The wiring plan

My goal for the winter (i.e. -- frozen hangar) months was to get my head around an electrical system architecture for the RV-7A. I think I'm on schedule. Today I finally sketched out a wiring diagram utilizing the VP-50 system from Vertical Power. You'll have to click the image to enlarge it.

I won't go into the whole Vertical Power sales pitch because it's a category on the blog here now and you can click it and go read for yourself. I will say that it really does make wiring simpler. First of all, my shortcoming as a builder is being organized enough to buy all the various switches and gizmos that I'd need for a traditional system. Since I installed the Vertical Power VP-50 unit a few weeks ago, I've basically done all that.

I also bought the wiring harness which provides me with the right wire size. I'll have to do some crimping of D-Sub and, of course, I'll have to run the wires, but a lot of work is already done for me.

The diagram above is still a work in progress, but it gives you an idea (if you can read these things) an idea of what I'm up to. Since my Dynon D100 has an internal battery, I'm not wiring a backup circuit for it. The battery is the backup circuit. Same for the GPS (I use a Garmin 296, which I realize won't get me invited to the cool kids' party at Oshkosh, but that's OK).

But I have planned on a backup switch for the fuel boost pump and I'm thinking about one for the flaps. I'm also planning on a second, smaller alternator as a backup but I won't install that until later, when there's more money. For now, I'll run a wire for it out to the engine compartment and tie it off.

And I've still got to look up some more specs on the Lightspeed electronic ignition. So what do I have to buy now? A master bat/alt switch and a starter switch. Oh, and an alternator. I'm leaning toward the Plane Power alternator because it has an internal regulator and overvoltage protection and that's just so much wiring and extra components I don't have to buy and install. I'm all about simple on these things.

Other than that, I've got to buy a bus block (I have one on the way from B&C, but I need one more) and that should do it.

When you first develop your electrical system, you fill out a load planning worksheet from Vertical Power. This makes it easier to figure out what's going to go where. Then, all you have to do is crimp a D-Sub terminal on the proper wire, insert it into the receptacle on the control unit, run it to the device and, voila! It's so simple, even a blogger can do it.

Here's my load planning spreadsheet. I haven't figured out yet what is going to be on the switch unit that actually goes in the panel and connects to the control unit. My very important avionics, however, will be assigned to switch 1 (on the far left) so that if an alternator fails, I simply flip the switch down, which brings the (soon to be installed) backup alternator online. I then flip the rest of the avionics off with one switch and I've taken care of load shedding.


I'm just a VFR pilot. I don't fly at night (although I might a little), so backup electrical systems aren't critical to me. But if I'm on a cross country flight and an alternator goes south, I should be able to complete the journey or -- at the very least -- get the plane down on my terms. Since I'm using half an electrical ignition system, having the backup alternator allows it to keep working without a problem.

And until I get the backup alternator put in, I can certainly hobble to the nearest airport on the strength of the left mag.

Feel free to offer your comments.

Ralph Capen's RV

I've said for years that if aviation people spent as much time contacting their local media instead of complaining about media coverage of aviation, they'd find a solution to their problems.

They might find stories like that of Ralph Capen, who got the full Sunday paper treatment from The Daily Times in Maryland (at least I think it's Maryland) Delaware. It's nice that the spouse also got some face time on the accompanying video.


I mean, think about it. What do people do when you say, "I'm building an airplane?" Why do so many people think news reporters would find the story fascinating.

By the way, did you notice the great job Ralph did keeping the nose wheel off the turf on the landing?

RV Builder's Hotline - Feb. 14 edition is now online

This week's RV Builder's Hotline has been sent out and is now available online, too. Terry Lutz penned some interesting thoughts on his testing of several RV-8s. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Terry Lutz the test pilot who flew the huge Airbus A380 over to the U.S. for the first time a few years ago? I'd say he knows what he's talking about.

Enjoy the issue and if you subscribed but did not receive it in your inbox (yes, I'm back to e-mailing the entire issue -- without ads, did you notice? -- please let me know.)

Now, what the heck am I going to write about in the next issue? I have no clue.

The EAA's job search

I've been in the news and corporate world long enough to know that by the time a job posting is made public, the folks doing the hiring have a good idea who they want to fill the job, if they haven't already promised the gig.

