Why am I building an airplane? I'll try and put some of my thoughts here but it's one of those complicated questions, like "why are you climbing Everest?".
I've always loved flying. One of my early memories as a kid was making cardboard wings with rope handles and jumping off my swing set trying to fly. I flew fighters for a living with the Marine Corps plus Boeing 727s with several airlines including Pan Am. I hated leaving the flying but family came first after all the airline bankruptcies. Flying is one of those activities that I almost hear music while I'm doing it. Of course, I don't actually hear music but it feels like the feeling that I think an artist gets when they're totally absorbed in what they're creating. I found that after getting used to a new airplane (usually after about 500 of hours flight time), when you want to take the airplane somewhere, you don't think about rudders and ailerons and elevators and throttles, you just go there without having to think about the how part. It sounds corny, but you become "one" with your airplane.
I love building things. I always have. I like the mechanical, 3 dimensional challenges, the physical part of working with your hands and the creative outlet of turning bits and pieces into something beautiful (in my mind, at least). I've talked to Paula about it and it almost feels primal, like something that's programed in my DNA. I also like a challenge when I'm creating something. Not many things more challenging than building an airplane in your garage and then flying it 200 miles per hour upside down several miles from terra firma.
I like saving money. Let's face it, flying can be expensive. Building your own airplane can cost less than a new car. A big part of the expense of owning an airplane is the maintenance. Only certified mechanics are allowed to work on certified aircraft. If you build your own, the FAA gives you permission to do all your own repairs. Another reason certified aircraft are so expensive is the liability of the manufacturer. Some folks estimate that the liability triples or more the cost of an aircraft. No liability to build into the cost if you're the manufacturer.
Building helps my memory. That sounds odd but I think it's the result of keeping my mind busy with challenging tasks. I don't have a way of measuring my memory improvements but I know it's happening. And it's improvements to my memory that I'm noticing, not just that things aren't getting worse as I get older. Names and lists and the location of my keys and glasses are all easier. Reading and interpreting blueprints are like crossword puzzles on steroids plus there's always something new to learn.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
What's an RV-7A?
An "RV-7A" is an experimental aircraft sold in a kit by Van's Aircraft of Aurora, Oregon. Follow this link to go to Wikipedia's page on the RV-7.
This is what the kit looks like before and after assembly. Pictured below is a "slow build" kit and a real, full-size aircraft (it just looks like a model in the picture but it is a real aircraft). You can opt for the "fast build" kit where the wings and fuselage are 95% complete but...it will cost you! I've chosen to order individual sub-kits and complete them before ordering the next sub-kit. The empennage or tail section is the first kit. Wings are second and fuselage is third. Several people have asked, "Is the metal blue?". No, it's just a protective plastic that gets removed before assembly. I better learn to like riveting because it reportedly takes 14,000 rivets to turn that pile of aluminum into a flying machine (as posted on vansairforce.com, a builder in Normal, IL just finished his RV-7 and he counted EVERY RIVET! He said it took 16,225).
Below is one of the factory demonstrators. Van's Aircraft is the most prolific experimental airplane kit seller in the world. There are over 8000 COMPLETED AND FLYING Van's RV's. Of course, most of those are flying in the U.S. but people from all around the world are building them. Here's a link to a Russian RV builder's workshop. Scroll down and you'll see the picture with an RV-10 in the brackground. Brrr...looks cold!
Van's has several models from single seat to 4 seat. This is the RV-7A. It's has two seats side-by-side. It comes in either tricycle configuration (RV-7A) or tail dragger (RV-7). It flys over 200 mph, has a range of about 1000 miles, can get over 25mpg, is fully aerobatic (+6/-3G), and can takeoff and land on very short runways.
An interesting little fact about Van's Aircraft is that they are being used as the Nigerian Air Forces' primary trainer. Nigeria ordered and built 60 of the RV-6A's and named them the "Air Beetle". Scroll down about 2 pages after clicking on the Wikipedia page link above and you'll see "Aircraft Inventory: Trainers".
