Its been a while

Wow, it's been a long while since I posted anything to this blog so I thought I was about time.  I just got back from a awesome flight to Mulino Oregon with my friend Harry.  Jeff had planned the flight but on his way to the airport he got a call that prevented him from flying.  I hope things are well for him.

The weather has really sucked lately for flying.  As you all know I've been working on my IFR certification for about 6 months now.  Well I finally got the weather I needed to get my checkride completed and I am now fully certified to fly in the clouds!  Thats a big deal for me living here in the Pacific NW.  Well that was just the beginning of an excellent week!

Today started out with a nice flight to Mulino.  The weather was "clear and a million" which means great flying weather.  Harry and I left Puyallup at about 10:30am and made a slow leisurely trip down to Mulino while we waited for Chad and Michael to catch up.  Chad ended up aborting early due to some oil temperature issues he was having but Michael caught up with us at the Mexican restaurant near the airport.  After a good meal and the required perusal of each other's aircraft we launched for the return trip to Puyallup.  Since the trip down was slow we decided to push it up a bit for the return trip.  We climbed up to 5500' and then put it to the firewall.  It unfortunately only took about 20 minutes for my oil temperature to creep up to where I had to go lean of peak to reduce temps.  I'm going to have to find something to reduce those oil temps....  However we did make the return trip at about 160 knots which is about 10 knots faster than I usually cruise.  My autopilot was doing some odd things at one point because I swear the airplane went up-side-down for a few seconds....

Anyway...I haven't worked on the 10 lately.  I have been walling in the small bay of the garage so I can work in there and not have to heat the entire garage each day.  The wall is up but I still need to put the insulation board on.  Hopefully I will be able to get back to work on the 10 soon.

Finally a little 10 time

With the new job it seems like I have very little time to work on the airplane these days and I'm actually ok with that.  I am in no hurry to get this one done since I already have a wonderful airplane to fly.  However, Amy went to New York this weekend so I got a chance to do some work in the garage.  The Vertical is ready for some riveting but I need an extra set of hands for that so I've moved on to the rudder.  Nothing worth taking pictures of on the rudder so far since its mostly cutting out parts and deburring edges....

Ok, there it is, the first rivet of the 10.  This is one of the spar doublers on the vertical stabilizer.

And here is the vertical stabilizer ready for some skin rivets.  

Long trip to the coast today.

Today Jeff, Chad and I continued our exploration of the airports of the PNW.  Today we ticked two more off of the list.  Forks (famous as the setting of the Twilight stories), and Quileute which has a HUGE old airport that is no longer in demand.  Here are a bunch of pictures...notice that I think this is the first time I've flown out over the ocean with this airplane.

I wish the camera could do justice to the beauty of this flight but it can't.  What you see in the pictures below is just a shadow of the majesty we enjoy in the PNW (Pacific Northwest).

Jeff taxiing out for our early morning departure.

Me in trail.

Some of the low level fog in the area....what a beautiful view this morning....

The Olympic mountain range...

I've struggled over the past several months to get a good picture of my instrument panel.  This morning the light was just right so I took this picture...I think it turned out great!

From left to right..My RV-9A, Chad's RV-7 and Jeff's RV-7A sitting on the ramp at Forks Washington.

Jeff doing his pre-takeoff runup.

Chad doing his pre-takeoff runup.

This is the rundown airport at Quileute Washington.  

A few pictures of the Pacific ocean...

Republic WA trip

I've been promising my friend Gary that I would visit his home in Republic Washington for a while now.  Well that day finally arrived.  Jeff, Joe, and I launched out of Puyallup early Sunday morning (last week September 27th) and an hour an a half later we were landing in Republic.  Gary met us, took us to his place for a nice tour and then out for some lunch before we headed back to the airport.  I got to take Gary up for a short trip around the lake but I hope we get to go for a longer ride someday.  Anyway, here are a few picture.  Oh, with my new job and the flying I've been doing I haven't really worked on the 10 much.  As expected...

Jeff and I parked at Republic airport.

Gary's "man cave"...complete with kegerator and popcorn machine!  Oh, there is a wine cooler in there too.

No man cave is complete without the pool table!

Obligatory selfie with Gary.  :-)

Gary took a few pictures during his ride and the next few are the result.  His house is down there on that lake somewhere.

Nice steep turn.

Ah, I recognize the sausage house...can't see Gary's house though.

Reno Air Races

This past week I got a chance to make a trip to Reno for the air races.  It was my first trip down and I really enjoyed the venue.  Lots of airplanes (very fast airplanes), lots of friends, and something a little different.  Dad was kind enough to let me borrow his motor home so I drove my car over to Montana last Wednesday, helped Dad move a couple of loads of wood, and then drove the motor home back to Seattle that afternoon.  Driving that beast was an experience all in and of itself!  The next day Jeff, his son Lane and two of Lane's friends (Gibson and  ) all loaded up and headed out for Reno.  We stopped in Grants Pass Oregon at the Walmart for the night and finished up the trip the next day.  We arrived just in time to catch the last couple of heats of the race from the roof of the RV.  It was very hot during the day and pretty darn cold at night but overall it was a fun time.

Not much happened with the RV-10 this week due to the Reno trip and prepping for my return to work next week.  Like I said before, not much of a hurry to get this one done.  :-)

Jeff driving and the kids .... well doing what kids do today.

Mt Shasta in the background during a short pitstop.

Another mountain that I forgot the name of at the same pit stop.

Our chariot of choice!

Selfie of Jeff and I sitting on top of the RV shortly after arrival.

A view of the Breitling jet formation team performance from the top of the RV.

This is the hot air cooling configuration that one of the RV racers had on his airplane.  I liked it so much I decided to take a picture so I could study and possibly adopt it on my 9.

Another view of the creativity of the split oil cooler heating and the ramp that controls the flow of air in the lower cowling.

Ok, one more picture....

Fun day with Travis

Today Travis and I joined Jeff, Chad and Becca on a trip to the Grand Coulee dam.  We got out of Puyallup around 8:45am flew at 9500' over the Cascade mountain range and landed in Electric City an hour later.  The flight was nice, a bit warm, but nice and smooth.  After a trip into town for some breakfast we returned to the airport and launched for home.  Travis did most of the flying coming home at 10,500' and we had a small fuel pressure issue that I need to look into but overall it was a nice flight home.  It's been a long time since Travis and I flew together and it was a lot of fun.

Travis and I on after landing roll out.  Picture taken by Chad.

Another picture of us taxiing to parking.

Chad took this picture of the smoke still in the valley.

Preparing for engine start at Grand Coulee Dam airport.

Today's performers...from left to right...My RV-9A, Jeff's RV-7A and Chad and Becca's RV-7.

Another mandatory selfie with Travis doing the flying.