Still, there's a job posting in Sport Aviation this week that I'll bet has some gears turning among aviation people who make their living by the printed (and sometimes spoken) word. The EAA is looking for a director of publications.

I don't envy the person who gets the job. First of all, you've got the antiquated problem of the dead-tree editions, coupled with the competition from the Web for aviation news and the EAA has to avoid falling into the pit of being an organization that spends 50.5 weeks of the year promoting the other 1.5 (AirVenture. Did I really need to point that out? No? That's my point.)

But the EAA is trying. It's about to unveil EAA 360, it's first significant foray into social networking. Done right, it puts all the RV-related Web sites (for example) out of business and becomes THE go to place for homebuilders. Imagine if they could find the next Tony Bingelis and stick him online to answer questions 24/7?

They've recently brought back the Experimenter, which attempts to cater to that wing of the organization (no pun intended) that still cares about homebuilding. They're blogging the reshaping of the AirVenture grounds. They've got several different magazines and, it seems to me, an aggressive approach to things.

Still, you get the whiff every now and again of an organization that isn't fully on the same page. It often seems as though there are factions at the organization pulling it in a number of different directions. Who would want to step into that?

Me.

Just so we understand: I'm not applying for the job and there are more qualified people out there. But is there a better way to make a living than by using your non-aviation expertise to make a living in an industry that uses that expertise for good?

Organizations that are in change are perfect places for people with creative ideas.

Here's hoping the EAA gets the right person -- someone who will challenge the status quo and try things that have never been tried before.

What's going on at EAA

I'm perusing various EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) newsletters and stumbled across one that makes you scratch your head.

EAA Chapter 7 wanted the EAA's B-17 to stop in Long Beach, Calif. Don Thompson, the president of the chapter, says he was told the B-17, instead, is going to Torrance instead, as part of an exclusive contract with an organization that is not affiliated with the EAA.

Read about it in the chapter's February newsletter.

Following is moved up from "comments" section

Hi, Bob. Dick Knapinski here from EAA HQ. I fear you might be working on incomplete information with your posting regarding the B-17 schedule.

There are several stops in southern California who request the B-17 for an appearance each year. They are scheduled so to best alternate them every other year. There is no "exclusive contract" or anything else. Of course, among factors considered are number of stops in the vicinity, EAA chapter or group support of the stop, airport specifications, whether the aircraft will be in that region, and other items. About 90 percent of the stops are made in conjunction with EAA chapters, although there are EAA members within other aviation groups who have worked closely with the organization that are also considered.

Long Beach is certainly among locations under considerations for the 2010 tour, although no final decisions have been made.

Happy to provide "the rest of the story." Feel free to contact us anytime with questions. Continued best on your RV project, and I hope you have the opportunity to follow the AirVenture site project on the blog by Steve Taylor.

Changes at Oshkosh

This is big. Really big.

Flush toilets are coming to Oshkosh! And -- I'm betting -- a lot of wives will too.

Facebook: Van's Air Force

As more and more people begin to communicate via Facebook, I've set up a Van's Air Force network on Facebook so that RVers can more easily find other RVers to "friend."

If you don't understand what Facebook is, please don't jump to the conclusion that this is another group to compete with all the bulletin boards and other big Web sites out there for RVers. It's not.

Facebook is different in that you have your own page and you can add to it (or not) and others you select can see it. The VAF on Facebook group merely creates a common area to find other RVers. It takes nothing away from the big sites. It's not a content area.

Video: Routing strobe wires in an RV-7A

The temperature hit the 40s this past weekend, the first time it's been above freezing since December, so a trip to the hangar was in order. I'm starting to decide on various wire routes, one of which is the strobe wires from the power supply behind the baggage compartment to the wings. I didn't like the suggested route; there's too much chance they could interfere with control columns.

I'm going to start producing more amateur video of various tasks over the rest of the construction of the RV-7A. Here's the first.

Hotline donations returned

I decided to return donations to the RV Builder's Hotline that have come in for the last 2 months (PayPal doesn't automatically allow you to refund past 60 days) and remove Google ads from new pages being created on the site. If you've sent in some donation in the last six months, please send me your email address and I'll send you a check.

