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
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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)
2005 TVRVBG News Archives
back to TVRVBG News Archives, 2004
October 29, 2005; Fly-In Cookout at Spry International Airfield
On a sparkling clear October afternoon, a swarm of a dozen or so aircraft descended upon Mark Spry's private airfield (home of his RV-4) for a tasty meal of grilled burgers and hotdogs. And yes, Mark's mother's famous pecan pie made an appearance as well!
Mark hosts the cookout every 5th Saturday. The event has suffered through an incredible string of bad weather during the last several attempts, but the weather this time was special.
Thanks, Mark and Rhonda, for inviting us to your home and we look forward
to the next cookout!
(photos courtesy of Steve Furguson and Larry Becker)
September 15, 2005; TVRVBG meeting hosted by Alan and Tammy Jackson
As a full moon rose in a thunderstormy sky, the TVRVBG gathered for a social and to inspect the Jackson's RV-9A project. The fact that there was a great food spread and two freezers of homemade ice cream no doubt added incentive to meander out into the suburbs of Hartselle this late summer evening.
Alan and Tammy are making steady progress on their 9-A. The wings were in a rack in front of the shop so the TVRVBG would have ample space to check out the clean fuse taking shape in the RV factory. There was a paper mockup of this evening's version of a panel that included a couple of Dynon Sports along with a Garmin GPS.
Thanks, Alan and Tammy, for a most pleasant visit to your shop, and we look forward to seeing this pair of pilots' dream machine reach completion.
August 18, 2005, TVRVBG meeting hosted by Garrett, Valerie and Cassius Smith
Photos and notes on Garrett Smith's site.
June 23, 2005; TVRVBG meeting at MoonTown
Follow this link to Garrett Smith's superb photos and notes from this very well-attended meeting.
Many thanks to Ed, Jim, and Terry for hosting the meeting and cookin' up some great burgers!
May 19, 2005, TVRVBG meeting
Photos and notes on Garrett Smith's site.
March 24, 2005 TVRVBG meeting
The March meeting was hosted by Scott Millhouse who is neck deep in his RV-9A project. Garrett Smith shot some photos and put them and notes on his comprehensive web site.
Thanks, Scott, for hosting a great meeting!
February 24, 2005 TVRVBG meeting
In spite of a chilly evening, a large crowd of RV fanatics gathered to for the first public viewing of a TVRVBG RV-10. Al Wright is moving along nicely on the emp kit of the four-place and the size of the components was a major topic of discussion.
Many of the "early" builders were amazed at how the kit has evolved with the use of computer design and fabrication. The RV-10 manual is very nicely done and is more assembly document than design drawings.
The emp kit actually includes the aft half of the fuse. Al will have the emp kit completed soon and we are looking forward to seeing RV-10 wings!
Thanks to Alfred for a great meeting and for sharing his RV-10. We also appreciate the attendees from as far away as Mississippi, central Alabama,, and Nashville.
February 4, 2005; Dan Cunningham's New Plane
Here are photos of Dan's beautiful new RV-9A. This plane is a real looker!
Dan reports taxi tests are underway and the first flight should occur in the next couple of weeks.
(photos courtesy of Dan Cunningham)
Update, 3/6/05; Dan reports that he has flown his plane!
January 19, 2005; Ed Seigler's Off-Airport Landing
Ed recently experienced the scenario that we often consider, but assume will never happen to us. Thankfully, neither Ed nor his beautiful RV-6 were damaged, and he received incredible support from his Moontown friends in the course of recovering the plane from the field. Here are some photos and thoughts from Ed about his forced arrival in a corn field:
"I left MSL (Muscle Shoals) headed to DCU (Pryor Regional); decided
to go on back to 3M5 (Moontown) instead. Since I was approaching Browns Ferry Nuclear
Plant and its TFR, decided that I would turn north and around it to the north side. Had
been flying at 2500' and was climbing to 3500'. I was about ¼ mi south of the
Tennesse River heading due north and was on HSV approach freq (which I normally monitor
anyway) when the engine suddenly got rough and wind-milled down. I immediately declared an
emergency with HSV Appr (editor's note: Ed has since told me that he had no
hesitation in blurting out the "E" word and it has resulted in no paperwork from
the FAA) and started looking for a suitable landing site. (Dealing with the FIRST
controller is a story for later.)"
"I was at 3000' and headed north. The fan on the front of the plane was no longer
keeping the pilot cool. There was water ahead with trees on the other side and Hwy 72 was
too far north (controller asked about that); nothing hospitable enough or open to the east
nor due west. Hwy 72A was due south and was where I headed; Courtland airport was
definitely too far away. It very quickly became apparent that I could not make 72A. There
was an east-west paved county road about ½ way to the highway; headed there and then saw
the power lines running along the road. It was clearly evident the "box" was
getting small very quickly. I was over a field that I thought was a mowed cotton field
(turned out that it a mowed corn field) that had high-tension power lines on the west side
and a small pond on the same side."
"Only way I could land would be to the NW, but
for that I was too high -full flaps and full left rudder and lots of down elevator until
the ground was way too close and level out. Was trying to get the tail wheel to hit first
- not sure I did. One very good bounce - and "oh s&$$" it's going over -
full up and good, but rough, three-point landing. That was about 3:30pm. It got VERY quiet
- I had never flown a glider before. Terry Burks was later kidding me about the landing -
it registered 3.5 g's, but I had not even looked at it - but one of the other members of
my Saturday night group said he had had some of those at Moontown. Got a little mud on it
- not much; we got more on it trying to get out of the field from spinning tires than from
the landing. I had not even gotten to the edge of the field (10 minutes since touch-down)
and a man from Courtland (Donnie Gibson) came driving up in his 4-Runner and took me to
the Chevron station."
"I want to thank Steve Brown, Jim Ray, Terry Burks, Rick Stroud, and Peter van
Staagen (AKA the RBE.....Roving Band of Engineers. The RBE wanders around Moontown
solving problems for poor, unsuspecting people working on airplanes. If you don't have a
problem, they will find one!). They were there by 5:30pm with tools, generator,
lights, heater, trailer and three vehicles including a 4WD Suburban (later needed).
We had the wings off, everything loaded and were leaving the field by
midnight; got to 3M5 about 2:00am; home and in the bed about 3:15am. Long day. Those guys
are real troopers and I cannot thank them enough - they are special!"
"In retrospect, two things come to mind: while north Alabama looks like if has many
good places to land, on further examination they are not very nice. Also, when a fixed
pitch prop stops turning, there is a lot more drag than you are used to if you have been
practicing with an idling engine."
Here is the destroyed crankshaft journal that caused all the excitement. This engine had an unknown pedigree but will now be rebuilt by a reputable shop!
Beware of bargain engines; sometimes you get a good deal but sometimes you don't.........
(photos courtesy of Ed Seigler)
(editor's note) In an effort to avoid future trips to local farms, Ed's compadres in the TVRVBG have urged him to add the engine restart procedure illustrated in this photo to his POH........
