Airventure 2022

 So I am back from Airventure 2022.  It was an absolutely amazing trip and I got to see so much of it.  My best friend Anthony came out with me and we utilized both of our networking abilities to maximize the trip.  It was my first Airventure and I honestly felt like a kid in a candy shop through a lot of it.  The constant buzzing of aircraft overhead, whirling of helicopters, and smell of low lead was just amazing all week.

Had to take the EAA Arch pic.

We went out on monday morning, flying commercial to Appleton.  I have to admit that Appleton is a great little airport. It actually is smaller than Islip here on Long Island and had a true small town feel to it.  It has a single TSA lane, single restaurant in the terminal, and only a few gates which makes for easy travel.  The moment we landed, we sensed the difference in ambiance then the stuffy New York attitude.  Everyone we ran into was friendly, talkative, and genuinely just good people.  It was a serious refreshment for me.

After we grabbed the rental car we headed into town, but our room wasn't ready so we couldn't check in.  We opted to head to the airport and meet up with our friend Dave who was going to be our "VIP tour guide" all week.  Dave is a former Osh Kosh Tower Controller for many years who recently retired.  Dave's wife Cathy is also a current controller and worked the show this year.  Dave was there to hang out with friends and support his wife and her team all week.  The camaraderie between the controller force there was really awesome to witness first hand, everyone is very supportive in that group.  Dave was able to arrange us a tower tour, visit Fisk Arrival, the north air boss tower (The "Tiki" Tower), and showed us all over the grounds.  The air traffic controller in me was so jealous I'd never be able to work this event, since I work in a center.  It was truly an honor to witness and understand how these guys and gals work all this traffic in such a coordinated manner.  The procedures in place are truly exceptional and they do a great job.

OSH Tower - Home of the "Pink Shirts"

OSH Tower Position (Works Rwy 18/36) - Notice the squares and dots on the glass.  These are to help them visualize where the actual dot/square on the runway is, it can be tough to visualize at this angle/distance.

Fisk Approach - These guys were a hoot to hang out and chat with.

North Air Boss Tower  (The "Tiki Tower)
L to R - Dave, Bob, Me, Anthony, and Cathy

I of course also had to stop by at the NATCA tent.  Since I am a controller for a living, it was a required stop on the itinerary, beside my friend and coworker Karoline was working in the tent this year.  If you haven't been, NATCA runs some great seminars every year about working with ATC and how to utilize ATC in emergencies and other situations.  They also run a few great scenario based seminars where they discuss things form the pilot and ATC perspective.  The best part, is many of these are eligible for WINGS credit if you participate.  Definitely check out their tent next year if you have a moment.  And for those with families, they have a section in the Kidventure activity area too.

Karoline and Me making friends with the Texans (Kevin from ZFW and a IAH controller)

Progress...

So news came yesterday via email. Our wing kit is ready to be scheduled for crating and Van's wants all of my money. I was a bit shocked as we haven't heard anything on the tail kit still. I requested more information but still haven't heard back. I decided to query some other builders and my local EAA Tech Advisor for their opinions.  A lot of people seemed to believe if I wanted to spend time prepping all of the wing kit, that would eat up alot of my time. Then hopefully I will get my tail kit while i'm working on that. Worst case scenario, I finish up the prep work and start on the smaller surfaces. Only time will tell, but I am excited to at least get some information about one of the kits coming. Since I might be getting the wingsn first, I decided to do some research into wing items. The biggest thing that I eventually have to decide will definitely be the lighting. I am torn between the FlyLED's products which are highly recommended and liked by many builders. The other option is the Aveo ZipTips which are a one piece fit all where all lighting is built into the wingtips. However, I have heard a few things about them which doesn't make me happy. I have heard the trailing edge doesn't quite match the ailerons on many planes, the assembly is delicate and some had issues, and the shipping can take quite awhile. To not help matters, the ZipTips are probably triple the cost of FlyLED's solutions.

FlyLED's Original Lighting

Aveo ZipTips

The downside to the FlyLED's is that I probably will need to cut into my wing leading edge for the landing light install. This isn't a super big deal, but it definitely makes you nervous. I have to do some more research into the Van's light kit and an aftermarket one from Duckworks. The duckworks seem to have better documentation, but some of the online talk suggests they have a smaller lens. Will have to report back. Now to wait for more details on when the kit will actually ship or more details on the tail kit.

Storage and Lighting

 Well the first prep task has been completed.  I bought some overhead shelving to mount over the garage doors.  I need to clear up the floor space so I can have enough room to build in the garage when I am ready.  The two racks were a bit interesting to put up, especially since the bars that support it are a bit flexible.  But with some persistence and hard work I finally got them up.  I expect this push through work ethic is going to be needed at many points through the project.  Now it's time to clean up the floor and get things up on the rack.

In other news, I have been debating my idea of a 10 and have also looked at the RV-14.  Part of my thinking is it would be easier to do a 2 seater aircraft and move upwards later, but part of me says why bother and just build the plane I want now.  Thoughts?

 Photo of RV-14 Demo plane by Flying Magazine.

On To The Planning Stage.....

Step 1 : Spring Cleaning

 So now that the family is supportive of my plans.  I need to start prepping my "plan of attack".  I already have laid out a few of my needs in the garage.  I just bought a bunch of storage which will help me get everything off of the floor.  Once this is done, I hope to have a mostly clear garage floor.  Can anyone say Spring Cleaning??

Step 2: Research, Research, and Research

So this really is being done at the same time.  I've spent a lot of my free time lately researching everything from common RV mods to Avionics to Engines.  Now I know a lot will change between now and when I get to the Engine or Avionics parts, but I like to have a rough draft in my head.  I think by having a rough idea, it will help me guide myself through the build stages.  Due to space constraints, I am pretty sure I will do the empennage then the fuselage.  This way I can join them together, and do the interior mostly before worrying about wing structures laying around.  Of course this can all change.  I am hoping to have my research done by the summer and have a real plan of attack.

Step 3: Plan Ahead

For those who stay up to date on the RV stuff, the estimates for kits are getting longer and longer due to COVID, higher demand, and longer production.  This has caused the kits to become 6-8 months for most of the standard kits.  So I will definitely plan to order two kits together, the Empennage and One other.  Now I could order the wing kit to keep costs down, but in the end, I'm gonna order them all.  The other question, Do I eventually want to take on a partner in the build as I get further along.  Having a partner would be nice, but that also complicates things as you need to take their opinion into matters.  Maybe I would be better off waiting until complete to do so.  One step at a time :).

So how am I doing these steps?

I am currently reading through lots of Build Blogs and watching tons of You Tube videos for other builders.  Here are some of my favorites:

YouTube: Jason Ellis, BuildFlyGo Channels, 
Instagram: BuildFlyGo and Plane Lady
Build Website/Blogs: Charlie Derk, Mark Ciglia, Damazio Family, RV10 Builder, Good Plane Living, and Tim Huneycutt

Many of these sites have great documentation of the build process, upgrades they have done, and tips for future builders they learned along the way.  Another great resource I have found have been Van's Air Force Forums and the various RV-10 and Van's Builder Groups on Facebook.  There is lots of good information and conversation out there.  I think my next task is going to be to order the plans USB stick from Van's to help me layout things in my head and better understand some of the build specific chatter.

So what are your thoughts and tips?  Anything unique I should preplan for?