983RV Life

Tag: Research

  • My First In-person Look

    My First In-person Look

    I posted a request to see if anyone had an RV-10 that we could go see to the Central Oklahoma Aviation Facebook community a week ago when I was continuing my research about the RV-10 model. I had quite a few people let me know that they knew where one was, but they didn’t have any information on the pilots that owned them. I finally had someone that knew the pilot who flew an RV-10 that was very close by. I hit this wonderful gentleman up and he willing to oblige us with a view of his airplane.

    This plane is quite a bit bigger than I had imagined. This thing sits roughly 6’6″ to the top of the cab if I had to guess as it was a bit taller than me and I’m 5’11”. That’s not really a concern for me and is actually a welcome sight as it will have good ground clearance but also have good headroom inside the cockpit. The wingspan reminded me of the more modern Pipers, but was not as wide as the Cessna Cardinal I have partial ownership in right now which is always fun getting it back into the hangar as to not hit the wingtips on the doors.

    The one interesting thing was just how high the tail is from the ground. It is at least close to 4′ off the ground (again, I’m going by references to my own body, so I could be way off. This is my perception of the plane LOL) I’m not saying this is something that will keep someone from building this plane, it was just interesting how high it was.

    The interior of this plane was so nice from a dimensions perspective. It reminded me of the Cardinal on the front seat in being a good width for two people to sit in without having to be scrunched together like we were in the Skyhawk. There was plenty of room for feet both for the front and the back seats. Even the back had a great width to it. The luggage area is accessible from the back seat, even though you will have to probably get up a little bit and get behind the seat, but it is easily doable, just like how it is in my Cardinal.

    It was interesting to have the flight controls as a stick between my knees, as I’ve been so used to the yoke based control coming out of the panel. The panel in this plane, though a little older now, was still super nice! That’s one of the many advantages I’m seeing from doing this build as well. I will be able to get the avionics I want, placed where I want them.

    All in all, I was VERY impressed with this plane and it made me even more excited to order the empennage and start the build! I’ve posted some pictures of this plane that I found online as well as from his build website. you can go to his build website here:

    http://www.wingscc.com/N2GB/

    I’ve posted some awesome pictures of his plane below just in case he takes his site down or whatever.

    At KWVI on Sept. 3 2010
    Oshkosh 2009
    One of the few days with snow in Oklahoma
  • Paint Scheme Research

    Paint Scheme Research

    I always love to have an image to drive towards. I’m kind of a short sighted guy, and having an immediate vision of what I’m going towards is awesome and motivating! So I started, of course, with a Google Images search of just “rv-10.”

    So many good options came up from just that single search. I originally felt that having a white plane with a colored accent would be the way to go. I found this image that was on Van’s own website material for the RV-10.

    Awesome blue and silver accent colors on a white fuse

    The metallic blue from this plane was so beautiful. I’ve seen a few trucks like this that we also very beautiful especially in person in bright sunlight.

    I continued looking instead of just settling on that very common paint scheme scenario (white with an accent) and then I ran across this plane which was sold on Tomahawk Aero Services LLC website.

    Bright red and white scheme

    This was a little bit of middle of the road to me. Almost half and half in a way and with the color visible to the pilot while flying. But the white was still very nice looking. My wife knows that I am a sucker for white, especially if it’s done well like a metallic or a pearl. I still felt like it wasn’t exactly what I wanted. So I continued my search.

    That’s when I hit the motherload of awesome paint schemes! It was on the website named Planeschemer.com. This company has made some excellent paint schemes! I saw three specifically that were on an RV-10 and this dark cherry really caught my eye. It is such a deep rich color, and there’s still lighter accent colors that go well along with it. I also loved the silver that was used in the scheme. I felt this was very close to what I would want for my plane so that’s what I had settled on, well at least for now 🙂

    Courtesy of Plane Schemer
  • The adventure begins!

    The adventure begins!

    I’ve been contemplating building an airplane for a quite a while. I remember seeing the EAA displays at airshows where they would have a wide array of RV’s, Kitfoxes, Highlanders, and the like. I remember getting the chance to see my first RV up close was when I was taking flight lessons with Monarch Air in McKinney, TX. The local high school and EAA chapter had built an RV-12 (pictured below) which peaked my interest and made me think this might not be too difficult after all.

    • Awesome yet simple panel
    • The front of this wonderfully built RV-12 in the hangar at Monarch Air
    • Awesome color scheme!

    I had also watched Trent Palmer’s YouTube channel quite a bit. I loved seeing what he could do to his plane without having too many hassles to go through, and I loved the flights he would go on whenever he wanted. But, my mission was different for my desired plane though. I don’t have much land that I can go land on freely here in Oklahoma like they do in Nevada and Idaho. And I really wanted to travel more with my family and especially my wife when we become empty nesters (in a long time lol)

    That’s when I caught the content that FlightChops had put up about his recent visit to the Van’s Aircraft Headquarters and trying out many of the different RV models. I was fascinated by each of them and curious about the possibilities of what I would put in it. Then he started posting his build videos of his RV-14. That’s when the bug really hit hard. I saw that the process (though tedious, time consuming, and very detail oriented) would be something that I could take on and could get a fast airplane, custom built for me, by me, at a decent price.

    I ordered a practice kit after seeing it on the Van’s Aircraft online store (as well as a shirt… I’m a sucker for a t-shirt). I haven’t started working on it yet as it just arrived, but I’ve now found other channels and websites covering RV-10 builds specifically. I saw Brian and Brandi’s website with their build, videos, photos, cost log, etc. I then saw the Plane Lady YouTube channel as well as Jason Ellis’ YouTube channel covering their build’s and how they were doing. I was encouraged even more by seeing how the process went in detail through their videos.

    I then posted to the Central Oklahoma Aviator’s Facebook group asking if any local pilot’s had an RV-10 that they wouldn’t mind walking around with my wife and I. I quickly had 9-10 answers of people telling me where they knew an RV-10 was and I even had a few pilot’s willing to give me some of their precious time to see their babies. We plan on going to see them this weekend if everything plays out and I know I am super excited. So excited that I reserved a tail number and created this site! The tail number will be…

    N983RV

    I hope you join along with me while I go through the practice kit and go with me all the way through till the day I finish her! I plan on then converting this to a site covering our flying adventures, costs associated with the upkeep, and my whole experience with the RV-10 platform as it becomes a part of our life.