FAA's Experimental Aircraft reference material
Making the Transition to an RV
Very Cool Links!
The RV Finder
CG Calculator
Van's Air Force; World Wide Wing
Jeff Crabb's trip to the Bahamas
Scott Millhouse's trip to Vans
Precision Airmotive carb information
Jim Harchanko's "Engine Story"
"Don't Turn Back!"
safety article by Doug Rozendaal
===========
Downloads
Condition Inspection Checklist
W&B Program
must also install the
update
and here are
the instructions
AC 20-27E
(pdf, 2.3 meg)
This is the circular you need for info about registration and inspection
Do a Roll in Tracy Crook's Mazda powered RV-4
Engine Info
A great article with useful data about acquiring an engine
Article by Bob Archer about his internal wing-tip nav/com antennae
Product listing of Bob Archer's internal antennae
GIF of Archer type antenna (Bob Nuckoll's AeroElectric Connection)
Download the TVRVBG logo
(copyright 2002)
2003 TVRVBG News Archives
back to TVRVBG News Archives, 2002
December 17th, 2003
100th Anniversay of Flight Commemorative Flight
Bob Butler, Sam Buchanan, Al Wright, and Jeff Crabb
(launch was at 10:35am EST)
(Pete Van Staagen photo)
11/15/03 Lunch at Spry International Airport
The weather forecast said "chance of scattered showers"; as is evident from the photos, the forecast was fortunately a bust!
Twenty-one aircraft were parked around Mark and Rhonda's Spry's country home/airport including ten RVs. Several of the pilots had been at Moontown for breakfast then came over to the Spry's for lunch. Of particular interest was David Stafford's RV-6 which recently emerged from the paint shop. An impromptu airshow was provided by YAK pilot George Myers.
Burgermeister Mark Spry prepared lunch as the starved visitors made short work of large stacks of burgers and fixin's. The weather was great, the company was fine, many lies were exchanged, and plans were made for another fly-in to the country.
Thanks to Mark, Rhonda, and Blake for making our gang feel welcome at your wonderful home airstrip!
9/18/03 September meeting of TVRVBG
The weather cooperated nicely for the September meeting at Bob and Sam's hangar at Pryor Regional airport. The only out-of-town RV was Doug Preston's RV-8, due not doubt to the shorter daylight hours of fall.
Robin and Steve hopped some rides with the customary grins being obvious as their passengers deplaned. Several visitors attended who are considering an RV project.
Thanks to all who attended for the contributions to the food table and
your participation in a very pleasant, low-stress social.
(Terry Burks photos)
8/21/03 August meeting of TVRVBG
The meeting was hosted by David Edgemon who is building a beautiful RV-9A in his shop located in an idyllic setting on top of a scenic hill. Dave is getting close to being ready for the finish kit and he even had paper instruments stuck to the panel!
Notice the guard poodle next to the shop....
An interesting feature of Dave's project is the modular instrument panel. The panel has laser-cut segments that fit perfectly and will allow Dave to update the panel easily in the future. The paint used in the interior of the plane really looked nice and was purchased at.......Lowes Home Improvement for less than $3 a can. (Jerry Thorne photo)
Thanks to David Edgemon for a very enjoyable social, and we look forward to seeing his plane fly next year!
7/17/03 July meeting of TVRVBG
Forty aviators gathered at Mark Spry's private airport for the July social. As usual, members from as far away as Birmingham and Nashville made the journey to north Alabama.
An interesting mix of aircraft arrived, from a good collection of RVs to a couple of high-wing Piper taildraggers to a few ultralights. The July evening was incredibly nice, and Rhonda had prepared a great assortment of hot, homemade cookies!
Mark has a beautiful turf strip just a mile or so from the Tennessee hils. He can walk out his back door to the large metal hangar, hit the switch on the electric door, drag out his RV-4......and go flying............
Upon departure, Bob in his RV-6A circled over the field like a homing pigeon that had just been released after spending a couple of days in a dark box! The crowd assembled below desperately attempted to aim Bob back in the direction of DCU before he got lost in the coming darkness.
Since Bob's plane is now in his hangar, apparently he eventually completed the twenty mile trip back to DCU.
Thanks, Mark and Rhonda, for a great evening at Spry International. The event was enjoyed by all, and a beautiful sunset was a bonus for the pilots who returned their planes to their home airports. Mark has promised that we will repeat the mini-fly-in at his strip soon.
6/19/03 TVRVBG June meeting
The June meeting drew a sizable crowd of RV enthusiasts and was hosted by RV-9A builder and CFII Dan Cunningham.
Dan is building his plane in his garage, an arrangement that is common with many projects. The available space is tight, but when there is a will.........
Dan has fabricated a nifty fiberglass console that hides the electric flap mechanism and contains the manual trim control. Also visible is the fiberglass console that contains the fuel valve, fuel pressure gauge and fuel indicators.
Dan is making great progress and his plane will probably be completed in 2004. Note the floor jack that is necessary to raise the nose so the tail will fit through the garage door!
Thank you, Dan, for hosting a very enjoyable meeting!
