As many of you know, I frequently travel for work. A lot of people have the idea that work travel entails flying in first class and eating at the finest restaurants while wining and dining. In mysituation, that is definitely not the case. A typical business trip for me starts at 2 or 3am as I get up to catch an early flight at an airport 200 miles away. After driving a few hours, and surrendering my dignity to the Transportation Security Administration, we are driven like cattle onto an airplane to sit in seats that are too small with people that cough more than a healthy human should. After arriving at my destination, I travel to the customer's site. I work in manufacturing, so we are not talking about palatial downtown offices, or scenic business parks. The locations are often in tough neighborhoods or in boring Industrial parks. In manufacturing time is money, and opportunities to do some of my work are driven by staffing, and production needs, so we often work odd, or long hours. A typical work day is 12 hours with gusts up to 18. Definitely not glamorous.

This week, I found myself flying to Orange County, CA on Monday to attend training classes Tuesday thru Thursday. This presented the unique situation in which I would arrive at my destination at noon local time, with no scheduled commitments for the remainder of the day. Immediately after landing at John Wayne airport, I drove around to the other side of the field to Sunrise Aviation to see if there were any aircraft available for a local flight. There was an opening, so I reserved a 2 hour block in a Cessna 172.

Arriving a couple of hours later for my appointment, I had studied the terminal area chart and had lots of ideas. Options included a cruise along the coast line, a tour through one of the many scenic valleys or a trip up to Van Nuys for a landing on the famous 16 Right. Another option, and my favorite, was a flight out to Catalina Island. When I spoke to the CFI I would be flying with, we discussed all of these options, the airspace, and the amount of time we had. We both agreed that Catalina would be a good fit for all of our requirements.

The briefing for the flight was relatively easy. We would take off to the West, turning North along the shoreline, climbing to 6,500 ft. We would turn West toward Catalina before reaching our target altitude to avoid the Los Angeles Class Bravo. The crossing is about 20 miles over water, so we need some altitude to minimize the distance we are out of gliding range to land. With our plan made, we headed out to the airplane.

John Wayne (SNA) airport is a mixed use General Aviation and commercial airport. Security is pretty tight to get to the flying side of the airport. To get in, I rode in the instructors car, where he had a security pass, a personal badge, and I had to present my drivers license. We were able to drive to a parking area near the aircraft. Preflight was easy. We were to be flying a P model Cessna 172. This is the model with 13 low point drains for the fuel system, so we spent a good amount of time just checking fuel.

Loaded in the aircraft, we called ground for taxi clearance before going through the startup checklist. We were cleared to taxi on the main taxiway behind a Southwest Airlines flight that had just landed. The aircraft started easily, and we were off. The SWA 737 was just passing as we got to the taxiway, so we gave it a wide berth. Taxi was straightforward and we were cleared for takeoff on the large runway.

After takeoff we were over to departure control until we cleared the Charlie Airspace. Once clear of the Charlie we were cleared to Squawk VFR. By this point we were approaching the coastline and we transitioned to a cruise climb turning North paralleling the shoreline. Passing through 4,500 ft we turned back to the West toward Catalina. The island was just barely visible through the haze and smog. Once we were above 5,000 ft, the peaks on the island were clearly visible.

Santa Catalina Island is about 22 miles long and 8 miles across at it's widest point. The island is about 22 Miles West, Southwest of Los Angeles. With a population of about 3,700, the Island has two towns : Avalon and Two Harbors. Wikipedia has a good article with lots of information on the island. Catalina hosts a single airport, referred to as "the airport in the sky" due to it's location near the islands highest point.

On our flight, we elected to not pay the $25 fee to land at the airport, and decided to circle the island instead. We flew north from the airport over Two Harbors, located at a narrow point in the island, the town has small harbors on the windward and leeward sides of the island.

Next we did a slow turn to the West and continued South along the windward side of the island. The terrain was much steeper on this side of the island with lots of powerful waves crashing on the shore.

