Wings Overhead

Herb spent Saturday getting his wings unloaded and building some racks to store them. They are now tucked neatly away overhead.

Winging His Way Home

Herb returns home today from Florida, towing his wings behind him. His drawings and parts arrived by FedEx while he was gone.

In the Drawing Room

Herb is still waiting for his new plans and the taildragger kit to arrive. He is shopping for a band saw and a drill press.

Herb's mom and dad are visiting, so he has gotten to show them what he's been doing. He and Pop spent a considerable amount of time studying drawings yesterday. Pop showed Herb how he had fabricated some of the pieces. He showed him how to use the pneumatic squeezers and their dies. He showed him some drilling, riveting, and rivet removal techniques.

Late in the afternoon, UPS showed up with the new rivet squeezer that Herb had ordered. He and Pop are really proud of it.

Lying Awake at Night

By Herb Haught

I woke up at 2:30 this morning thinking about how to execute the modifications on the fuel tanks so that I can fly inverted.

This afternoon I called Van's and talked to them about a new set of plans and parts for converting to a taildragger. I practiced riveting and countersinking and bought a new, flexible air hose and installed it on the air compressor. I also bought a drill bit sharpener.

The parts and the plans will be here in a week.

On Innovation and the Icon A-5

C-16 pilot and blogger Cameron Schaefer reports.

So You Want My Job: Air Force Pilot

Read the fabulous interview with an impressive young Air Force pilot, Cameron Schaefer.

PT-40 Model Time

By Wendy Haught

Herb has decided not to do any more work on the RV-6 until he gets a set of the latest plans. The ones he is using are from the early '90s. He doesn't want to keep working and then find that there are design updates that he needs to incorporate. So last night he and Nathaniel worked on Nathaniel's PT-40 trainer.



The wings are just set on in the picture below, but it reminded me of the Space Shuttle being piggybacked. Emma asked the other day whether Nathaniel could fly his model plane from inside the RV-6 when the RV-6 is flying. Herb thought that he could. It's an interesting idea.

Three Down, One to Go

By Wendy Haught

Herb and Nathaniel built this worktable yesterday afternoon. They had just finished when my dad came to visit and see what was going on with the plane. Dad's dog, Cherokee, is standing on the table. Dad never goes anywhere without him.

Herb practiced his drilling-out rivets technique until late in the evening.

Nathaniel couldn't stand that bare expanse of table, so he got his plane building project out of the guest room closet and resumed work on it after a hiatus of several years. He got the aileron bellcranks complete and installed. He also finished the wingtip trailing edges.

Meeting the EAA Group

By Wendy Haught

Saturday morning Herb, Nathaniel, Emma, and I paid our first visit to the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). We met a friendly group of airplane folks, signed up for a family membership, learned several new jokes, and got to see a completed RV-6A. The "A" designation indicates a tricycle gear. Herb's will be a tail dragger.


The RV-6A was down for a fuel tank leak, so Herb got to be involved in its repair. He recognized right away that it had been modified because he has spent a lot of time studying the fuel tank plans to see what he will need to do to the tanks to be able to fly upside down, something that is critical to his happiness. He got to see Pro-seal, a sealer with a wicked reputation for being messy, being applied.

Pro-seal comes in a tube like a caulk gun. Since Pro-seal can not be saved for later use once it's been catalyzed, Henry, the owner of the hangar, suggested cutting off the applicator nozzle when finished and saving it. After 24 hours, the nozzle contents can be checked to see if the sealer set up properly.


The RV-6A owner, Steve, said that it only takes him about seven minutes longer to get to the annual Oskhosh airshow in the RV than it did in his Cessna 210. His RV has a 150 horsepower engine. Herb will be installing a 180 horsepower engine, so he is expecting to fly even faster.

After a couple of hours I suggested to Herb that Emma and I take the car and go home. He could call me for a ride when he and Nathaniel got ready. At that point I feared it might be sundown. Reluctantly, he decided to go then, but he let me know that the next time Emma and I would have to stay home if we couldn't stay until he was done having fun. My solution: Emma and I will will ride our bicycles.

Cutting and Shimming the Jig

By Herb Haught

Enlarge the picture to see the laser beam on top of each of the fuselage supports

I decided to go ahead and start from scratch on the leveling of the jig. So I removed the fuselage and then cut the legs and shimmed to get level both directions. I also went ahead and glued the jig to the floor with epoxy.



After the epoxy exercise I went back and checked for level again, used three different levels and all agreed. So I went ahead and started positioning the fuselage back on the jig. At this point I have everything back on but only the firewall bulkhead and the instrument panel bulkhead in their final positions.