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 :-)
How about seat cushions?
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.
Come back from the Dark Side, come back from the Dark
Side, come.....
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)