Look Good, Fly Good!

We had so much fun with the black RV Nation t-shirts, we thought we would add to our collection by getting some white ones printed up and offering them for sale. They really look nice. If you are interested in sporting some cool gear and representing one of the fastest growing aviation communities in the world, please just click on this link, RV-Nation, and go to the Pilot Shop. You can order and pay right there. If you get one, please make sure and send me a pic of you sporting your new gear, and I will post it on my website at www.rv-nation.com and on the Facebook website as well. Thank you for your support, and keep that RV Grin out for all to see. :o)

-- Buzz --

A Different Kind of Flight

Since my son and I are building our own planes, much time and thought go into figuring out how to build them correctly, or with style. If I am not actually out there smashing rivets, I am usually thinking of how I can do something better, or how I want certain parts to look. But lately I have been working with the kids from my school on a different kind of plane.

I am the coach of the Science Olympiad team at South Charlotte Middle School where I am also one of the 7th grade Pre-Algebra instructors. While many of the kids are entrenched in subject matters like Forestry, Crime-Busters,  and Mousetrap Vehicles, there is one group of boys who have been diligently working on trying to build and fly an elastic glider plane. It has been entertaining, to say the least, to watch them build their planes, and then expect wondrous things from it when they were finished. I only chuckled on the inside, as I know that aerodynamics is not an area where expertise can be taken lightly. The designs were not exactly.... well ..... airworthy. These gliders were better aptly called ... dive bombers.

But this was a learning opportunity for the boys, and a teaching moment for me. We talked about why their planes were not performing to their expectations and high standards. Finally, after much debate, the boys decided that there were just too many variables in their design that were incorrect, and their best option at this time would be to purchased a glider from the hobby shop.

The next day, their testing continued with their new glider plane. The boys removed the metal nose piece from the plane, and added clay to the front, to comply with the North Carolina Science Olympiad rules. When the plane was tossed into the air, the nose pitched up abruptly, the wing stalled, and it dove straight to the ground. I said to them, "Wow! That was unusual! What do you think just happened?" And their quick response was, "It crashed!"

"Why, yes, it did," I said with a chuckle. "But WHY did it crash?"

"It stopped flying and it crashed", was the response.

"Exactly!......Why did it stop flying?"

"Well.....It's quite simple, Mr. Brown. The plane flew up, stopped flying, then crashed!" was the final answer.

Hmmmmm, not exactly the answer I was looking for. After more probing for answers, the question I was asking of "why the plane stalled" was finally understood, and the stumped boys just looked at me with blank stares.

This was a perfect teaching moment, a chance for the boys to discover the characteristics of flight, the forces acting upon the plane, and how they might could make things work. We discussed the balance of the plane, and why the plane was pitching nose high. The boys were asked how they thought they could stop the nose from pitching up so high. I left the boys with this question and asked that they give it some thought for a while, and to come back to me with their ideas, once they had discussed some possible solutions between them.

After much discussion and thought, and some instruction on how weight and balance work, along with how to measure and determine the ARM and Moments of the plane, their understanding of why the plane performed a certain way under certain configurations was becoming increasingly more clear. A sudden "Aaaaaaahhhhhhh, we understand!!" And off they ran to get more clay for the nose of the plane.

After roughly 40 minutes of test flights along with adding and subtracting various amounts of clay to the nose of the glider, they finally tossed the plane up one last time. And with great excitement and smiles on their faces, they watched as their glider ever so lightly and effortlessly glided above the gym floor.

After the day was over and I was home working on my RV Nation website, it dawned on me that this was exactly the kind of thing that I wanted my business to accomplish....introducing aviation concepts to kids, tweaking their interests, and expanding their knowledge base so that they might be interested in learning more about aviation or aerospace in college, pursuing it as a career some day, or at least developing interest in becoming a recreational pilot one day. Seeing these kids tackle difficult aviation challenges with enthusiasm and resolve provides encouragement to me to continue the course of reaching more kids about aviation. This truly is an important part of the Grass Roots of Aviation.

