Scott & Tanya Card RV9A build log (N4822C)

So, what am I thinking panel wise? Well, like most, I’ll start with something similar to the space shuttle then work backwards from there. I’m pretty sure I’m currently planning on using multiple Grand Rapids EFIS displays, a TruTrack autopilot, a Mode S transponder, a Garmin GPS/NAV/COM, and a PS Engineering audio panel. If I were to hit the lottery (I don’t play), my panel would probably look something like below. It would have to be custom made for the additional height.

 

  

 

I got the letter in the mail today that the fuselage kit shipped Friday 7/8/05 and will arrive Friday 7/15/05. Included in that shipment is an order of about $300 worth of “extra” raw materials including lengths of aluminum angle and sheet aluminum, among other random hardware (platenuts, etc.). It is the engineer/planner in me that prompted the order of stuff that I thought I might need for small airframe customization projects to be shipped in the large fuselage crates. Otherwise, to get some of this stuff shipped later could cost big bucks where the materials ordered were chump change. Example: If I needed a six foot length of aluminum angle, the material cost is about eight dollars. It could cost forty dollars or more to have it shipped in a crate and delivered. So I had a bunch of such materials shipped in my fuselage crates :).

All aileron parts are complete and ready for primer. After drilling the stainless steel pipe that is the forward counter-balance on each aileron, it occurred to me that I needed to figure out a way to at least knock off the burr on the inside of the pipe. What I came up with was to take a piece of threaded water pipe that would fit into the stainless pipe and use the threads on the end of the water pipe to knock off the burr on the inside of the counter-balance pipe. This worked like a charm!
Next up was to machine countersink the trailing edge wedges. I’ve done this three times on the empennage and each time was a near traumatic experience. I decided that this time was going to be different since I have to do these two and then two more long ones for the flaps. So I built a little jig for use in the drill press. The trick is to get the angle right and everything fully supported. It worked great and was well worth the time spent messing with the jig. After completing some other aileron skin dimpling chores I got back to work on the flaps.
I had previously completed fabrication of most of the flap skeleton parts and just picked back up in assembly where I left off.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

David , Zach, and I (we all live in the same neighborhood, they are each building RV7A) met out at the Georgetown airport this morning for a short flight down to Lockhart for a hangar party/BBQ with Keith Uhls (RV7 complete) and the great RV community down there. Zach and I arrived at GTU and David was already there with breakfast tacos ready for us. That was super cool. I rented a Diamond Star DA-40 (4 seat with lots of bells and whistles) for the day.
I did a pre-flight and we all loaded up. David was in charge of navigation and radios, I flew, and Zach was in the back seat looking for traffic, and generally critiquing operations in the front seat :). It was a blast. We were joking that David had turned into my fully automated voice activated avionics stack. All frequency changes, GPS and nav inputs, ATC copies, etc., just magically happened. I think that is the first time I have had a real fully competent co-pilot that was fully engaged in some of the flight duties. Needless to say, that made the flight a lot more fun when the workload is distributed. Thanks David.
So we launched from GTU and headed out toward Taylor while David got comfortable with the radios and multiple GPSs. Then we turned south direct to Lockhart and got vectored just around the outside of the Austin class C by Austin Approach. We landed at Lockhart at about 11am. It was a very short flight of about 30-40 minutes. We parked and arrived at Keith’s hangar to find the party in full swing. We had some BBQ and looked over his recently painted RV7. It is beautiful. The guy that painted his plane is going to get a bunch more business out of having done Keith’s.
After BBQ, the rest of the day was a bunch of hopping from one hangar of RV builders to another. It is a great building community out there. I am quite envious. We (David, Zach, and myself) were in the right place at the right time to help in the complete installation of a set of wings on an RV9 under construction. All the way from wings in the cradle to insertion of the main spar, the alignment process, setting incidence, and drilling of the rear spar. We all had a hand in it. Wow, that experience was worth the whole day right there. But it just got better…
Later in the afternoon, as things started to wind down a bit and the crowds started to thin out, Keith took us each up for a ride. Zach and I had never been up in an RV. Keith took the time on each flight to really demonstrate the characteristics of the plane and give us a little stick time. He also pretty fully demonstrated the qualities of the Grand Rapids EFIS that all three of us are planning on using. He also had a mode S transponder in the plane that was displaying area traffic on the Garmin 430 GPS. I had never seen that in action. Super cool. That sure solidified my decision on whether or not to get a mode S transponder.
After the last of the rides, the sun started getting a little low in the sky. We were all a bit tired and sun burned. It was time to load up and head toward home. The return flight was just as uneventful but just as much fun. We landed back at Georgetown a little after 7pm. Total flight time for the trip was about 1.5 hours.
What a day. It was a blast. I can’t thank Keith and the RV community at Lockhart enough. It was very much a learning and motivational day for sure.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

I have finished match drilling both aileron assemblies. They are now torn down ready for hole deburring, dimpling, and priming. Next on to match drilling the flaps.