The city of Avalon appears to be an attractive little town, nestled in between the hills with a harbor on the leeward side. The city hosts a small casino and is primarily a tourist destination. There is a rock quarry near Avalon, on the southern end of the island.

After seeing Avalon, we began a climb back up to an altitude for a safer crossing of the channel. Once we were headed back across the channel, I got an appreciation of how large the Los Angeles area is. The area sprawled North and South as far as we could see from 20 miles out.

We aimed the aircraft for Long Beach harbor on our way back. As we approached land, we were busy calling out aircraft. There was a Baron 3 miles East same altitude, an Airbus 1,000 ft below us, and a Cessna passed under us about 500 ft below. There is no doubt this is busy airspace, but it is well laid out, and works well as long as everyone follows the rules.

Crossing Long Beach harbor, we had a good view of the Sea Launch vessels that are used for launching satellites into orbit from sea near the equator. We also passed over the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship and the building where the Spruce Goose was kept before it was moved to its current location in Oregon.

As we crossed the pier at Newport Beach, we turned inland toward the airport. We were expecting a 45 degree entry to the downwind for 19R. As we approached the field the tower called, asking us to cross midfield at or above 1,300 ft to a downwind for 19L. From this point we had a great vantage point to survey for any approach traffic as we crossed midfield, and descended to pattern altitude at 850 ft. The approach path was clear, and we turned to base. Winds were a light 5 knot crosswind so final approach was easy with a flare just a tad bit late, but making up for it with a smooth touch down and roll out.

Looking at my log book, it has been 2 1/2 years since I logged any significant time as PIC. Understandably, I was a little curious how rusty my flying skills would be. I did all of the flying on this trip, save the times I asked the CFI to fly while I took pictures over the island, and I am pleased to report that I flew very well. I actually think I held altitudes much tighter than I have in the past. I walked away from my little adventure entirely satisfied. Regaining that thrill of flight, practicing a skill that I love doing, and doing it in a new environment different from any I have ever flown in before was the absolute best way to spend a free day on a business trip.

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Some photos from the flight to Catalina Island

After a bit of a break from the project for party, ice storm, and laziness, I got back in the shop to work on the elevators tonight.  Before the break I had gotten started riveting the elevators together.  I finished riveting the inboard ribs on both elevators, and got the counterbalances in place on both sides as well.

Over the past several weeks, I have been moving forward with progress on the Elevator.  The spar and rib replacements arrived, but I had plenty of work in the interim getting all of the parts prepped, and primed.  I switched to PPG primer, and I am really happy with the application, and covering.  I still have some of the duplicolor that I will use as I need to.

With the new spar, I had to reassemble the elevator and drill the rib, skin, hinge reinforcement, and root and end rib holes to match the parts that had already been drilled.  This process took a while, repeating a lot of work already done.  Priming the redone parts got me back to the point where both elevators were back in sync, and I could work on both of them in tandem.

It has been quite a while since I have done any back riveting on this project, and I forgot how easy it is to get a real nice shop head.  The rib halves are back riveted to the skins.   You have to be careful and make sure everything gets put in the right spot.  Since all the rib flanges must face outward on the elevators, you wind up putting one type of rib on the left bottom skin, and a different type of rib on the right bottom skin.  Follow the plans, check twice... no problem.

One of my other problems was the dilemma of the #6 dimple.  I got a new set of spring back dies, with the correct #6 die, and they worked without issues.  The trim access plate looks great now.  I got an e-mail from Isham, and they would like to make sure I have the correct dies.  Even though I didn't buy from them.  Great customer service.

A while back, when I ordered some tools from Avery Tools, I went ahead and ordered a special bucking bar for the RV-10.  The plans specify the design of the bucking bar that is used to rivet the rear spar of the elevators where access is difficult due to the trailing edge.  The bar is well designed, and allows you to do a beautiful job bucking those rivets.