--Buzz--
www.RV-Nation.com
http://www.facebook.com/groups/VansRVNation/

New RV Nation Website and e-Store

RV Nation is excited to announce its new website and e-store on the web. Take a few moments to come and visit us at www.RV-Nation.com . Read about all the things that we are doing for RVers and for kids in Aviation. Now you can order RV Nation t-shirts, polos, hats and visors, pilot accessories, RV Nation "jet" pitot tubes, and standard pitot tube brackets at our online store. Click the following link to bring you directly to our website to purchase your RV Nation needs today.


For our NEW Website and e-Store, click:    RV-Nation

Van's RV Nation - Join Us On Facebook

Love your Van's RV's? We do too! Join the fastest growing Van's RV enthusiast group on facebook. See the latest pictures from Fly-ins, chat with other RV pilots, builders, and enthusiasts, and join in the excitement of building or owning a Van's RV Aircraft. Here is the link to RV Nation. Hope to see you there!

--Buzz

RV Nation Fly-in

Article in the South Charlotte Weekly Newspaper

Flying High!

Posted by CarolinaWeekly on October 30, 2012 in Education | 0 Comment

Travis Brown and his dad, Scott Brown, a teacher at South Charlotte Middle School, are building their own airplane, inspiring Scott to help create interest in experimental aviation through his upcoming aviation magazine, “Plane Crazy.”

Scott Brown loves teaching math to his seventh-grade students at South Charlotte Middle School. It’s definitely a passion of his.
But being bound to a classroom wasn’t always his dream job. In fact, this is just his second year teaching middle school students – a much different perspective from the aerial view Brown had as a pilot for 16 years.

Now, Brown is combining his two professions to help encourage science, technology, engineering and math in the classroom while creating a larger interest in aviation worldwide.

Brown’s vision started with his son Travis, a 14 year old who lives in Catawba County, Brown’s home. With more than 30 years in the aviation industry and a love for experimental aviation – specifically designing and building planes – Brown was excited to find that his passion was rubbing off when Travis showed interest in experimental aviation himself, asking his dad for the opportunity to build a plane together.

“All of sudden, recently he said ‘Dad, I want to build an airplane.’ I was kind of floored,” Brown said. “I would never expect that from a 14-year-old boy.”

His son’s interest helped spark an idea to help bring back enthusiasm to experimental aviation, Brown said. That’s why he hopes to spread his passion through an aviation magazine called “Plane Crazy.” His idea comes after starting his blog, www.buzzbarnstormer.com, an avenue for Brown to share memorable stories through his aviation career. But after nearly 600,000 hits and interests from fellow experimental aviators, Brown saw a need for a different avenue.

“Most of the magazines out there right now when it comes to aviation all went corporate because that’s where all the money is at,” Brown said. “I understand that, but I’m not trying to make a lot of money from my magazine. I’m just doing it because I love doing it. I’m doing this just because I love flying and I really want to see kids get involved like what my son is doing.”

“Plane Crazy,” set to release in early 2013, is a grassroots magazine that will focus on the people who build experimental planes and will exist to promote interest in aviation to younger generations. Brown hopes the magazine will provide a platform for experimental enthusiasts to share ideas, strategies and tips about building. Brown says he has enough followers to produce 25,000 copies of the first quarterly magazine, to be distributed throughout the United States and Europe, plus select airports.

So far, Brown found his story ideas and topics by visiting fly-ins and airshows all over the East Coast, taking notes and pictures as he goes along.

“It’s really phenomenal stuff,” he said. “It seems aviation is kind of dying off.  I just want it to be fun again – get it back to grassroots aviation, like building and designing airplanes.

“I’ve got a bunch of friends all over the world that are wanting to contribute. I want the magazine to be about the people that are buying them. It doesn’t really mean too much until it’s about the people that are reading the thing.”

