First long Cross Country Solo!

(Getting closer to the "full Wright Brothers experience"...)

Two hours of flight with three landings: Sanford/KTTA - Burlington/KBUY - Asheboro/KHBI - Sanford. This is a lot of time confined in a tight Allegro cockpit, here is the result at the end of the flight:

I just hope that the RV-12 is more comfortable and easier to fly hands off...
... although I might miss my steam gauges:


But what do I know? I'm just a builder...

Landing light installation completed...

... And I'm glad it's done: Little fun and lots of aggravation!

Here is the result:


A few tips for the builder as VANS instructions are deficient IMHO :

• Forget about doing this installation with the top wing skin closed it's difficult enough to access inside with the skin partly riveted. The instructions from VANs are misleading because they are mute on these accessibility issues. For example when they say "if your hands are big, mount the led unit on the ribs before riveting the ribs. My take: there is no way to screw in the led unit with the ribs riveted, big hands or not.
• VANs instruction are mute about the difficulties of working on the plastic lens. The plastic is brittle and you should drill it very slowly, even with the plastic drill bit. Same thing when countersinking the plastic holes. To trim the plastic into the correct dimension, use a band saw with a metal blade, better than the abrasive wheel suggested by the instructions.
• You can do the whole installation including the electric connections with the landing light installed on the ribs and the ribs clecoed rather than riveted. If anything goes wrong you can remove the unit and restart.
• To mount the lens it is necessary to flex it to make it pass the opening. Absent any tip from VANs it took me several unsuccessful attempts to conclude that it would not get in with its natural shape.
  

Patient Right Wing Operated On!

I had to reassure the patient before operating on him that I was not a left wing surgeon.
Given the tools I used, I understand he was apprehensive:



I decided to go with the "Hole cutter" after discussing with Denny Smith who used the same tool for his RV-12 landing light cut-out. Not that I don't trust him, I had a test on a "scrap" part which was none other than the piece of rudder I built during George Orndorff metal working class (sorry George!).

First we make the patient ready and comfortable under the operating gown (which is parchment paper my wife uses for cooking, convenient see through paper to copy the pattern provided by VANs without messing it up):

Then we mark the holes and cutting lines from the marks left by a hard sharp tipped tool pushed through the paper:


Let's cut this skin now!
First pass:


Second Pass:

Now let's use these nice snips and finish the job while the patient is still sleeping...

A couple hours later after most cutting, filing, deburring, drilling, we are fitting the lens:



Slight change to VAN's instructions: as I did not closed the skin above the cut-out I was able to push the lens from behind and secure it with duck tape for the plastic drilling. You can see some of the duck tape on the lens on the picture. As an additional precaution I pushed the lens from behind with one hand while drilling the holes with the other hand.

Right Wing Ready for Surgery...

Which will be the landing light installation requiring a cutout of the outboard leading edge skin.
I left the leading edges clecoed to be able to access inside after making the cutout for the landing light.

Beware of the Sucker Wing Ribs Flanges!

What is a Sucker Wing Rib Flange? It is explained in the following picture:

The arrow is pointing to the sucker. You can see that this part of the flange is recessed and carries just one hole: this is what makes it a sucker! What may happen when you push the rivet while riveting the skins of the bottom of the wing (W 1201 L/R) is that the tiny flange which offers little resistance will be pushed and the rivet's shop head will set under it. It happened to me in two places including this one and I was unfortunately too busy correcting this mistake to take a photo before reworking it.
It's only because we were two looking inside the wing after flipping it that we noticed. I'm afraid that it may happen to others who might not notice, hence my warning!

Got Help on the wings!

Anne came from Alexandria, Va to help me finishing the wings. She provided good help, catching a few problems: having an extra pair of eyes and hands as well as an extra brain definitely get things moving!

Anne is finishing the riveting of the skins of the left wing.





We stored the left wing in the cradle I had built in my basement.












We had some fun taking pictures through the lighting holes of the right wing: Yes it's me, peeping at the other end!











Now it's Anne's turn to peep!


Is this fun or what?

2011 the year my RV-12 flew!

This looks like a good resolution for the new year although the alternative is not that bad, it's so much fun to build an airplane, especially an RV-12!
Oh, I almost forgot: 2011, the year I got my sport pilot license!
... Not mentioning a big one!
Just an ordinary year, nothing special...