RV Project

So I’ve been thinking about how I would incorporate backup instruments on my panel, and came up with a couple of mockups:

The above mockup uses a row of instruments below the PFD for backup. The middle attitude indicator would actually be either a TruTrak Pictoral Pilot AutoPilot or a TruTrak ADI Pilot AutoPilot.

This mockup has the panels arranged a little bit differently. I think I like this one. The bank/slip indicator under the airspeed indicator would actually probably be a TruTrak Pictoral Pilot AutoPilot. The fuel gauge below the Altimeter is an EI Dual Fuel Gauge.

Another RV-7 builder put together some stop animations of his building progress. He has two available on his site and they are very cool:

http://www.freepgs.com/flyboy/rv_index.html

Click Stop Animations at the top of the left nav bar.

Here are two other panel mockups done on epanelbuilder.com. This is one that uses conventional gauges:

Since all of my intruments have to be electric (instead of electric and vacuum) these basic instruments can get very pricey. Since I’d be spending about $6k on the basic instruments in the above image, I figured I might as well spend $8k on the 2 display GRT EFIS in a layout like this:

This is more along the lines of what I’m thinking of currently. So you know what they all are, we have: electronic fuel gauge (probably an EI Fuel Gauge ); chronometer (note that the description says it doesn’t make coffee - I’ll have to look around to see if I can find one that does); GRT Primary Flight Display ; Autopilot below the screen, though I will probably get a round one like the EZ-Pilot or the new ADI AP ; next to the PFD we have an Angle of Attack indicator, which helps you find best-glide and gives stall warnings in any flight profile; next to that is the companion display from GRT which is coupled to their engine monitor (directly below), however it can also show map and info pages; next to the MFD is the hand-held Garmin GPS 396 which will be mounted into the panel (but removable); below that we have the radio stack with either a PMA8000 or Garmin 340 audio panel, a Garmin SL30 Nav/Comm radio, and a Garmin GTX327 transponder (or similar - depends on what I can find cheaper).

I think that’s the major bits. Also on the panel is the stand alone compass (above the glove box), the special electronic prop control (see next to the throttle in the little hang-off panel area), and to the far right is an ELT status indicator. The other switches and buttons are there just for the visual as I’m not sure how many or what exactly I’ll need for those. Now if only all these components didn’t cost $20k altogether, we’d be set!

When you talk about airplane systems you always must consider redundancy. One of the reasons I’m leaning towards getting an ADI AutoPilot from TruTrak is because it has it’s own internal GPS and power supply. If worse comes to worse and I lose my electrical system I can always use the autopilot to fly myself out of bad weather. Since it is also an attitude indicator, it is a backup to the PFD’s attitude display. The Garmin GPS 396 also has it’s own battery backup (because it’s a hand held) so I will always have a map display along with altitude information and terrain avoidance warnings. More than likely I will couple the ADI AutoPilot’s GPS with the GRT EFIS system or buy GRT’s internal GPS option - giving me a total of 3 GPS devices, two of which can run on battery power and provide most (but not all) flight information. The only redundancy missing is an airspeed indicator, and while the AOA indicator will always tell me if we are approaching a stall (if it has battery power) it won’t let me know if we’re nearing an overspeed. So I’m not sure what to do about that yet, though this airplane will be mainly VFR with the ability to go IFR if required: I plan on staying out of IFR conditions unless it’s something simple like a low bank of begnin clouds.

The other instrument not covered by any other instrument is the navigation radio equipment. The GRT EFIS can couple with the navigation radio and display tracks to VOR stations as well as the localizer approach to runways. If the EFIS were to go out (it should be noted that if the screen dies, I can always switch to the other screen and have the same information available) I do not have a backup navigation instrument - however, that instrument is not needed for VFR - especially with GPS information available.

I figured that one of these days I will eventually pony up for a certified aircraft with a full blown IFR panel complete with multipule redundancy - until then, I want to save a few pennies and enjoy flying VFR!

I’m a little bummed. Ok, maybe more than a little. I swear (I swear!) I put my name down for a 2 month tour in Okinawa, Japan. Somehow I got passed over (as did all but 2 Traditional Air National Guardsmen - what the heck!) and won’t be going on that trip.

Sigh.

But, I was worried about it because it falls right at the beginning and at the end of a school semester. This would have made it hard to go to school this summer and next fall (though I was willing to sacrafice half a year to go to japan for a couple months - I mean, come on!). I guess I don’t have to worry about that now.