Brown and Travis are currently building a Van’s Aircraft RV-4, where Brown is teaching his son how to use the tools, read the plans and how to construct properly. So far, they’ve constructed the tail and are working to start the wings.

And since Travis was part of the inspiration, Brown says he’d like for his son to have a part in the magazine.

“I’ve sent articles about him building a plane,” Brown said, adding that most of the content has already been sent to local graphic designers. “When I told him he would be inside the magazine, he was really excited. I’d like for him to eventually have his own section. I think if I can get him to a place where he can write about building a plane in the magazine, he’ll be really excited because his words will be in print and he gets to work on his writing skills.”

In the meantime, Brown says he’s using the same principles that are involved in airplane building and design to help students at South Charlotte Middle. As the Science Olympiad coach, he says many of the building events for competition involve similar physics and mathematical concepts that are used in aviation, where he hopes to share his magazine with his
students.

Building A New RV4 Extended Baggage Compartment

After about a year of flying my RV4 and being frustrated that I couldn't carry anything in the baggage compartment for being too small, I decided to finally do something about it. I had heard that many builders had taken the rear baggage compartment bulkhead out and continued the baggage compartment back to the rear of the plane. So, this is what I set out to do.

There were many things to think about when making a change like this, the biggest of course it a weight and balance issue is created. I started thinking about when I travelled, what were the items that I could not fit into my RV? The heavier luggage I never had any difficulty with, because it always was stored in the larger bin area behind the rear seat. But once that area was full, things like pillows, sleeping bags, my 2 person tent, and extra pair of shoes, and things of that nature were the items that would not fit.

These items were not really heavy. If I were to place my pillow and the far aft of the plane, followed by my sleeping bag, then the tent, and all the other stuff being lose, more towards the front, that would put all light stuff in the rear of the plane and all heavier stuff towards the front. Hmmm, sounds like it could work. But the wise thing to do at this point, would be to calculate the weight and balance for the aircraft, and then calculate what the extended baggage compartment would do to the weight and balance. Then, if everything was ok, determine the limitations.

So, that is what was done. Here are the calculations with the added extended baggage compartment.

Notice for the ARM I used 165 for the extended baggage compartment. I used this number because there was no way all the weight of an item placed back there would be at the 170 mark. Therefore, moving the center of the possible furthest aft weight up to the 165 mark seemed more plausible. I used all weights at their maximum to see what it would do to my CG, and as you can tell, the CG still was at 73, well within limits. I very rarely, if ever, carried bags that weighed 50 pounds, and never in my life carried a pillow that weighed 15 pounds.

So, now that the numbers were acceptable, what about the construction of the extended baggage compartment? I removed the aft baggage compartment bulkhead. This provided access to the rear of the plane.

Some things to consider at this point were....1) I did not want to build anything that would hinder the operation of the control rods for the elevators, 2) I still wanted to have access to all moving parts in the rear of the plane for inspection purposes, 3) I did not want to hinder the static ports that were located above the longerons in the next bay back.

Taking all of these things into consideration, I proceeded to make a shelf out of aluminum sheet that was braced with stiffeners, the same way we stiffened the control surfaces like the rudder and the elevators.  This worked out nicely. Then I riveted a brace to the further aft bulkhead so that it would hold the new shelf in place. Fitting my body back into the baggage compartment was a real challenge, and on the more-times-than-not occasion that I squeezed myself back into that God forsaken hole, just to realize that I had forgotten a tool, I became very good at waiting for the next passer-by to hand me my tools.

