisely between the gear and came up with 65 11/16". I went back to Lowes and had them carefully cut a piece of 3/8" particle board to the 65 11/16" measurement and left the 48" side as is. Their gantry saw was off by about 1/16" in squareness but we flipped the board over and sliced just enough off to make it exactly the desired width. A measurement corner-to-corner showed that it was perfectly square. (More from Matt Dralle on the RV List)

PICTURE OF THE WEEK   Does the scenery make the RV look better? Or does the RV make the scenery look better. This is one of many pictures in Scott Schmidt's trip-write-up to Gateway, Colorado on VAF. (Read)