Ron's RV7 Aircraft Factory


Welcome to my personal blog. This site was created as an informal description of my build progress in the construction of a Van's RV7 aircraft. A place where family/friends/builders/curiosity seekers can follow along. It is not intended to be a detailed description of every step in the building process as that would be much too time consuming. There are plenty of sites that do a great job in that arena, that is not my intention with this site. My intention is for this to be a philisophical/motivational/inspirational account of the emotional ups and downs of the life changing journey...and it will change your life. I hope this will give you an idea, through my eyes, of what its like to make this transformation. A note to other builders, I am not an expert so do not put your safety at risk by attempting anything you see on this site until you have done your own research, or send me an email so we can discuss it. Any deviations from the plans are not approved, nor endorsed by Van's Aircraft or myself. Thanks for visiting.



Thursday, September 16, 2010

Anniversary HOBBS 309.5 hrs


Today was the three year anniversary of my first solo flight. On a gorgeous fall morning three years ago, I took up my trusty Skyhawk 362ES up for four touch and goes alone for the first time. Its amazing how fast three years flies by...it seems like it was just yesterday. So, each year, I try and get up in the air and remember that day. I rented the DA20 for a short 30 min flight after work. Always nice to get some distance between myself and the ground.

I have a story that ties into this whole topic. You'll learn that I've got a quite a lot of stories...my belief is that the real wealth in life is in the memories and stories that you can recount.

Last year at Oshkosh, Samira, Bryan and I went to the beer tent for a few beers after a long day of walking the grounds. It was a lively night and we ended up running into a boisterous group of pilots from Zimbabwe. These guys were a hoot and we had a great time talking with them! They were quite foul mouthed and drunk we soon discovered, but a lot of fun nonetheless.


They were on a summer trip to visit Oshkosh followed by a jaunt over to Sturgis for the motorcycle rally. Not a bad summer in America in my humble opinion. They had a large stack of 20 billion dollar bills...I kid you not. They sure looked like real money. They were handing them out to whoever would take them. This was when their country was in some kind of monetary turmoil and their money wasnt worth the money it was printed on. Anyway, they were quick to tell us they were useless and wanted everyone to know how screwed up their country was. It was actually quite comical listening to them go on and on in their thick accents.

So, the tie-in was...Bryan asked them if they remembered their first solo. And one of them loudly and proudly proclaimed..."a pilot will forget his first $%^# before he will forget his first solo!!" hahaha! I was rolling laughing...I probably would have been a little more eloquent about it, but he was spot on!

The day I first soloed an airplane is a day I wont ever forget....

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