I shot this video in 2011 during the 40 hour test phase of my RV-8. The music is totally cheesy and way over done, but at the time it seemed appropriate. I didn’t have a lot of time on the aircraft at this point so the aerobatics aren’t perfect by any stretch – still…

Building my RV-8: the video This is just a small sample of the thousands of photos taken during the construction of my RV-8 aircraft. I plan to write a series of posts regarding the milestones and notable encounters during the build. Check back for those. For now here’s the video set to music by Tommy…

RV-8 cockpit tour The video below is a basic cockpit tour of my RV-8. This airplane has an IO-360 200hp engine with inverted fuel/oil and a Hartzell constant-speed prop. It first flew August 13, 2011. It is equipped with an Advanced AFS3500EE EFIS, Garmin 696 moving map GPS, GNC-300XL IFR GPS/Comm, GTX 327 transponder, and…

RV-10 In Progress A good friend of mine, Bob Leffler, is nearing completion of his beautiful RV-10. I have seen this airplane materialize over the years and it is really going to be a nice ship. As he is starting to get into the firewall forward parts of the build  he asked for some assistance…

First Flight: Flight Testing your Experimental Aircraft Flight testing your homebuilt aircraft for the first time is statistically proven to be a riskier proposition than normal flight operations. Of course this makes sense; the first time a bundle of parts are assembled into an airplane and take flight there are going to be opportunities for…

Cory Bird’s Symmetry One of the most beautiful light airplanes I have ever seen is Cory Bird’s one-of-a-kind homebuilt called Symmetry. Cory designed and built this aircraft over 14 years and 15,000 man-hours. Powered by a 200hp, IO-360. It first flew in April 2003 and everywhere it goes, it draws a crowd.

Naming Contrary Mary How did my RV-8 come to be called ‘Contrary Mary’? Early in the construction of my RV-8 I needed to decide on a paint scheme. I wanted something that would pop, the traditional white base with some kind of accent strip(s) wasn’t going to cut it. Lots of RV-8 has pseudo-military paint schemes so…

In the spirit of the article published here today on formation flying, I thought I would share this simple video with you. It was a mid-day flight and rough down low so forgive the camera shake. The video was shot at Port Columbus (KCMH) in Columbus, Oh. Rick was flying lead in his RV-4 and…

My Bücker Jungster I Dateline Spring of 1992 Having my first taste of ownership with the Ercoupe, I set a goal to have some kind of aerobatic mount to go with my 1/4 share of the ‘coupe. The good news, I didn’t need much, just something single-seat to do aerobatics. The bad news is I didn’t…