A moderator for VAF objected to the fact that I mentioned the newsletter in a thread on high-speed tax tests and it occurred to me that perhaps it -- the Hotline -- had emerged as a (very small) competitor to VAF. That wasn't the intent, and isn't the intent of the Hotline.

It doesn't cost much to put out the Hotline and I can afford it.

In the meantime, if you didn't get one in your email box this week, it's the mailer program. It was pretty obvious to me that while it said it was sending them out, it really wasn't. And I don't want to spend the entire weekend trying to diagnose that.

RV Builder's Hotline posted

The latest issue of the RV Builder's Hotline has been posted. It has already been sent out but I'm guessing most of them aren't reaching their intended subscribers. Sorry. Go here.

This will probably be the last Hotline for a while.

The visitors

There are several stages to building an RV. There's the empennage kit, the wings kit, the fuselage kit, the finishing kit, and the when-the-hell-are-you-going-to-get-this-finished kit.

That last kit is usually delivered anytime you leave your hangar door open, and it's the part of the kit that I think I enjoy the most. An open hangar door is an invitation to visitors and, apparently, a lot of the RV-building community doesn't like visitors because I see the mostly-closed doors all the time, and people have told me that they can't get any work done if people are always popping in to see what you're doing.

Fair enough. But if I were a heartier soul, I'd open my hangar door in the dead of winter; I enjoy people stopping by that much. As I've written before -- perhaps ad nauseam -- building your own airplane is fun, but meeting the people along the way is much more entertaining.

Over the summer, I'd just laid down some fiberglass cloth on a bed of resin and the clock was running when something blocked the sun. It was a gentleman from Arizona who used to live in these parts, and was out flying the RV-4 he built, that his daughter now owns in the hangar across the way. I couldn't shake his hand, and I couldn't even look at him, but we had a nice visit nonethless.

The greatest Oshkosh week ever (for me) was 2007. My building pal, Warren Starkebaum, was camping with me, we had a terrific (if final) RV Builder's BBQ, guys like Darwin Barrie, Glenn Brasch, Brad Oliver, and Chuck Jensen were around (I know, I left a lot of you off that list. See?), and John Porter and Chuck Stone were camping across the way.

You may remember John from a previous posting.



Earlier this month, John and I were communicating by e-mail when I realized he's a pilot for Delta. Delta recently took over the hometown airline in Flyover Country, Northwest Airlines, and it occurred to me that perhaps he's flying into the area now.

He checked his list of upcoming flights and, sure enough, he was. Yahtzee! He was going to swap the trip out for one to the Caribbean, but an RV visit in the dead of winter is better than fruity drinks in the warmth of the beach. We made arrangements to get together for dinner on Tuesday the 20th.

On his flight up from Atlanta, he mentioned to his first officer that he was going to be visiting a guy building an RV and the F.O. mentioned that he had never seen an experimental project before. When John called upon landing, I suggested we head over to ye olde hangar and look at the project, and then have dinner and, sure, bring Jim along.

As is custom in Flyover Country, it was about 5 degrees (as I write this the temperature has just risen above freezing for the first time since December), perfect weather for a guy who lives in Georgia!

We headed to the hangar and I fired up the propane heater which serves no other purpose than to keep a minimal amount of circulation in frozen toes until the ambulance crew arrives and they can be amputated correctly.

I peeled back the tarp and gave John and Jim a good look at the plane, showed off the various subkits, and opened the crate with the spiffy Mattituck IO-360, making sure in particular that Jim, who did not pack for a visit to an ice-cold, unheated hangar, stayed in the (literally) line of fire to keep warm.

John, bless his heart, said all the right things, including that the project looks great. And I think Jim had a good time, too. I'm always concerned when I start gassing on about the project, that I've strayed into the Class B (for boring) airspace.

After the visit, we headed back to downtown St. Paul, and had an enjoyable dinner at a local brew-pub. John brought along a CD he made of a cross-country tour in his RV-8 he made with his father-in-law. I'd give anything to get a copy of it because I think it'd make a fabulous presentation or the RV Builder's Hotline). I had my laptop with me and after dinner, there we sat in the quiet restaurant (the Minnesota Wild pre-game crowd had headed for the arena by then), watching the CD, telling flying stories and having a great old time. By the way, as it turns out, Jim is from Marlboro, Mass., not far from where I'm from, and home of the first radio job I ever had.