Below is a cutaway drawing of an RV-7A.
This is what the kit looks like before and after assembly. Pictured below is a "slow build" kit and a real, full-size aircraft (it just looks like a model in the picture but it is a real aircraft). You can opt for the "fast build" kit where the wings and fuselage are 95% complete but...it will cost you! I've chosen to order individual sub-kits and complete them before ordering the next sub-kit. The empennage or tail section is the first kit. Wings are second and fuselage is third. Several people have asked, "Is the metal blue?". No, it's just a protective plastic that gets removed before assembly. I better learn to like riveting because it reportedly takes 14,000 rivets to turn that pile of aluminum into a flying machine (as posted on vansairforce.com, a builder in Normal, IL just finished his RV-7 and he counted EVERY RIVET! He said it took 16,225).
Below is one of the factory demonstrators. Van's Aircraft is the most prolific experimental airplane kit seller in the world. There are over 8000 COMPLETED AND FLYING Van's RV's. Of course, most of those are flying in the U.S. but people from all around the world are building them. Here's a link to a Russian RV builder's workshop. Scroll down and you'll see the picture with an RV-10 in the brackground. Brrr...looks cold!
Van's has several models from single seat to 4 seat. This is the RV-7A. It's has two seats side-by-side. It comes in either tricycle configuration (RV-7A) or tail dragger (RV-7). It flys over 200 mph, has a range of about 1000 miles, can get over 25mpg, is fully aerobatic (+6/-3G), and can takeoff and land on very short runways.
An interesting little fact about Van's Aircraft is that they are being used as the Nigerian Air Forces' primary trainer. Nigeria ordered and built 60 of the RV-6A's and named them the "Air Beetle". Scroll down about 2 pages after clicking on the Wikipedia page link above and you'll see "Aircraft Inventory: Trainers".
Below is a cutaway drawing of an RV-7A.
Is an Experimental Aircraft Safe?
In a word, yes. Experimental aircraft are inspected and certified by the FAA just like factory aircraft before they're allowed to fly. Even after they're certified by the FAA, they still have to undergo a very restrictive flight test period before being allowed to carry passengers or leave the local area. In fact, some people build their own aircraft because they want theirs to be BETTER than a factory aircraft. Experimental is the category the FAA puts aircraft into that aren't built on an assembly line in a factory.
Below is a quote from Bob Nuckolls' book, The Aeroelectric Connection:
Below is a quote from Bob Nuckolls' book, The Aeroelectric Connection:
"I often tell my readers they’re building the best airplanes to have ever flown. I explain by noting that people who work on assembly lines simply work a job. They may have special training for the task but by-in-large, if something doesn’t fit exactly right, they’re strongly motivated to “bend it a little” until it does. If something breaks, it’s not uncommon for a group of his supervisors to conference to see how to minimize the time and costs of pushing the airplane on down the assembly line. You folks WORRY a lot about everything. You generally don’t act until you’ve got the necessary advice and knowledge to do it right. If you mess it up, the parts come out and you do it over. By-in-large, amateur built planes have the benefits of care and consideration for doing a good job that factory built ships will never enjoy."