But! Good news! Today submitted my order for the next two kits for my airplane kit. I ordered the slowbuild (non-preassembled) fuselage kit and the quickbuild (preassembled) wing kit, for a grand total of $16,113 and 50 cents. Yikes.

Thankfully, they only need a 25% deposit to start getting the kits together for me. I expect the fuselage to ship in about 3 months, while the wing kit will take at least 7 months if not 9 months - they have to send the unassembled kit overseas (to Chez Republic I think) to be assembled and then sent back. For an additional $4000 I think it’s a pretty good deal to save me a year’s worth of work.

I’m starting to think about what avionics I want in my plane and coming up with a basic mockup of the panel I want. I’m pretty sure I’ve settled on the GRT EFIS dual display system, which will couple with their EIS (which will be preprogrammed for a Subaru engine). I haven’t settled on much else (TruTrak autopilot or a EZ-Pilot autopilot?) but I think I have the basics.

Here’s one of the panels I made using epanelbuilder.com :

I was thinking of going with a large map display in the middle (like you see here), with something like the VistaNav system. But, instead, I think I will just get a Garmin GPS 396 - much cheaper and you can get XM Weather for it.

I was hoping to get a used Garmin GNS430 (which is a comm radio, gps, and moving map all in one) which can also get XM Weather, but to get XM you have to buy a $5000 add-on module! The price for the 396 with everything is only $3000, so that’s silly.

I’m keeping my eyes open for other used systems: Garmin SL30 (comm/nav radio), Garmin GTX327 (transponder), electronic fuel gauge, one of PMA’s audo panels, and a few other things. I know I don’t have to buy them now, but I might feel cheated if I let a good deal go!

We’ve decided to upgrade some things in the house, and we just got the first one completed this weekend.

Our old water heater:

misc/old waterheater.jpg

Our spankin’ new water heater:

misc/new waterheater.jpg

Our new hot water heater is a Rinnai tankless water heater which provides endless hot water and (supposedly) uses less gas than a normal tank.

In two weeks we get our gas stove installed (in our fireplace), and our contractor should be starting our new garage around then as well. We’re also suppose to be placing the windows in one of the rooms (large, old windows that aren’t double paned and cracked in a few spots - we hope it helps keep the house warmer!), but dealing with Lowe’s hasn’t gone very well. I’d much rather have our contractor do it but we’ve already agreed to have Lowe’s come out and install them.

I’ve made some good progress on my RV-7A (make sure you check out my Builder’s Log) and have decided to put down the $250 deposit required to secure a delivery position for an Eggenfellner Subaru 3.0 H6 engine. After reading lots and watching the video of Tom Moore’s Subaru-running RV-7A, it looks like a great option!

Yay for new toys (even if some of them are for the house)!

I’m also happy to report that I got an ‘A’ in my very first back-to-school class, AES 1100, Aviation Fundamentals. I wish I knew what score I got on my final, I think I’ll email the professor and ask… . I just got the books for my classes next semester which is ACC 1010 (Account for Non-Business Majors), AES1400 (Aviation Weather), and AES1710 (Flight Simulator Lab). Both the accounting class and the weather class are done online, I only need to go to campus twice a week for the Flight Sim lab. I figured I’d try the online classes and if I wasn’t following the accounting class well enough, I would ask for an Incomplete and do the class the old fashioned way.

So lots of fun stuff going on. Now if I could only find a way to buy one of those hangars out at Front Range Airport…

This weekend was filled with airplane related activities.

First, a fella I conversed with on one of the (many) RV related websites stopped by to check out my newly opened (and inventoried) empennage kit. I showed him the tools I had purchased, how the kit came in the box, and how small (and cold) my garage is.

I’ll be so happy once we get our new garage built - looks like we’ll be starting on it in January! This is great, though it comes at a pretty hefty price tag. While I couldn’t justify the cost if it was purely for building this airplane, it sure helps my motivation to spend that kinda dough. I’d really like to install a heating system, but I am reluctant to do so since I do not plan on using the garage as a workshop beyond the time needed to get the kit to a point where I’d need a hangar to work in (2 years max! Really! Well, maybe..).