I drilled holes into the longerons and bolted the sides of the extended baggage compartment to them, so that I could remove them later for inspections. Once everything was bolted in place, the last piece of the puzzle had to be installed. There was still a gaping hole at the rear bulkhead where baggage, shoes, or anything else I could have back there, could find its way to hinder the movement of the elevator control rod. I considered how I was going to close this area up for sometime, as climbing back into that abyss was not desirable, as well as resting my 200 pounds on that shelf would not be favorable as well. I decided upon a better route. I purchased a 3 inch piece of foam, and made a pillow out of it that who fit very snugly into place at the rear bulkhead. The pillow could not be pushed through the hole, as it was a firm foam. I put the same material on it as my seats, and decided to embroider my seat logo on it as well just to give it that personal touch. It worked like a charm and was super easy to install, requiring just a broom handle to push it into place.

Carpeting on the new shelf helped to dampen the noise coming from the back of the plane, and helped to make it more esthetic.

Here is a picture of the finished product for my extended baggage compartment.

My new extended baggage compartment turned out really nicely. With all the added space, I could easily carry a set of golf clubs (accept I don't golf), but more apres peau, I could carry my gas powered Go-ped scooter strapped in place, so that I had cool transportation when I arrived at my destination.

I hope that this helps you with building an extended baggage compartment in your plane, but I will also strongly advise that you calculate the weight and balance numbers on your plane first, as all experimental planes are different.

Happy building!

-- Buzz -- RV Nation

Never Give Up!

Part of RV Nation's mission is about going back to the grass roots of flying. Our mission statement says:

RV-Nation is an organization formed for the purpose of serving those who enjoy the sport of building experimental RV Aircraft, to revive the grass roots of flying, and to generate aviation interest in our youth so as to preserve the sport of experimental flight for generations to come.

A very important part of the mission statement is "to revive the grass roots of flying," something I have spent the last 25 years doing and believe in whole heartedly. Part of that, I think, is to tell the stories of those that have battled the wars of life, and through shear commitment to self, have carried the tattered flag on relentlessly towards fulfilling their dreams of building their own plane, learning to fly in it, and becoming that weekend warrior flying into the sunset with his best girl.....ok, so that last part was for my female readers who desire romance instead of nuts, bolts, and riveting. :^)

Bruce Swayze is one of those guys. The dream that someday his own plane would be sitting in his hangar sometimes felt like a pinball game, the ball bouncing erratically from one direction to another, never going the desired way. But after raising four kids, and all the footballs, soccer balls, baseballs, and tu-tu skirts that goes along with that, time slipped by really quickly. Soon all the kids were leaving the nest and starting lives of their own, and Bruce was looking at a still empty hangar.

But like a man on a mission, Bruce decided that it was now his time ... and building commenced. He decided to build an RV-7A from Van's Aircraft. A sleek, fast, and very popular plane, the RV-7A brought Bruce back to the grass roots of flying, back to his early days when building a plane was a powerful dream that was put on hold for half a lifetime.

The empennage was purchased and the dream began. Successes would be small along the way. So, Bruce logged his accomplishments on a website he created, where he kept meticulous records and pictures so that when he felt that he just wasn't getting anywhere, he could look back at his site, and realize how far he had actually come. 

Bruce with his RV-7A tail completed!

Jumping forward a few years and Bruce is sitting is the fuselage of his RV-7A, almost completed. The empennage and wings are done and the craftsmanship is that of a professional. Custom ideas that Bruce would think of over the years have been implemented into his craft and documented for all to see. The engine has been purchased, and Bruce is now deciding what part to work on next.

Along the way, Bruce joined ranks with other experimental aircraft builders and formed friendships that will last a life time.  Yes, folks, Bruce Swayze is living the dream! And the cool part about it is that the dream is just beginning. Within a few short months, maybe just a year, Bruce's RV-7A will be finsihed, a life long dream.....completed! And those flights into the sunset with his best girl can begin.....uuuummm, ahem, I mean, the Weekend Warrior can conquer the next $100 hamburger with the Flight of Seven RVs from the 391st RV Fighter Wing.... yeah, that's better!

