Homebuilder's Workshop

Homebuilder's Workshop - August 2012

2012-08-14T20:10:12Z

RV-14

By Ed Wischmeyer

Outside Van’s booth early in the morning before the crowds arrived. (Ed Wischmeyer)On Sunday at AirVenture, Van’s Aircraft’s Chief Engineer, Ken Krueger, was dropping helpful hints about a new RV-14. Carbon fiber, twin engine, amphibious, vertical takeoff and landing – and aerobatic! You get the idea… Van himself mentioned an RV-14, but gave no details, and for all I knew he was pulling my leg, too. But then on Monday, there was the RV-14 prototype.

The superficial description is that it is a two-seat RV-10, with slightly smaller dimensions. In a sense that’s true, but the start of the RV-14 was with people who were building RV-7s and putting in tons of junk so that they were overweight, as were the pilots, frequently. Krueger said that some of those were so overweight as to be miniature F-104s, a nice exaggeration. So in one sense, the RV-14 is a gadgeteer’s version of the RV-7, able to carry more weight, and with more room.

Homebuilder's Workshop - October 2011

2011-10-04T21:51:54Z

Vance AFB, Oklahoma

By Ed Wischmeyer

Ninety minutes north of Oklahoma City by car is Vance AFB in Enid, Okla., where my nephew recently got his Air Force pilot wings.

Leon Vance was a native of Enid – the Air Force folk refer to them as “Enoids” – and a WWII bomber pilot who won the Congressional Medal of Honor. The transport plane bringing him home was lost over the North Atlantic, after he survived a harrowing and heroic ditching of his B-24. But the relationship between Air Force and community is deeper than that – the citizens of Enid bought a wheat field and donated that for the then Army Air Corps to build a training base.

Wheat? In Oklahoma? Yes. Enid actually has the world’s third largest wheat storage capacity, and a grouping of maybe 30 concrete silos is referred to by the pilots as “the battleship.” This year, though, the drought is ferocious and this July was a contender for being the hottest month ever. Cloud bases were at 9,000 feet and the 25-knot wind did no cooling but only parched those out on the 100-plus degree flightline. Coming back into the air-conditioned flight ops building, there is a large fan at chest level to help you cool off.

Homebuilders' Workshop - August 2011

2011-07-30T20:26:52Z

Georgia On My Mind

By Ed Wischmeyer

The good news is that after 38 months of unemployment and 600 job applications, I’m now a contract employee with a major aerospace manufacturer in Savannah, GA. And that, in turn, leads us to the unlikely history of the RV-8A that I used to own.

The story starts nearly five years ago when I bought an AirCam at government auction at a screamingly good price. The plan was to fly it for three or four years and then sell it for enough to cover purchase price plus all the expenses of ownership. When I bought it, I lived in Arizona and thoroughly enjoyed flying it there. But, nine months after purchase, I (and it) moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Aerial sightseeing in the Midwest is not spectacular, like it is in other parts of the country, but the Midwest in summer is as beautiful as any other part of the country. Trouble was, summer – even stretching the definition to mean any time the temperature was above 50 degrees, sort of a minimum required temperature for a tolerable AirCam flight – was at best six months of the year. The AirCam was advertised for sale several times, but then I changed the ad to say, “Might trade for the right RV-8.”

Homebuilder's Workshop - July 2011

2011-07-05T18:54:00Z

Oliver Springs, Tennessee

By Ed Wischmeyer

My old Garmin 396 couldn’t find Oliver Springs airport, which is near Oak Ridge, Tenn., which is near Knoxville, Tenn., which is – aw, go look it up – but airnav.com and the trusty map application on my ancient, first generation iPhone could. AT&T cell phone service actually works way out here in the sticks in Tennessee.

What a cool place! Grass runway, a few hangars – one with a door, one with a few tarps across it, and a great selection of airplanes. There are three or four Cessna 182s, some 172s, and an immaculate Cessna 150 that’s been in the family for over 30 years. The owner was waiting for her instructor to show up to give her a BFR, and she explained, in her soft, Tennessee accent, that her husband had died a year ago. But the last thing he did was to rebuild the airplane, making everything new, and giving it an immaculate paint job. She also says that there are two flying clubs on the field.