With the rear spar riveted in place between the skins (leaving the skins loose where the trim tab hinge will be fitted later), you start the process of joining the rib halves with pop rivets, then pop rivet the front spar in place.  There are a LOT of pop rivets to be pulled during this process, which I did over the course of about 2 hours.  After all the pop riveting, my hands and wrists were sore for the rest of the day.

When riveting the forward spar to the skins, you leave the last few rivets on either end undone so that you can peel back the skin and reach in to rivet the root and end rib assemblies in place.  On one side (Bottom, Root), I got carried away and riveted the skin in place near the root of the rib.  Thankfully, you only need access to rivet the elevator gusset in place, and I was able to reach it from the top skin.  I am still working on riveting the root ribs in place, then I will move on to finishing the elevators with the end rib/counterbalance assembly.

The elevators will be finished soon, then on to the tailcone.  I need to decide on the next kit and get it ordered.

The assembly of the elevator went pretty good.  Same standard procedure as for all of the other assemblies... Debur, assemble, drill, disassemble.... spend an eternity deburring and dimpling before priming and start re-assembling.  I am currently in the incredibly long, unexciting portion where both sides of every hole needs to get the burr knocked off, and all the parts prepped the way you want them to live in your airplane.  For me, that means making sure that there are no obvious burrs on the edges, or any of the holes.  I take this time as an opportunity to make sure any corners are properly radiused, and edges are smoothed.

I have grown to like the spray can duplicolor brand self etching primer.  It covers really well, stays on pretty good, and isn't near as much a pain as the 2 part Sherwin-Williams wash primer.

My dad came over a week ago last Friday to help with the parts prep.  We spent several hours deburring and dimpling.  One of the elevator ribs got an extra dimple, and will be replaced.  While I was busier talking than paying attention, I countersunk one of the front spars.  The spar is .032" thick, and is the very minimum for countersinking.  First, this spar was not supposed to be countersunk, second I overdid it.  New spar on order.

That screwup was a little demoralizing, especially with the monotony of deburring the skins.  I have taken small chunks of time to work on the rest of the deburring while I wait on my replacement parts.

Repeating an earlier screw up, I got an extra hole in one of the skins with the pneumatic squeezer.  Continuing my streak of good luck, there is enough edge distance that I do not need to replace the skin. 

Not too much to take pictures of, so next post will have more visual appeal.

As a side note, I have been doing a lot of thought on the next kit order.  I can order the wing, or fuselage kit.  If I order the fuselage kit, I will have to add a wing spar center section in addition, then delete it from the wing kit when I order it.  This has a lot of appeal to get going on the fuselage as a next step.  This would leave the option of quick build wings later, avoiding tank construction.

Another consideration on the budgeting is my desire to have something to fly this spring.  I may elect to slow the build rate a little in order to get in the air.  As the new year rolls around, I will start to get clarity on how I want to approach the next phase of the build, and when I will need to have the next kit here.

With the Horizontal Stabilizer completed, I cleaned up the shop, and took part of the tables for the long stabilizer down.  The shop had gotten pretty messy over the course of building the horizontal stabilizer, with the long table taking up most of the shop, it was difficult to get access to some areas to sweep, etc.  I still need to find a suitable place to store the HS.  Right now it is in the shop storage, but I worry about damage, and efficient use of space.  I am thinking I will build a shelf to keep it in the garage, If I am very careful I may be able to get it into my office to hang on a wall there.

During some downtime on the HS, I had begun preparing the E-1008A/B Rib half's, so I dove right into deburring those, drilling, and prepping the E-1022 Shear clips.  After that I got to do my first real session of fluting on the Elevator tip ribs.  I used a metal straight edge as my guide, and found the whole fluting process to be pretty easy.

Next the elevator skins were prepped by removing the blue plastic where needed, and bending the close out tabs where the trailing edge of the elevator transitions to the trim tabs.

The Fore and aft spars were prepped, drilling hinge reinforcement plates where needed before proceeding to assemble the bottom skins, ribs, and fore and aft spars.  Once the bottom skin is attached the trim access reinforcement plate is clecod in place and drilled to the skin.  With the reinforcement plate in place, the top skins can be attached and clecod into place.