For one of the best builder's logs I have seen, visit Bruce's website at 

http://www.BrucesRV7A.com. Here is the latest picture of Bruce with his beautiful wife, flying into the sunset together. :o)

I have never met Bruce in person as he lives on the other side of the country from me. However, he is a member of RV Nation, and for that I am grateful, as it has afforded me a very good friend. His building story has inspired me to never give up in all the endeavors that I am undertaking! I hope that when we get our planes built, we can meet in the middle for that REALLY EXPENSIVE hamburger someday. Until then, keep riveting.....and never give up!

-- Buzz -- RV Nation

RV8, Luca Style!

Here is a new video from my friend Luca Perazzolli in Italy. Really awesome flying! By the way, Luca won the First Place in the Experimental Aircraft catagory in Italy for his work on his RV8! Congrats to Luca! This video is really good, and set to some great scenery and music. Just click on his picture. Hope you enjoy!

-- Buzz
RV Nation

RV Nation T-Shirt Sightings!!

The RV Nation t-shirts are selling all over the world, and fellow RVers are proudly displaying them in front of their beautiful RVs. Send me a pic of you with your RV Nation t-shirt on in front of your RV, or anywhere else for that matter, and I will post it here on Buzz Barnstormers, as well as on Van's RV Nation on facebook! Here are some of the pictures that have been sent it, arriving from places as far as Italy, to as close as North Carolina! Hope to see your pic up here soon!

Join RV-Nation, The Fastest Growing Van's RV Organization

RV-Nation is an organization of Van's Aircraft RV and Harmon Rocket enthusiasts. Our mission is to grow experimental aviation by educating our youth about experimental aircraft, and to provide the means to further aviation and aerospace education for outstanding students. Funds raised by RV-Nation through merchandise sales, fly-ins, memberships, and donations are used to support the RV-Nation Aviation Scholarship Program, which creates student college scholarships and develops programs that provide hands-on aircraft building skills for high school students. Please join us in our endeavors to help pave the way for our aviation future. Don't forget to mark your calendars for the RV-Nation Fly-in on October 6th at Deerfield Resort (TN44). We are really excited to announce the entertainment for the fly-in: Shake Ragg, a country, southern rock band that is quickly growing in popularity all over the southeast. We are very fortunate to have them play for us at our fly-in. This is going to be really fun and something you don't want to miss! Plan to arrive as early as 8:30 and enjoy the day of fun, friends, food, entertainment and, of course, great RV's! Airport frequency is 122.9. Make your initial landing your best on arrival, as it will be your automatic entry for the spot landing contest. The band will start around 1:00 and play until 4:00 or so. We will have a golf cart rally that that will begin around 12:00, and of course, some great food BBQ, baked beans, coleslaw, and peach cobbler will be served throughout the afternoon. There will be a Best of Show contest for best RV, so make sure your RV is looking its very best. We have great prizes for all contest winners. For those that want to camp with their planes, we will have an area set up for camping along with a little get together in the evening after things slow down a bit. Entrance to the fly-in will be 10/person and the golf cart rally entry fee is 20 per person. All funds raised by the fly-in support the RV-Nation Aviation Scholarship Program for outstanding high school students wanting to further their education in aviation or aerospace. We look forward to seeing you all there. In order to help us with our numbers for food, please send a quick PM to tell us you are coming. Come join the fastest growing Van's RV Organization in the country. Visit us on Facebook at:

Join RV-Nation Here See you there!

RV-Nation Aviation Magazine

Hey everyone,

As many of you may already know, I am getting ready to launch a free magazine that is designed just for my fellow experimental airplane enthusiasts. So that I can tailor to exactly what you all want to see and read about, please take a minute to complete my super short survey (7 questions to click an answer). It will help me know who the magazine's audience is and what you all would like to read about. Thanks!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5PWB5W6

New RV Nation T-Shirt

GET YOUR RV-NATION T-SHIRT, ON SALE NOW! 