I had to be up in Ely, Minnesota by 9 the next morning (it's a four-hour drive) and Jim and John had an early wake-up call for their return flight to Atlanta. It was a most enjoyable visit. John wrote yesterday that on the flight back, Jim said, "I've never had more fun on a layover." We've created a future RVer, I'm sure.

John will, no doubt, be back from time to time in the warmer weather, and perhaps we can entice a first officer that there's no better fun to be had during a layover than hanging an engine.

You folks with the closed hangar doors don't know what you're missing.

How to run an FBO into the ground

The FBO where I rent a Piper Warrior about every 90 days is a "keystone species." Whether it lives or dies will determine whether aviation does. It is -- or at least was -- one of the largest in Minnesota. It oozed professionalism and I started going there about 8 years ago even though it requires me drive clear across the Twin Cities.

So it's a little depressing to go there these days -- or to log onto their Web site and see only one Piper Warrior is available (they've got heavy into Cessna 172s).

Today I wanted to do a little lunch hour flying and when I drove into the parking lot, only one Warrior and one Cessna were on its massive ramp. And they were parked fairly far away from the building, the significance of which I immediately surmised.

It was 2 degrees and I know what happens to airplanes when it's 2 degrees outside, especially when they're parked too far away from the building to be plugged in to keep the oil stirred.

Another Warrior was in the open hangar.

I was invited to pre-flight the one in the hangar and when I got there, I knew I was screwed. The oil heater was plugged in, but when I pulled the dipstick, there was frost on it, and the oil was the consistency of peanut butter. But I pressed on anyway, even though it was clear there was no power to the heating element.

After a pre-flight and with frozen fingers, I tried starting it. The prop turned, but never caught despite all of my cold-weather-starting tricks. No plane is going to start when it's 2 degrees without the benefit of an engine preheater.

And that's my point. They knew I was coming. Where was the engine preheat? Why wasn't it going so that when I got there, I could preflight and give it a chance to start.

As I was packing away my gear after 6 tries, the lineman knocked on the window and said, "I'm going to put a preheater on it."

I said, "OK," at first but then modified it to "don't bother, I've got to get back to work."

As I dropped the keys back off inside, there were apologies all around and I was sad more than mad. I'm sad that the people who still have jobs in the American economy don't understand the wonders of customer service. I was sad that aviation is going to be killed off partly because of the people who work in it.

It was just a stinkin' preheater. And I was just a customer who's going to start looking around for another place to rent an airplane.

David and Mary Maib's RV-10

It seems like only yesterday that David Maib walked up my driveway, introduced himself, and checked out the RV-7A project in my garage. He was thinking of building an RV airplane. At the time, I don't think the RV-10 had been announced yet but it shortly was and David and Mary pitched in. And how, they pitched in!

"I decided this wasn't going to be a 10-year project and that if we were going to build an airplane, we really were going to commit to it," he told me this evening when their RV-10 was rolled out of the Wipaire paint facility and a reception was held.

Rare was the time when one or -- more often -- both weren't at their hangar at Fleming Field in South St. Paul. And in a little over two years, they finished their airplane. They'll fly it out Monday or Tuesday to their new home in (if memory serves) New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Minnesota will wave a fond farewell with one last night of -15 temperatures.

No matter, the RV-10 is tucked safely into Wipaire's huge hangar, between a couple of Beavers and a Caravan. Their new airplane puts the others to shame, which is saying something since the other planes are darned beautiful in their own right.

Mary came up with the paint design. "I wanted gold flames," she told me over the summer and again tonight. Wipaire's artist presented her with some drawings and she said they were perfect.

The hardest part of the building process? "Writing checks," David said.

You can see the new plane at Sun 'n Fun in Lakeland Florida in April. They probably won't make it to Oshkosh this year.

I look forward to seeing them again. Building N614EF won't be the same without having them nearby.





(Click the images for original size)

What brought down the US Airways flight?

This one's making the rounds on the Internet.

RV Builder's Hotline - January17, 2009

Find it here.