With the skeleton assembled the close out tabs are match drilled, and the elevator horns are match drilled.  I started match drilling the skins by starting in the middle of the fore and aft spars, clecoing every whole as I worked my way to the ends.  Both fore and aft spars were drilled completely before I moved on to drilling the ribs to the skin.  Repeat for Left and right, top and bottom.   A whole lot of drilling, and a whole lot of clecos.

The empennage kit comes with two WD-415 brackets which are basically a nut welded to a small piece of steal plate.  This bracket is to be attached to the cover plates to act as the anchor for the trim cable.  The plans are not very specific on measurements to attach these to the plate, but I did my best and drilled the plates to the trim access.  Next, I started running into a little trouble.  The plans on page 9-7 Step 5 say to dimple the cover plate and reinforcement plate for the K1100-06 nutplates and AN507-6R6 screws.  My problem was that it did not say if the access plate should be drilled, and my dimple dies did not fit in the pre-punched hole.  I had already put a ding in one of the access plates, while I was deburring, so I decided to go ahead and try and dimple it anyway.  Well, as I should have known, it cracked.  I drilled another one of the holes out, which resulted in a better dimple with the #6 die, but it seems pretty deep for the screw. 

I called Van's builder support, and they said to dimple with a 1/8" die, and see if it was a little better.   I plan to experiment with the botched plate, to determine the best fitting technique.  I ordered two cover plates, and some pro seal for the foam ribs, and trailing edges that are coming up.  I also ordered from Rivethead Aero a set of CNC machined replacements for the WD-415 brackets.

I like these a lot better, I believe the ones available from Cleaveland tool, are the same.  I will have to hold off on completing 9-7 Step 5 and 6 until the parts arrive.  I will procede with Step 7, and begin disassembling both left and right rudder assemblies.

Throughout last week I got the Hstab back in the skins and clecod together.  This time I had more than enough clecos to secure every other hole.  I also got a decent start on riveting the skins on before Friday when my dad came over to help.  We worked for 3 hours on Friday night while Erica was at work.  We were able to complete one side of the stabilizer, and got most of the other side done.  The main benefit was that we were able to complete the second side up to the stringers.

The way the stabilizer is put together, there is a stringer between the front and back spars.  This stringer spans 3 or 4 of the ribs, and makes it difficult when reaching in to buck the rivets forward of the stringers.  For starters, the clearance is tight enough that it is tough to get your hand past the stringers with a bucking bar in your hand.  Once you get it in there, you want to leave it until you are done bucking those rivets.  The second part is that it is difficult to buck the rivets on the forward section of the stringer, since you can't see them.  I purchased a small inspection mirror so that I could get a better look at these rivets and make sure they were driven properly.  Turns out that there were 2 rivets that were way under driven, so I got them cleaned up.

I spent part of the days Saturday and Sunday cleaning up and getting the rear spar riveted in place.  There were some rivets that were difficult to access on the end ribs, so I turned the whole assembly on it's side (actually rite side up as it flies), and got those rivets taken care of.

I was driving the last rivet on the horizontal stab and paying to much attention to the shop head when I got the rivet gun out of alignment.  It sheared the rivet head clean off of the rest of the rivet.  A pin punch was difficult to get into the tight spot, and wouldn't budge the rivet.  I took my angle drill and a 3/32" low clearance bit and drilled the center of the 1/8" rivet.  I was really pleased to drill through this thick section, and not elongate the whole.  It went right through the middle of the rivet.  The pin punch didn't do any more good, so I put the 1/8" short bit on, and started to drill the rest of the way.  I was very pleased that the twisting motion helped the rivet come out cleanly without having to be drilled all the way.  There was a nice little 3/32" hole right through the middle.  I couldn't do it that perfectly again if I tried.  Small Victories.

I drove the final rivet, and declared the Horizontal Stab... Complete.