HANDS ON
WHAT OUR MEMBERS ARE BUILDING/RESTORING
NEW ZEALAND RV- 6
THE FIRST FLIGHT OF our RV- 6 took place in December
2009 in Christchurch, New Zealand. We always
answered the perennial question of when would it fly by
saying, “On a Friday,” and so it turned out! The plane is
powered by a Lycoming O-320 with Airflow
Performance injection. The plane features Slick/LASAR
mags, inverted fuel and oil, a Hartzell propeller, Dynon
electronic flight instrument system (EFIS), and an ACS
2002 engine monitor. A major change from the plans is
that the pilot in command sits in the right seat, with the
power levers on the left and the flight controls on the
right. This is similar to the military aircraft I used to fly
in the Rhodesian air force before going to the airlines.
The second passenger after my wife, Beryl, was Jerry
VanGrunsven, the brother of Van’s Aircraft founder Dick
VanGrunsven, who happened to be in New Zealand on a
tour and was kind enough to call us prior to arriving in
town. The next kit, a Furio, is already in the garage.
Jon Ludgater, EAA 343699; Beryl Ludgater, EAA 1020516; Christchurch,
New Zealand; E-mail: berylludgater@ihug.co.nz
CALIFORNIA RV-7A
MY VAN’S RV-7A (N507RV) is powered by an Eagle Engines IO-360-B1BC3 with 9-to- 1
pistons, roller lifters, flow-matched cylinders, dual Unison Lasar ignition, Sky-Tec
starter, and Silver Hawk fuel injection. The airplane is equipped with a Whirl Wind
200RV constant-speed propeller and Aero Technologies P-520-036/A governor.
The instrument panel consists of a Vertical Power VP-200, AFS AF-3400EE EFIS
and engine monitor, GNS 430W WAAS GPS, GPSMAP 496, SL30 nav/comm, GTX
330 transponder with traffic, PMA9000EX audio panel, DigiFlight II VSGV autopilot, Smoking Airplanes SA-101H smoke system, Sony XAV-W1 DVD/entertainment
unit with Sirius radio, and two exterior cameras. The airframe was a long-build kit
that I purchased from a gentlemen when it was about 45 percent complete. After
about 2,300 hours of additional labor, N507RV received its inspection and airworthiness certificate on March 27, 2009.
Bryon Graves, EAA 831930; Discovery Bay, California; E-mail: luv2flypilot@yahoo.com
GEORGIA WAIEX
MY WAIEX KIT WAS delivered in February 2007. I was lucky enough to build the plane
during work at Epps Aviation in Atlanta, Georgia. I had a number of airframe and
powerplant mechanics and avionics techs available throughout the project. Having
previously built a Kolb Firestar, I had worked with many similar metalworking
tools, so most of the project was pretty straightforward. I did learn to use a rivet gun
and bucking bar for the solid rivets in the spar, and I liked the process so much that I
used many hundreds of solid rivets in the airframe instead of the steel pulled type
per the plans. Total build time was 1,880 hours, which includes many hours of planning and building many pieces multiple times if necessary to make them right. Paint
is PPG Ford Mustang orange. The first flight was on May 20, 2010. Power is from a
Jabiru 3300, which is proving to be a fun engine on this airframe. Thanks to the folks
at Sonex Aircraft for a great kit and the opportunity for an educational experience.
