Attaching fiberglass tips to your RV airplane

I don't whether anybody who subscribed to the RV Builder's Hotline is paying attention to this blog. perhaps you've noticed that some of the content that appeared in the Hotline is appearing here, too. Perhaps you'll notice it more during Oshkosh.

But having more how-to articles is always the goal of both the Hotline and, now, Letters From Flyover Country.

I've started working on attaching the fiberglass tips to the empennage and I'm using instructions sent to me years ago by RV-building buddy Darwin Barrie. I'm adding pictures and commentary as I go. I'm sure this is available on some builder sites in multiple pages, but I'm actually putting it all in one article. You can find it here.

I'm also showing it to you so you can contribute to it as we go with your own commentary and directions. When done, we'll have a fine document for future builders. I hope.

I don't know whether I'll have it done by Oshkosh or not.

RV accident reports

There are no new NTSB reports based on previous accidents this week.

NEW INCIDENTS

WA: Friday Harbor. RV-4 prop strike on landing. 7/14/09. Registration information. No injuries.

UT: Wendover. RV-4 went off the side of the runway while landing. 7/10/09. Registration information.

Tip: Removing wing bolts

There's a really great thread at Van's Air Force with suggestions for ways to remove wing bolts that are stuck. They include using a big hammer and rotating the bolt, both of which are considered idea that aren't compatible with loving your RV.

Rick Galati has posted a great solution, which involves a socket set and a large C-Clamp (although I'm not sure a C-clamp will fit in this position.) The solution will look familiar to anyone who's ever changed brake pads on a car, it's using the leverage of a brake-puller, and it makes perfect sense.

The mail pilot

I'm sure it's hard work, but to me this seems like the perfect job.



About two minutes in, I think I heard a stall horn while the plane was a little high.

One person's health care

(One from my day job)

The story of health care in America is loaded with lives that changed in a split second.

One year ago next week, Alan Henley, a popular airshow performer, was doing some chin-ups on a bar when it collapsed. He hasn't walked -- or done much else -- since.



His wife has been relentless in posting updates to his Caring Bridge site. But today, there's the desperation in her words that serve as a reminder that for millions of Americans, there's more to the health care debate than politics.

You all know how hard it is for me to update when things are not going well, but I so believe in the power of prayer that I'm just going to say, things are not going well at all. I'm assuming it has to be because we are almost upon the year anniversary of that night...the night that has forever changed our lives irreversibly. We had so hoped for more return but it's just not coming back, so now instead of hope we have to face reality.

Yes I believe that Alan will be able to do so much more in time but he needs help and equipment that BCBS just won't pay for. His therapy visits will be up in the beginning of August and then we are on our own. He said, "I guess they just give up on you when they no you have no hope of getting better." To say that this has impacted his frame of mind and determination is an understatement. I can't blame him and I find it hard to help him and relate from my able bodied state. I would be a fool to think I get it. But what breaks my heart is how do I get him back? He feels like he has nothing to live for and is just a burden. How did it get to this?

RV fly-ins

Here's a video from last weekend's Northwest RV fly-in at Scappoose. I wish it were embeddable, but you'll have to go here.

Idaho backcountry by RV airplane

Crash claims Noles

From the

Sarasota Herald :

Vance Noles took off from the small airport at Wimauma on Wednesday morning, flying an aircraft he built himself from a kit. Noles, 72, was flying his RV-7 to Tennessee to pick up a friend in the single-engine, two-seat plane, a flight he had made several times before.

But Noles never arrived.

A search began, and on Thursday officers from the Florida Highway Patrol and Baker County Sheriff's Office in North Florida located the wreckage of Noles' plane in a wooded area about a mile south of Interstate 10, near Jacksonville. Noles was killed in the crash.

Gary Specketer's RV-10

Gary came over to help me hang the engine on the RV-7A project. He flew over to KSGS (Fleming Field - South St. Paul, Minn.) in his RV-10, painted in the colors of the Georgia Bulldogs. Afterwards, Warren Starkebaum and I watched him take off. His RV-10 sounds like all muscle.



By the way, I will get that article about hanging the engine done one of these days.

Blue Mountain goes toes up

I have to admit that I've made many -- most -- of my purchasing decisions based on the experiences of others. And while I know a lot of RV builders have bought Blue Mountain products for their instrument panel, there were enough stories of customer service problems to make me stay away. Recently there was an uptick in products not being delivered to people who'd sent in deposits.

And this week, the company put this notice on the Web site:

Well, it's been fun. We developed a whole new class of machine, started an industry, dominated it, and are now leaving it. BMA will be ceasing production and spinning down. The best way to contact us is via email.

I'm sorry; that's just not good enough. You can't not communicate with people who've spent money with you and then just walk away, saying "it's been fun." It's not fun trusting someone to deliver a product and then fail to do so.

On the company's discussion board, a customer asks if he's "screwed" because he sent in a deposit. The message is, so far, unanswered. There are stories of other builders who paid for their product more than a year ago and had heard nothing.

There's a lesson here for experimental aircraft builders. Pay attention to the recommendations of other builders. If you find a company has a higher number of complaints from builders, walk away.

Related link
Thread: Blue Mountain ceases production (VAF)

David Morgan's RV-12

Pilot David T. Morgan, of Monroe has built many airplanes with his brother and been around these vehicles most of his life.

In September, Morgan, 76, who is a civil engineer retired from his father’s general contracting company in Middletown called B.D. Morgan & Company Inc., and a sister company Morgan Engineering and Concrete Company, began building a RV-12 single-engine airplane with the help of his wife, Rose, in their one-car garage in the Mount Pleasant Retirement Village on Muskingum Street.

The kit aircraft, which is designed and founded by engineer Richard VanGrunsven from Van’s Aircraft in Aurora, Ore., is a 100 horsepower, two-seat, all metal, side-by-side airplane that meets the certification standards of the Light Sport Aircraft category. (Read more in the Middletown, OH Journal)

Meanwhile, for you RV-12 builders, Van's has announced availability of an RV-12 avionics package.

What to do if the engine quits

Jason Schappert does a really intersting job of teaching basics of flying on his Web site m0a.com, especially with the use of videos.

Many of them are good reminders for those of us who've been flying for awhile. Like this one:



Another good source of information? Try Around the Pattern, which has a post up about spin training. The most fun I had learning to fly was when my flight instructor taught me about spins by showing me how to get into one. Maybe it's one of the reasons I still go up and practice stalls on virtually every flight.

Building Tip: Removing tires

On the ultra-slick Twin Cities RV Builders Group Web site (and, yes, I have noticed that they don't seem to be calling themselves the Minnesota Wing of Van's Air Force these days), Tom Berge has a great tip on replacing your RV airplane's tires with an inexpensive contraption to help you do it. Find the whole article here.

After years of struggling with the dreaded tire removal job, I finally decided that a simple, cheap solution could be had. I know there are tools you can buy to do the task, but why spend lots of money for something that is done so infrequently? So here goes.

The engine is hung

I don't know why the title of this post makes me want to crack a joke.

We hung the engine on the RV-7A project yesterday afternoon. I actually didn't do that much work, following the lead instead of some master builders who've done this before.

I'll be writing an extensive article about the experience in a day or. Pete Howell took some great pictures, which you can find here.

Cutting aluminum on a bandsaw