Christmas Card Photos: You can see what ~3000 hours and 5 years (1995-2000) worth of building looks like in 6 photos taken at Christmas!
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On Sunday morning, June 18, 2000 (Father's Day), our plane took flight from Mojave airport with Professional Test Pilot & Friend Norm Howell at the controls! Victoria and I flew with Norm's wife Gretchen in her Mooney and monitored his progress. All test cards that he briefed were flown with the flight lasting about 45 minutes. Norm says the plane flew perfectly and 'was a delight to fly!'. Upon returning, we found oil streaks on the bottom of the fuselage and inspection turned up an improperly installed 'crush' washer on the oil temp sender. A new washer (properly installed) solved the only squawk that prevented the next flight.
Instead, winds at Mojave 'grounded' us for the day, but Norm should be able to get some more early morning flights in this week. We'll get some air-to-air photos online when possible. We CAN'T EVEN begin to describe the emotions we felt seeing our plane fly for the first time!!!!!!!!!!!! After ~3000 hours and 5 years of working this project, the rewards outweighed the sacrifices! There are SO MANY people to thank who have helped out in one way or another when help was needed! THANK YOU for helping to get our plane airborne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now to those 40 hours I need to fly off...........Happy Building, and Safe flying to all!
Here's Norm getting ready to taxi out with brother Michael looking on from the TEAM Nemesis hangar. Many thanks to Jon & Tricia Sharp for allowing us hangar space to assemble our plane!
Just 20 days after my first flight, Victoria and I 'chased' Gary Sobek's RV-6 (with brother Michael) to OSH on July 24th, 2000, had a GREAT time, and returned home August 2nd after 28 flight hours (that included a fly-by of Mt. Rushmore on the way home!). We would not have made the long trip alone as I'd never flown past the Colorado River eastbound!
Our friends from EAA Chapter 1000, including Russ Erb and Gary Aldrich, took this photo at OSH.
Note the world's busiest control tower and the AirVenture sign in the background. Many thanks to Gary for posing this 'photo of a lifetime'!
Also on the way out of OSH, friend and RV-4 Pilot Ed Dutreaux was on the flightline and shot these pictures...
"Hey Honey, there's Ed! HI ED!" After arriving home, we learned that we were honored with an Outstanding Workmanship Award at AirVenture 2000 :-)
Since my first flight on July 4, 2000, we've flown our RV-6A all over the country, and I've written numerous Travel Stories that I think you'll enjoy especially if you are building!
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After 8 months of construction, we moved into our new skypark home on September 29th, 2006 :-)
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In addition to all the traveling we do, I very much enjoy formation flying with the SoCAL RV Formation Squadron.
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Our Thanksgiving 2003 trip to the East Coast (~40 hours and 5000nm) had us landing in the last 7 states we were missing so we've now landed in 49 United States of America! This has been a life-long dream, turned into a goal, and now a reality :-) MANY thanks to Van's Aircraft and EAA for making this ALL possible!
Above we are leading Laird Owens and Chuck Miller over the water to Catalina Island to our final approach! (Pictures courtesy of Tony & Starr Ginn)
The picture above was taken by David Klages after given the 'Go Around' on short/final. Painting was completed by Mike 'Hot Lines' Fowler and my brother Michael and colors include (pearl) green, yellow, purple, gray, black and white. This picture is also one of the very few that shows the truly beautiful 'Amazon Green' color!
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We flew to Alaska in July 2001 as a 2-ship with Gary Sobek (RV-6) and Trish Russell. We followed the Alaskan Highway there and the 'Trench' home. Weather was not the best but we did make it to Anchorage's Ted Stevens International (to watch the floatplanes) and Fairbanks International airports. Here we are on the ramp at Kamloops, British Columbia, along with a picture of everything that came out of the RV at the end of our two-week trip!
That's about 140lbs of gear of which 40lbs was tucked under our legs. For traveling, you gotta' love this RV :-) Our RV-6A is a JOY to fly, and we are loving life at 3 miles per minute! Builders: Keep poundin' them rivets as it's ALL worth it!!!
Thanksgiving 2001, we traveled to Cape Kennedy, Florida to watch the launch of STS-108 aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Our friend Carl Walz was aboard enroute to the International Space Station to live and work as a team member of Expedition 4. After the launch 'scrubbed' for a second time, we made a flight from Daytona Beach along the Florida keys to Key West then headed for home and missed the launch several days later :-(
December 2001, we completed a (55-hour) Christmas Trip that took us from California to Chicago's Meigs Field, Indianapolis, Parkersburg (WV), Binghamton (NY), Boston, Washington DC, Kitty Hawk (NC), Huntsville (AL) and Tulsa (OK). Thanks to my second job substitute teaching during the day, we've been able to keep up with the fuel bill.
Our Christmas Card photo for 2001, taken during our summer trip by Gary Sobek, flying over the Arctic Circle at Fort Yukon, Alaska!!
Here we are over the Golden Gate Bridge. Following the Half Moon Bay Flyin, Victoria and I flew 'the bridge run' with Walt Hastings (RV-6A).
Victoria and I spend a lot of weekends sharing the skies with RV-6 owner/builder Gary Sobek. We're on our way home from Death Valley (the lowest elevation airport in the USA at -210'). On Memorial Day, we returned from a 4-day trip that took us both to Leadville, CO (the highest elevation airport at 9927'). Many thanks to Kim and Scott Huntington (Mother Goose & Gander) for the Death Valley Photo!!!!!!!!!!!!
Flying over Oregon State's Crater Lake!
Professional Photographer Ed Hicks shot this photo over an Oregon cloud layer Labor Day weekend. Victoria and I were there for our first-ever trip to Van's Aircraft Annual Homecoming, and we had a great time! Check out more photos of our plane and of other RVs that participated in the photoshoot.
On the ramp at Mojave airport! If you are interested in seeing a few 'vintage' building pictures, click here.
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