Homebuilder's Workshop - May 2011

2011-05-16T18:44:33Z

The Steps of Iowa

By Ed Wischmeyer

When I got my new (to me) RV-8A, the boarding step was broken and needed to be replaced. No problem, says I. I’ve owned an RV before. I’ve bought used homebuilts before.

I should have known better.

But on with the show. The first part of the process was to drill out all of the rivets holding the old step on, some going through the steel step assembly, some going through the wing root fairing, some through both. Drill ‘em all out, tug on the step, and, ta, da! Nothing.

Oh. There’s a bolt inside the fuselage. Okay…

Homebuilder's Workshop - February 2011

2011-02-08T20:09:27Z

Post Chorny

By Ed Wischmeyer

The passing of Chorny, my sweet old black Lab, in some ways marks the end of one era of my life and hopefully the start of another era, building upon – and even better than – its forbears.

Chorny made her last flight with me, her first in the RV-8A, to the old family summering grounds in Michigan. It was surprising to me to be so content blasting along at altitude at 170 knots, a mile up, and to be so oblivious to the scenery below, scenery that was the domain of the AirCam and the Cessna, scenery marveled at and researched after lower flights in slower aircraft.

The RV-8A didn’t care about the scenery on the ground. It flew in the sky.

Homebuilders' Workshop - December 2010

2010-12-07T19:26:49Z

Remembering Chorny

By Ed Wischmeyer

“A man’s best friend is his dog,” goes the story, but the famous concluding argument by trial lawyer Senator George Graham Vest was never completely recorded. My dog, Chorny, was my best friend in her canine-like way through turbulent times.

Chorny was a black Lab, and she was given to us at the age of 5 ½ weeks, too young, two months before we got married. She did all the usual puppy things that you’ve heard about other dogs, but she did her own things, too.

Whenever she was in a new environment, Chorny needed to see what was going on, and then she was okay. We bought the 1959 Cessna “Bumblebee” and, with the avionics freshly but partially installed, were preparing to load up the plane and head to Michigan, with the wife (now ex-), a slug of baggage, and the pup. But first we had to have a test flight and make sure that the pup would accept the airplane.

Homebuilders Workshop - October 2010

2010-10-13T00:53:42Z

First Flight: It Takes A “Flying” Village

By Ed Wischmeyer

John is meticulous. Today, he will launch his years of work into the air for the first time, the paperwork now declaring that his RV-10 is officially an airplane.

At one point, there were four RV-10s being built in this high desert region of three towns and 100,000 people. One man had his almost finished but sold it, almost ready to fly, because he needed the capital for his business. Another man completed the tail kit, but, having seen the scope of the entire project, considered his age, the time he wanted to spend with his grandchildren, and the RV-7 that he already had flying, sold his beautifully crafted tail kit. My project was sold when I got divorced and moved away, but I sold my finishing kit to John, and some of the parts that will first fly today were once mine.

Homebuilder's Workshop - August 2010

2010-08-05T18:46:26Z

Ready for Sloshkosh

By Ed Wischmeyer

In a normal year, I’d be in Oshkosh before the show had even started, either unloading at the farmhouse or wandering around the grounds, getting keys and such. This year, however, a good friend is getting married and his family is stayed with me—a treat. So, when Sunday afternoon came along, I went home from the reception, changed clothes, loaded the car with the Oshkosh stuff and the pup and headed on over.

You’ve probably read by now that Oshkosh has had record-setting rain this month, and even though they didn’t get the seven inches of rain that closed the Milwaukee airport for a while, there’s been enough that there is no airplane parking, no camping allowed and no wheeled vehicles on the grass. Though sunny days did make an appearance, there’s an organization that can deal with that kind of wet mess, it’s got to be EAA. They’ve got volunteers that really know how to get things done.

Homebuilder's Workshop - June 2010

2010-06-21T15:35:59Z

Watch Out for Loopholes and Potholes

By Ed Wischmeyer

Here’s one that you should not be happy about. The government charting office, whatever they call themselves these days, has decided that they need to make more/lose less money. So they will no longer sell charts to outlets that sell less that $5,000 worth of charts per year, and, they’ve tightened up their policy on returned charts. What this means, then, is that you probably can’t get up to date charts at your local airport. I can’t. Or maybe at any airport nearby.