From the Maplewoods workshop: Steve's RV7 project: December 2012

The Mission:

I am building an airplane. I really can't tell you how weird it sounds to me to hear those words in my head as I type. I am keeping this blog as an adjunct to my written log, which is required to comply with FAA requirements for Experimental Aircraft construction. My son Doug is my partner in this project. There are two goals: to build the best, safest, and yes, COOLEST, airplane we can, and to allow Doug to acquire some truly awesome experiences, not to mention building skills. Thanks for viewing.

How to use this blog

The most current post is displayed on this opening page. To access the older posts, click on the "Blog Archive" on the right hand side. The drop down menu is arranged by the month and lists the posts, by title and by date posted, in reverse chronological order.

I will arrange the hypertext links to other websites I find interesting better some day, but they are at the bottom.

If you navigate to my first post, there is a link to my luthiery pages. I miss working with wood. Aluminum is nice, but it's boring. Give me a highly figured maple any day!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The penultimate post

Penultimate in this context means "next to last". This blog was created to compliment my written builder's log, in satisfying the "51%" rule for certifying my airplane as "EAB" Experimental- Amateur built. It has been a nice place to post photos for interested friends, family and others to check in on Doug and my progress with the build.

But that is now in the past. Today, Captain Gary Brown, representing the FAA as a Designated Airworthiness Representative (DAR), came to my hangar (despite the snow!!), and inspected my documentation, my logs, and my airplane. He "concurred" (the official FAA term) with my condition inspection of the airplane as being "in a condition for safe flight" and I received my certificate of airworthiness. Along with this came my operating limitations, and the instructions for my test program (Phase1).

N1991M is no longer a building project. N1991M now a real airplane.

I will post one more time: after the first test flight. After that, this blog will have served it's purpose.

Thank you all for viewing.

Doug heads out in the plane for a ground taxi check.

In (slow) motion. All monitors "nominal".

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

SOLO!!!

Doug turned 16 on November 28th. The weather cleared two days later, and he soloed. A link to his pre solo flight with Dorothy Schick, his CFI is here:

http://youtu.be/Yg16iQ8GeCo

He made three solo takeoffs and three "butterfly" landings; so soft and quiet that you couldn't hear the tires chirp on the runway. Unfortunately, the in flight cam failed, so we don't have the solo on video, just the pre-solo flight. You can tell how good he is from the short video clip. He hasn't even gotten his driver's license yet. But Doug can fly...

After the solo, admiring John Stahr's American Angel RV8

There is only one person aboard this plane. 16 year old Doug.

Not an RV grin, but equally well earned

Test fitting side panels. Inspection by DAR next week!!