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Favorite Quotes
A few favorite quotes:
"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519
"There is no sport equal to that which aviators enjoy while being carried through the air on great white wings." Wilbur Wright, 1905
"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler" Albert Einstein
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." Henry Ford
"Most of my adult life, perhaps all the worthwhile part of it, has been spent messing about with airplanes." Nevil Shute, Slide Rule, 1954
"Aeroplanes are not designed by science but by art, in spite of some pretence and humbug to the contrary." Royal Aeronautical Society, 1922
"You should never fail to start a project because you don't know how to do some aspect of the work. Start anyway. That forces you to learn." Cory Bird, designer and builder of Oshkosh Grand Champion Symmetry
"Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain." Fredrich von Schiller
"It is my belief that flight is possible, and while I am taking up the investigation for pleasure rather than profit, I think there is a slight possibility of achieving fame and fortune from it." Wilbur Wright, 1900
"An imperfect plan implemented immediately and violently will always succeed better than waiting for a perfect plan!" General George S. Patton
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt
"Twenty years from now you'll be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did." Mark Twain
"Science, freedom, beauty, adventure...what more could you ask of life? Aviation offers it all" Charles A. Lindbergh
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live in the real world." Mary Shafer NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, SR-71 Flying Qualities Lead Engineer
"Simplicate and Add Lightness." design philosophy of Ed Heinemann, Douglas Aircraft
"We have no effective screening methods to make sure pilots are sane." Dr. Herbert Haynes, Federal Aviation Authority
"For a plane to fly well, it must be beautiful." Marcel Dassault
“You must be careful when you near the end of the project. As you can see, he got in a hurry and it turned out a little rough.” Don Staats quoting Ray Brandly about a Waco restoration
"Are you ever afraid when you fly?"
"That's a good question. Yeah. I'm always a little afraid when I fly. That's what makes me so damn good. I've seen pilots who weren't afraid of anything, who would forget about checking their instruments, who flew by instinct as though they were immortal. I've pissed on the graves of those poor bastards too. The pilot who isn't a little bit afraid always screws up and when you screw up bad in a jet, you get a corporal playing taps at the expense of the government." Lieutenant Colonel Bull Meecham, USMC, in Pat Conroy's book, 'The Great Santini.'
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" Benjamin Franklin
"The man who has no imagination has no wings." Muhammad Ali
“The important thing in aeroplanes is that they shall be speedy.” Baron Manfred von Richthofen
"What kind of man would live where there is no daring? I don't believe in taking foolish chances but nothing can be accomplished without taking any chance at all." Charles A. Lindbergh
“Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees, and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there.” Anonymous
"The air is an extremely dangerous, jealous and exacting mistress. Once under the spell most lovers are faithful to the end, which is not always old age." Winston Churchill
"To me, logging the hours of such a pleasant, rewarding process would have been rather like keeping a stopwatch running while reading a splendid book, so that you knew how many hours it took to read it." Steve Wilkinson, discussing build hours on his Falco project
"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!" Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States, 1945
"One of my very first impressions about America is that I'm luckier than many of her citizens because I've now seen so much of her beauty that is not seen even by those who live there. Traveling by small airplane removes the visual limitations imposed by roads and highways and opens up vistas that are not to be believed." George Richards, Auckland, New Zealand in Experimenter Magazine, April 2013
"Je vole car cela libere mon esprit de la tyrannie des choses insignifiantes" translated: "I fly because it frees my mind from the tyranny of petty things." Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
"I wrote an article for Sport Aerobatics around 20 years ago in which I compared flying, and flying competition and airshow aerobatics in particular, to dancing with the most beautiful and seductive woman imaginable, but she is also a vampire. You can enjoy yourself, but you have to watch her like a hawk every second, because the moment you let down your guard, she will bite you in the neck!" Damon Wack, VAF, October 2013
"Не имей сто рублей, а имей сто друзей." translated: "Do not have a hundred rubles, have a hundred friends." Old Russian proverb
"Allowing others more and more power to decide what's right will end badly. It always does. The many small incremental concessions seem innocent now as they did to many millions that have suffered and died under tyranny." Larry C. New, December 2013
"Never be afraid to try something new. Just remember, amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic" Unknown
"The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious.