5/24/03 TVRVBG at Alabama Jubilee Hot Air Balloon Classic
Bob Butler, TVRVBG member emeritus, set up a display booth at the balloon festival in Decatur. The booth was equipped with not only our new banner, but RV-9A wings courtesy of Randall Eckstein, an RV-4 R/C model by Mark Spry, and promotional materials via Vans Aircraft.
In spite of having wonderful weather and good crowds in the morning, the event organizers decided to place Bob in an area that required $1.00 admission!?! Naturally this inhibited the number of people who were willing to visit the booth. Bob reports that the pilots of the vintage helicopters in the same area spent quite a bit of time at the booth, however.
Even though the festival was probably not the best venue to trap prospective builders, we now have the materials to erect a nice display at fly-ins. No doubt we will have the opportunity to "set the hook" at events in the future. Many thanks to Bob for taking the time to assemble the display and spend most of the day at the event!
5/15/03 May meeting of TVRVBG
North Alabama Aviation (DCU) was the site of the May meeting and Fifth Birthday party of the TVRVBG. As is usually the case with the airport socials, a large crowd of about sixty RV enthusiasts gathered to socialize, gawk at the airplanes, and hop motivational rides.
Ed Seigler, founder of the TVRVBG, presented the group with a beautiful banner and......a birthday cake!
We had twelve RVs on the ramp with members and guests from as far away as Nashville, Mississippi, and Bessemer.
Here are the members that were present at the first meeting of the RV group at Ed Seigler's garage five years ago.
And here are the members that were present at the fifth anniversary meeting!
This is what the group is all about. Charter member Billy Baggett watches his son, Alan, get ready for a ride in Kevin Belue's RV-6A.
A featured attraction of the meeting was the brand new RV-8A built by Alan Nunnelee and Randall Eckstein. The workmanship is first class and the first flight should occur in the next few weeks.
Jeff and Kevin return to DCU after subjecting their passengers to a magnificent evening flight. (Matt Rainey photo)
Sometimes we really are blessed by the weather! A full moon rises over DCU and shortly afterward began a total eclipse. (Matt Rainey photo)
(Matt Rainey photo)
4/17/03 April meeting of TVRVBG
The meeting, hosted by Ed Siegler and Terry Burks, was well attended by members as far away Kentucky. Ed's RV-6 was on display, and Kim McCutcheon presented a talk about engine installations.
Chef Terry served up grilled burgers with all the trimmings!
Ed described some of the features of his project, one of which was the new Vans flap preselect actuator. Ed's RV-6 is getting very close to being a for real airplane! As usual, all the builders present had plenty of questions for the group.
Thanks Ed, Terry and Kim for a great meeting!
3/20/03 March meeting of TVRVBG
Bob Butler submitted the following photos of the March meeting at Jim Harchanko's shop. Bob graciously (!?) tagged each photo with a caption.......so I am going to let his captions serve as a commentary on the meeting...
Crowd of 29
Even the afflicted and old age came.
Wow, wish I had done that..........
What is this thing?
One wonders if Billy will get this far!
Something to be proud of.
Remember, Bob Butler wrote the captions! A big Thank You to Jim for hosting a great meeting! We had visitors from Nashville and North Carolina.
2/20/03 Bat Plane arrives!
What is no doubt going to be one of the most talked about planes in our DCU group made it back to Steve and Al's hangar after a few weeks in the paint shop. The paint scheme can only be described as....."Wow!".
Here is Steve's explanation for the plane's new moniker:
"The plane has been named "Batty Alice".
Batty due to the paint scheme.
My wife called it Alice due to a Star Trek Voyager episode where a fighter they acquired
had it's own personality and caused one crew member to become completely obsessed with it
forgetting about his work and his girl friend.
I'm not sure how she made the connection....."
2/20/03 February meeting of the TVRVBG
The TVRVBG along with invited guests from EAA 190 and EAA 941 gathered at a local eatery to enjoy food, airplane talk and a presentation by local engine guru Kim McCutcheon. Kim's informative talk on "Engine Facts and Fiction" was enthusiastically received by the large number present (Ed reserved a room for 60 folks, and it was full).
Among the topics discussed were proper inspection procedures, different types of oils, and the pros and cons of auto gas in aircraft engines. Kim brought several examples of engine components that had been tortured by inconsiderate pilots who didn't know how to take care of their expensive engines.
Kim also provided a neat checklist for each pilot to use during routine or annual inspections.
Thanks to Kim for a valuable presentation and to our guests for making the meeting an enjoyable evening!
1/4/03 N97KB emerges from paint shop!
Kevin Belue is the justifiably proud owner of a freshly painted RV-6A. The white and metallic blue RV was painted by Mike Taylor in Bessemer; Kevin and Sam made the trip to EKY so Kevin could bring his baby home.
The workmanship is outstanding and all the trim is painted, no vinyl!
Steve and Al's plane is currently in Mike's shop and should be finished in a couple of months.
Congratulations, Kevin!
Kevin's plane is also featured as the "RV of the Week" (#53).