You can own an AWESOME RV-NATION t-shirt. Cost is only $17 for sizes medium through XL, or $20 for XXL. Shipping is just $8. Send your payment to paypal account at RVNation.edu@gmail.com, then please email me at buzzbarnstormer@gmail.com with your name, t-shirt size, and how many you would like.

All proceeds from the sale of these shirt support the RV-Nation Aviation Scholarship Program.

Price / Size

Medium $17.00 USD Large $17.00 USD X-Large $17.00 USD XX-Large $20.00 USD

Here is the design. Also, check out Van's RV Nation on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/groups/VansRVNation/. Hope to see you there!

Thanks!



Buzz

Best, Funnest Cockpit I Have Seen

I have a Facebook page called RV Nation that allows all of us experimental nuts to talk about RV's and Harmon Rockets, and share pictures and ideas on how to build them better, safer, and most importantly, cooler. One day when I was surfing the net and chatting with one of my RV friends, Ian Hoyt, online, the thread of conversation settled on one RV8 that we had both seen recently, either in person or on the net. The RV8 had so many features and cool ideas, it has driven me to show all that follow this blog those ideas as well. So get ready to drop your jaw, and if you so choose to duplicate the efforts of the builder, get ready to drop a few bills as well. But the fame and fortune that will soon follow will be more than enough for your efforts.....well maybe not the fortune part.

The RV8 at hand had been built and developed over a long period of time, and in that development, had taken on an identity of its own. The name that was given to it, or that it had earned, was "Smokey". The proud owner and creator of this amazing craft is Don McNamara. I emailed Don and asked him all about his RV8 and all its cool features, and he was more than happy to talk about it a bit and share how he came about developing such a unique plane.

"Smokey" sports a military paint scheme, that of the Jolly Rogers F14 to be exact. But the rest of the features of this plane is all Air Force. (The Navy always seem to have better paint schemes for some reason, but that's about where it all ends usually....haha.) Gooo Air Force. But, I digress.

So, let's get back to the RV8, shall we? The interior of this plane is where all the fun is. For that I am going to give the honors to Don, in his own words, as he described his plane to me via email.

"While the paint scheme of "Smokey" is that of an F-14 Tomcat squadron, it's impossible to find cockpit parts from Tomcats because we sold them to the Iranians, and we don't want them to have spares.  However, we sold F-16s to our allies, so parts are more plentiful.  I picked up parts over the years at Oshkosh and on eBay, and more recently from an online F-16 simulator site.  The ICP, for example -- which stands for Integrated Control Panel -- is front and center in the F-16 panel and directs what the pilot sees on the HUD, as well as other things.  Mine slides over my Garmin 496 for static display.

The simulated HUD is directly above that.  The black rectangular things on either side of the HUD are indexers, again from an F-16.  The left one gives angle of attack (AOA) info and the right one is for in-flight refueling and nosewheel steering indication, neither of which I need.  The mirrors are standard military stock, and the stick grip and throttle control are F-16.  From the stick I can start the engine, trim the plane, communicate on the radio and disconnect the autopilot. 

The ejection seat handles I just made out of wood and painted for static display at Oshkosh.  I had started making an ACES II ejection seat out of aluminum, but gave up.  I may someday resurrect the project."

WOW! That is quite a plane, and quite an imagination to create, or should I say re-create, the cockpit of an F-16 into that of an RV8. Don is now sporting the "ultimate weekend warrior" plane per se, and I'd say that it looks down right awesome. I wonder if he has some other secret armaments in there that he hasn't told us about? Hmmm, maybe. I liked the ideas so much, in fact, that I want to implement some of these ideas in my own plane, a Harmon Rocket, when it is completed. I hope that I have the creativity and craftsmanship as does Don when I do.

Well, this particular blog entry was meant to be a lasting tribute to Don and his beautiful RV8 "Smokey". I hope that I have done the creator and plane justice, as his craftsmanship simply has been a work of art and his RV8 is just gorgeous. Great Job Don!

-- Buzz
RV Nation