And why shouldn't it be... its the same the angels breathe." Mark Twain
"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519
"There is no sport equal to that which aviators enjoy while being carried through the air on great white wings." Wilbur Wright, 1905
"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler" Albert Einstein
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." Henry Ford
"Most of my adult life, perhaps all the worthwhile part of it, has been spent messing about with airplanes." Nevil Shute, Slide Rule, 1954
"Aeroplanes are not designed by science but by art, in spite of some pretence and humbug to the contrary." Royal Aeronautical Society, 1922
"You should never fail to start a project because you don't know how to do some aspect of the work. Start anyway. That forces you to learn." Cory Bird, designer and builder of Oshkosh Grand Champion Symmetry
"Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain." Fredrich von Schiller
"It is my belief that flight is possible, and while I am taking up the investigation for pleasure rather than profit, I think there is a slight possibility of achieving fame and fortune from it." Wilbur Wright, 1900
"An imperfect plan implemented immediately and violently will always succeed better than waiting for a perfect plan!" General George S. Patton
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt
"Twenty years from now you'll be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did." Mark Twain
"Science, freedom, beauty, adventure...what more could you ask of life? Aviation offers it all" Charles A. Lindbergh
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live in the real world." Mary Shafer NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, SR-71 Flying Qualities Lead Engineer
"Simplicate and Add Lightness." design philosophy of Ed Heinemann, Douglas Aircraft
"We have no effective screening methods to make sure pilots are sane." Dr. Herbert Haynes, Federal Aviation Authority
"For a plane to fly well, it must be beautiful." Marcel Dassault
“You must be careful when you near the end of the project. As you can see, he got in a hurry and it turned out a little rough.” Don Staats quoting Ray Brandly about a Waco restoration
"Are you ever afraid when you fly?"
"That's a good question. Yeah. I'm always a little afraid when I fly. That's what makes me so damn good. I've seen pilots who weren't afraid of anything, who would forget about checking their instruments, who flew by instinct as though they were immortal. I've pissed on the graves of those poor bastards too. The pilot who isn't a little bit afraid always screws up and when you screw up bad in a jet, you get a corporal playing taps at the expense of the government." Lieutenant Colonel Bull Meecham, USMC, in Pat Conroy's book, 'The Great Santini.'
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" Benjamin Franklin
"The man who has no imagination has no wings." Muhammad Ali
“The important thing in aeroplanes is that they shall be speedy.” Baron Manfred von Richthofen
"What kind of man would live where there is no daring? I don't believe in taking foolish chances but nothing can be accomplished without taking any chance at all." Charles A. Lindbergh
“Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees, and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there.” Anonymous
"The air is an extremely dangerous, jealous and exacting mistress. Once under the spell most lovers are faithful to the end, which is not always old age." Winston Churchill
"To me, logging the hours of such a pleasant, rewarding process would have been rather like keeping a stopwatch running while reading a splendid book, so that you knew how many hours it took to read it." Steve Wilkinson, discussing build hours on his Falco project
"The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!" Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States, 1945
"One of my very first impressions about America is that I'm luckier than many of her citizens because I've now seen so much of her beauty that is not seen even by those who live there. Traveling by small airplane removes the visual limitations imposed by roads and highways and opens up vistas that are not to be believed." George Richards, Auckland, New Zealand in Experimenter Magazine, April 2013
"Je vole car cela libere mon esprit de la tyrannie des choses insignifiantes" translated: "I fly because it frees my mind from the tyranny of petty things." Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
"I wrote an article for Sport Aerobatics around 20 years ago in which I compared flying, and flying competition and airshow aerobatics in particular, to dancing with the most beautiful and seductive woman imaginable, but she is also a vampire. You can enjoy yourself, but you have to watch her like a hawk every second, because the moment you let down your guard, she will bite you in the neck!" Damon Wack, VAF, October 2013
"Не имей сто рублей, а имей сто друзей." translated: "Do not have a hundred rubles, have a hundred friends." Old Russian proverb
"Allowing others more and more power to decide what's right will end badly. It always does. The many small incremental concessions seem innocent now as they did to many millions that have suffered and died under tyranny." Larry C. New, December 2013
"Never be afraid to try something new. Just remember, amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic" Unknown
"The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious.
And why shouldn't it be... its the same the angels breathe." Mark Twain
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Ordered the Empennage
I ordered the empennage kit (tail feathers) yesterday. It should be here in about a week. This is one of the pages from the plans I'll use during construction.
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