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Message
Greetings,
Just a non-rotary note to
announce that my latest RV-8 is now flying. I flew it twice
yesterday, and the only issue was the rubber channel coming loose at the left
wing root seal. Makes a lot of flapping noise when that happens, but it
doesn't hurt anything :-)
Total construction time was
1100 hours, over 9 calendar months (7.5 really, since I was out of town for
about 6 weeks). As much as I like rotary engines, you can't help but
appreciate being able to just bolt on a Lyclone, crank it up, and go
flying. It's sure a time saver, but not quite as
interesting.
The most notable feature of
the plane are the Bill Dube' LED position lights. Everyone who
sees the plane stops and stares at them. I'm not sure how many times I've
been asked to turn them on for someone, so it's a good thing they don't draw too
much current. Everyone stares right at them while I turn them on,
which can be interesting, since they're pretty darn bright. On occasion,
when someone makes negative comments about all the little LED's, I
"accidentally" turn on the strobes while they're watching for the LED's to come
on :-)
There are a few pics of
first flight day, and a very short video of the first takeoff on my web
site. I might actually have some time to finish the web site now that the
plane is flying. Gotta get back to the ducted fan single rotor gyrocopter
planning.
Cheers,
Rusty (survived 4 "first"
flights now)
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