Speaking of hangars and heated work spaces, Jeff (the guy that came to visit) and I headed over to Front Range Airport to meet up with Jerry B. Jerry has a very nice hangar there at FTG, heated with a propane reflective heat pipe dealy which works very nicely. Since he bought the hangar, he has had insulation installed and the concrete floor sealed with an epoxy coat. It very nice, well lit, and has plenty of room to work on his RV-7A. If it only had a bathroom you could live there.

Jerry got a Subaru H6 engine from Eggenfellner Aircraft. He was able to start it up for us, and yep, it sounds just like a Subaru. We grilled him on how hard it was to get attached and setup, and he told that it was no problem at all. Less than an hour from taking it off the crate to mounting it to the airframe. Another few minutes to hookup a temporary fuel pump and filter and voi la: the engine runs.

One of the major problems with traditional Lycoming/Continental engines in aircraft is vibration and noise. The Subaru engine has neither. It’s very quiet and hardly vibrates at all. (You can’t run a Lycoming in an enclosed area due to noise, and apparently if you don’t have the wings attached the vibration could cause damage to the airframe!)

I haven’t decided on my engine choice yet, but I will be watching Jerry’s project closely for the next year or so. There are a few concerns when using an “alternate” engine like the Subaru, so I may not go that route. One of the reasons I’m building this plane is so that I can allocate some of that time towards an A&P license. I figured experience with a “traditional” aircraft engine would be more beneficial in that regard, but in a year there might be enough data to convince me otherwise.

After Jerry showed us around and we oo’ed and ahh’ed at his bird, we took a look at his neighbor’s finished RV-7A. It seemed a little bit smaller than I had thought (though it’s wider than a current Cessna 172), but it certainly looked like a lot of fun to fly. I’ll have to get someone to let me fly around in one once I get to know the folks around here better.

That evening I headed over to Jeffco for the EAA 43 chapter meeting. I met a few folks and got to see most of the Rocky Mountain Regional Fly-in video, which was pretty cool. I didn’t stay at the air show very long, so it was nice to see footage of all the cool stuff I missed.

Then, on Sunday afternoon Cheryl had her first flight in a small airplane! The wind was a bit breezy out of the north, but didn’t cause any problems as we flew around and did a touch-n-go at Longmont. I landed a little flat, so it wasn’t as smooth as it could have been - I’m just a little bit rusty from not flying very much this last month or so.

All in all it was a good flight and she said that she’d fly with me again, so that’s a good thing!

I hope to start my IFR training (and my high performance, complex aircraft, and maybe the G1000 glass cockpit sign offs) here in January. Since I won’t be able to work on the kit anyway, I won’t have any excuses for delaying.

I’ve decided to use KitLog Pro for my builder’s log, as it already handles a lot for me. From now on, you can see my Builder’s Log here:

KitLog Pro - ccrawford

I’ve also added some more pictures to the Training Kit album and started the Empennage album which shows the boxes packed and unpacked. Time to start crackin’!

Finished Step 3:
Back riveted the stiffeners to the skins, using a bucking bar on the machined head (the flat or rounded rivet head - the ’shop’ head is the head you make when you squeeze the rivet to fasten two pieces of metal together) and a spring loaded back riveting tool in the rivet gun to make the shop head. Worked well, though I will need to get one of those large pieces of steel for back riveting as you can easily misplace the small bucking bar and screw up your rivet and/or skins. (Ask me how I know!)

Onto Step 4:
Drilled and riveted the reinforcement plate to the spar (see picture below, with the 2 plates that have 5 rivets each). Little bit of a fiasco drilling the spar for the two end-most rivets. I didn’t have a good way to match drill the rib flanges there, since the rib gets smaller and doesn’t have room for a drill (and no angled drill bit in my tool collection). Ended up screwing up one of the holes, but it worked out after I used a Sharpie to mark the location of the holes and drilled them on the drill press. After that, you cleco those two holes and drill the other 3 holes for each plate. Lesson learned here: match drill with the correct sized drill bit, as the wrong size won’t line up right once you redrill the holes to a larger size!

rv7/tk/tk - skins clecoed to ribs.jpg

For Step 5: Riveted the ribs to the spar, creating the skeleton for the skins.

Starting Step 6:
Cleco’ed the skins to the ribs (picture below). Ready for match drilling.

rv7/tk/tk - ribs rivetted to spar.jpg

Next up: match drill skins to the ribs, drill fresh holes in the spar, and prepare the trailing edge!

Section: Training Kit
Steps: 3 - 6
Hours: 2.0