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About 80% of general aviation aircraft fly using Lycoming engines. Clearing the trees at the end of the runway. Leaving 4500ft for 6500ft. Maintaining airflow and generating lift across the wings. All are impossible without a reliable engine. Lycoming powers my training aircraft and so fuels my quest for a private pilot certificate. This blog is a record of my thoughts and experiences on life, flight, and learning.

26 November 2006

Built in a Basement


My buddy Steve flew out this afternoon to visit and to drool over our new DA40. He showed up in his homebuilt RV-6, partially built with slave labor in a dank basement in Dayton, OH. As part of my extremely reasonable rent charges, I was politely "asked" to "help" my landlord (Steve) pound a few rivets now and then. At the time, homebuilding seemed like a real drag and a total waste of time, because it did not involve hanging out with girls. Now that I'm married, however....I think that a homebuild might be in my future. Someday, just not today. It'll be a good retirement/mid-life crisis project. Well, long story short, after roughly 5 years and 2300 hours of hard work, the RV emerged from the basement (see attached article).

I figured that my Dad would really appreciate a ride in the 'Six, which is about 1/2 the size of the DA40, and he did. Check out that grin!
The big reason for that grin is that Steve had just performed a low approach over the runway at about 190mph, and pulled up sharply at the end to climb to pattern altitude in about....oh....2 seconds. Pretty cool and definitely guaranteed to put a smile on any kid's face. See below for my totally inadequate photo...

Hope to take my checkride this coming week! Stay tuned....

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