What's in the Crate?

A nice cutaway drawing of an RV-12 skeleton, that's what.  As you can see the crate is unpacked and the small sub-kits have been stowed away.  The entire tail of an airplane is there hiding under the blue protective film.  Now it just needs to be put together.

I got an old-school folding sawhorse to support the fold-down part of the bedroom-dresser-turned-shop-table and used the neighbor's belt sander to trim the feet to the correct angle.

The manual lists two or three dozen tools I'm going to need to put this thing together.  I currently have two:  a drill and a hack saw.  e-Bay here I come.

Number of the Beast

Started going through the parts inventory and documentation over the weekend.  The customer/kit number assigned by Van's is 666.  Actually it's 120666, but the 12 refers to the A/C model, and the zero is a reserve number like a dash "-".  So now I'm thinking about changing the blog name from Natomas Follies to something like "Mark of the Beast"On the other hand, that might sound a little too much like the name of an 80's heavy metal band.  Tail number N666RV was reserved by Van's for one of it's RV-6A's.

Speaking of tail numbers, anyone have any good suggestions for a tail number? You can look up available numbers at the FAA Registry website. Just remember that American aircraft #'s start with an N; that pilots identify themselves by their tail number when talking to ATC on the radio; and that the phonetic alphabet is used to say the letters (alpha, bravo, charlie, delta, etc.).   Something with an R ("Romeo") would be nice.  The CFO will like that.

Tail kit Arrives

Yesterday the empennage kit arrived.  Delivery driver was obviously a body builder, which came in handy for moving it off the truck and into the garage.

No crate damage, which is good.  Notice the red dollar signs?  You got that right!

Van's shipping dept uses about a thousand staples to fasten the crate together.  Since there was some good plywood and lumber to be salvaged, I spent the afternoon dismantling the crate.  No turning back now!  After pulling about a hundred staples I just trimmed off the sections with staples sticking out with a sawzall.

RV-12 Demo Plane

Thought I'd use this post to show the RV-12 demo plane at the Van's Aircraft factory in Aurora, OR.  Precocious offspring and future co-pilot is in the passenger seat.  Our factory demo rides were taken while on a family visit(s) to Oregon and Washington during spring break.
 

First you need a shop table

What do you do when you need an eight foot shop table, but all you have is an old bedroom dresser?  Improvise!  Here's the dresser with wheels (castors) attached and five feet of piano hinge screwed on the back with about 20 screws. A sheet of plywood was cut lengthwise and one piece attached to the piano hinge (hanging) and the other piece screwed onto the top of the dresser to extend the workspace.

Voila!  Instant shop bench!  Sturdy, movable, holds lots of shop tools, and stows out of the way when not in use.  The hanging part sits level on exactly 2-½ cinder blocks.  Just need to add some leg supports that work better than cinder blocks.  Some sort of sawhorse maybe.

Why an RV-12?

So why an RV-12?  Well, it's a two-seater, which is all I can afford until I win the lottery, and because the wings come off.   And that's the kind of plane you want if you're going to be building in your garage.  Most homebuilt aircraft wings come off with quite a bit of effort (since that's where the gas tanks are), but Van's designed these to be light (80-something lbs or so each) and come on and off quickly and easily.  Check out their YouTube video:

Other things it has going for it is Van's reputation, their relatively close location in Oregon (should I ever need to drive to their factory and shake my fist at somebody), the large # of RV's out there flying (not that many -12's yet, but give it a few more years), and it's an LSA.  Specifically an E-LSA (that's Experimental Light Sport Aircraft for you land-lubbers).  'Case you didn't know, the FAA adopted regs making it easier to fly LSA's than other types of aircraft.  If you're the builder, you can also do your own maintenance, once you take a 2-day course, which is another cost saver.

The Beginning, Part 2

So how long have I been flying?  After college in the early 90's I landed a job in Fresno, California and found my way to a little place called the California Pilot Shop at the Fresno Airport that rented out a couple of Cessnas and a twin-engine Piper.  You never forget your first plane, and I'll always remember calling out "November five-zero-five Charlie Alpha ready to taxi with Echo".  Aircraft rental was $40/hr and instruction was $20/hr, and I passed my check ride in about 50 hours of instruction and solo.  $3k for a pilots license.  Pretty cheap eh?!  You'll see THAT theme over and over again!

I lived in Fresno for about three years before making my way back to Sacramento, during which I added another 100 hours or so to my log book and about that many landings.  Cessna's are easy to fly and Fresno is one of the best airports for a beginner to train at.  Flight communications are one of the hardest things to master, and Fresno offers the opportunity to work with ATC in "sorta" busy airspace without the impatient controllers and craziness of busy and complicated airspace like the Bay Area or L.A.

After moving back to Sacramento I met my lovely future wife at church, bought a house and pursued other interests until the time was right to get ready to go back up.  Well, the time is come!

The Beginning Part 1

Since I was a kid I always loved roller coaster rides.  They go up, down, right, left, and sometimes upside down.  But the ride is always too short, and I don't care for the lines.  I also like seeing the earth below from high places.  Aviators get to do all these things and more, AND they get to control it all.  And I suppose that is why I love flying.

I also enjoy making stuff, and that is why I decided to build my own airplane.  This blog is to document and share with friends the trials and tribulations of building and flying a Van's RV-12 experimental light sport aircraft.  Enjoy the ride!