 |
|
|
|
Randys RV-7A Site
Welcome to my RV 7A Experimental Aircraft Web site. This site is so family and friends can see my progress as I build my new flying carpet. And let’s not forget so that I can prove to the FAA that I am indeed the builder of this plane. So what is an RV 7A you ask? Well.. it is a 2 seat aerobatic aircraft capable of speeds over 200 mpg and 2500 foot per min climbs! Think of it as learning to drive in a go-cart and then moving up to a Corvette at the cost of buying a Minivan. OK..well in the real world at the cost of a BMW. Why am I building such an aircraft? That is a question with an easy answer. Certified aircraft such as my current plane (a 1973 Piper Archer) are crazy expensive and do not provide the performance the RV 7 does for a fraction of the cost. But ya gotta build it? That’s the idea! You see.. the FAA says if I build 51% of the aircraft then that makes me the manufacturer of the aircraft and therefore I can provide my own maintenance. And that’s a big deal! Aircraft maintenance can only be done by an FAA certified mechanic and can only have FAA certified parts installed and that is very expensive trust me! The only way around this is if you build your own experimental airplane, then you are the mechanic and you can put what ever you want in YOUR Plane! You can do that? Yes you can! After you finish building your plane it still has to have an airworthiness certificate issued by the FAA just like a certified airplane. Ha! you didn’t think Uncle Sam was just gonna let me take off into the air without first giving me a stamp of approval now did ya? OK so, how do you go about doing this? Well 1st you must have a place to build the thing and then you have to gather all the specialized aircraft tools to do the job and (in my case) you order a kit from Vans Aircraft. Located here: http://www.vansaircraft.com/ Why Vans? Again simple! Fantastic Aircraft, Over 6,500 planes already built and flying (you really don’t want to be the first guy to ever build the first of any aircraft, now do ya?!) and truly great builder support! How much of your life will this eat up and how PO'd is your wife gonna be because your not working on the honey do list?! From all the info I can gather and knowing my on abilities pretty well, I figure about 2 years. My wife is pretty dang supportive of most things I do (guess I'm pretty lucky there!) but I'm thinking this may get interesting! Stay tuned! Aviation Sites: http://www.aopa.org http://www.vansairforce.com http://www.kitplanes.com http://www.avweb.com http://www.pilotsfriend.com http://www.aviationweather.gov http://www.airnav.com http://www.flightaware.com
Recent Activity
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
