Well, this is dated 5/31/17, but I’m actually posting it in late September. (I really haven’t had time to keep up with things.). Not much detail to put on the page this many months after completion, but I finally finished another laborious chapter on the gear fairings.
Nose Wheel Fairing Front
This piece is one of the few that is not done by The Book. The Book calls for a hidden piano hinge inside the trailing edge. I had significant difficulty getting this to align and work properly. I eventually discarded this and just went with the natural rigidity of the fiberglass and the excellent form-fit it has relative to the front strut. There are two screws that hold it in place and I believe that this is more than adequate retention.
Alas, I got a bit too confident with the process of drilling and tapping the holes for said screws and discovered that it indeed possible to break off a tap. I used a dremel grinding drum to dress off the broken fragments sticking out, drove to the local hardware store for a replacement and was more careful putting in another tapped hole 1 cm away. The two screws aren’t exactly aligned, and that bothers my eye, but it serves as a good reminder of how to be a careful builder.
Another first! Nicholas and I spent a great day doing guy stuff. Started out at the local firing range and went through about 300 rounds of 9 mm and 223. Lada said it was OK to take Nicholas flying, so we headed over to Urbana for a nice Sunday afternoon lunch. For those of you who are familiar with the restaurant at Urbana, you know what I’m going to say next: they’re closed on Sunday afternoon.
Oh, well. Back in the plane and on our way home to try something else! Here’s Nick climbing out of Urbana. He’s doing very well for his first flight on the controls!
Nick, piloting on a beautiful day!
One of the ‘Hey, wow!” moments came when he realized he could recognize things on the ground. For example, this is his old middle school when he lived in Marysville. I think that the excitement in his voice when he made the identification was wonderful. I hope that he will spend more time in the air with me.
H-10
On an slightly unrelated note, I’d like to show you the new home of N7623V. I have a gentleman’s agreement to purchase hangar H-10. The two hangars share a common wall, and it should be possible to either remove the wall outright, or at least cut a door into it. Voila! A double hangar that will let me enjoy having both planes in the ‘same’ space. Common access to tools, lights, heat—Wonderful!
180° view from the end of Butler’s grass strip
There’s a group of mostly RV flyers here at Delaware Airport, who fly out to breakfast most Sundays. On 4/23, I finally was able to get my butt out of bed early enough to join them. Well, actually, I didn’t go to bed that night and was able to join them. I flew to work on Saturday 22, and flew directly from work (Fayette Co) I23 to breakfast at Butler, a grass strip that doesn’t even have an FAA designation.
I wish I had some inflight pictures, as the day was simply wonderful for flying. A great, crisp spring morning with outstanding visibility and not a cloud in the sky. I found the grass strip, made a nice pattern and just grazed the grass and rolled all the way to the end. I was a few minutes late getting to the restaurant in town, but had a great breakfast and enjoyed meeting the gang. We all walked back, and had an equally nice flight back home.
fellow RV8er taxiing for departure
BL is one of my mentors, and was the first EAA Tech Inspector to look at 012 during it’s early stages of assembly. Here, he’s in the process of taxiing out for departure from Butler in his RV-10.
180° panorama of the view on the way back to DLZ
Logbook Entry:
“I certify that the prescribed flight test hours have been completed and the aircraft is controllable throughout its normal range of speeds and throughout all maneuvers to be executed, has no hazardous operating characteristics or design features, and is safe for operation. The flight tests were completed under the following conditions: typical operating weight, maximum demonstrated airspeed, minimum demonstrated airspeed, and center of gravity range.
Capt Hill with first passenger and co-pilot. Great flight. Thx
The gentleman on the right, who took and captioned the picture, is my new partner in N7623V, Ed.
Out in the sun 
