Pictures

First Flights

First Flights

Unique Modifications/Engines

Draggage Pod      Yokes      Side Sticks      Throttle Quadrants      Retractable Nosewheel      Extended Strake Elbow
Custom Cowling      Forward Hinged Doors

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V8 Engine      V6 Engine      Subaru Engine      Franklin Engine      Mazda Engine      TIO-540

3 View Drawings

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Funny

Move from Garage      Flipping the Bird      Hercules

Paint Jobs/Flying Aircraft

Click the picture for a bigger shot, or click the name for a more detailed page on the aircraft.

1. Byrk N787SB N787SB	2. Child's Play N271TC N271TC	3. Dent N32XL N32XL	4. Espinal Jet N289AE N289AE	5. Firefly N2059U N2059U
6. Gietzen N755V N755V	7. Gratton C-GDOU C-GDOU	8. Guerra N724X N724X	9. Gwinn N222TZ N222TZ	10. Jenson N27GV N27GV
11. Keighan C-GCGP C-GCGP	12. Kanczuzewski N77LY N77LY	13. Martino N173EX N173EX	14. Miles N821TM N821TM	15. Rocket Racer N246RR N246RR
16. Rodenbaugh N370TR N370TR	17. Scharfenberg N424DS Error creating thumbnail: File missing N424DS	18. Schiferl N942XX N942XX	19. Shea N340XL N340XL	20. Sheehan N55XL N55XL
21. Stockman N12WS N12WS	22. Steiner N111VX N111VX	23. Texas A&M N632AM N632AM	24. Turbo Charlie N296TC N296TC	25. Crawford N6Q N6Q
26. Factory SUV N101VA N101VA	27. Derrick N647JA N647JA	28. Bina N14B N14B	29. Christen N244CU N244CU	30. Lincoln N126EE N126EE
31. Bourgeois N61VB N61VB	32. Parsons N570 N570	33. Bern HB-YHV HB-YHV	34. Dortch N83AD N83AD	35. Brown N713MR N713MR
36. Brooks N211JP N211JP	37. Bougher N59412 N59412	38. Cunningham N418DC N418DC	39. Lindberg N94KL N94KL	40. Parham N51LP N51LP
41. Dunn N5165U N5165U	42. Dugas N129RD N129RD	43. Doers N90DV N90DV	44. Jackson N2XF N2XF	45. Hoskins N84749 N84749
46. Gibbons N204AG N204AG	47. Cacek N560TC N560TC	48. Smith N131MM N131MM	49. Green 113JG N113JG	50. Feminella N255DM N255DM
51. Marconi N244FM N255DM	52. Martin N494CM N494CM	53. Mishler N2087 N2087	54. Shapovalov RU	55. Nelson N22DN N22DN
56. Lanza N81VA N81VA	57. Magical N72M N72M	58. Lagos N173ZG N173ZG	59. Gross N220VE N220VE	60. Todaro N6971T N6971T
61. Aegerter N466MF N466MF	62. England C-FUFM C-FUFM	63. Prudhomme N140JP N140JP	64. Brim N87BR N87BR	65. St. Claire N929V N929V
66. Bachman N956DR N956DR	67. PH-FUT PH-FUT	68. Kiss N6052T N6052T	69. ZU-CYJ ZU-CYJ	70. Wright N642JM N642JM
71. D-EAVI D-EAVI	72. Holiday N188HL N188HL	73. Michaels N129VA N129VA	74. Ostroth N529 N529	75. Villafane N299RB N299RB
76. Ciampa N127DH N127DH	77. Factory XL N97XL N97XL	78. Vandersteen N76VV N76VV	79. Bertram N350TX N350TX	80. Ferrell N44VF N44VF
81. McKee N205MB N205MB	82. Watson N104MW N104MW	83. Affenit N732RA N732RA	84. Elite N82VA N82VA	85. Maher N4253M N4253M
86. Hunter N141NH N141NH	87. Maher N401DM N401DM	88. Mulrooney N427VA N427VA	89. Rose N949WR N494WR	90. Elsner N876LS N876LS
91. Wood N173RG N173RG	92. Corso N457M N457M	93. Holland N254TH N245TH	94. Sower N4095T N4095T	95. Barber N17010 N17010
96. Dallas N38VL N38VL	97. Umeno N21HV N21HV	98. Dawson N104DD N104DD	99. Wood N658SE N658SE	100. Howe N173VE N173VE
101. Wilson N89DW N89DW	102. Warner N202VA N202VA	103. Topp N125TP N125TP	104. Holub N2980W N2980W	105. Stedman N7044Q N7044Q
106. N269VE N269VE	107. N224SM N224SM	108. N776TB N776TB	109. N92VA N92VA	110. Trent N173RT N173RT
111. RRL N216MR N216MR	112. Hoffman N1QR N16QR	113. Youngblood N568Y N568Y	114. Howard N924JH N924JH	115. Lewis N936RL N936RL		116. Rocket Racer N216MR N216RR	117. Rocket Racer N205MB N205MB	118. Fitzbag N2084D N2084D	119. Howell N223AZ N223AZ	120. Barnett N339TS N339TS
121. Larry Vandiver N556V N556V

In Flight / Flying

Al Gietzen

I just returned on Friday from trip of about 2500 nm, including visits in Salt Lake City, North Dakota, and Boulder, CO. Plane worked great, engine ran fine – even at density altitude of 16,500 over the Rockies west of Denver. Typical cruise of 165 KTAS, and 9.5 ghp. (I like my 20B rotary). Had good weather all the way.

I learned that the standard Koch chart for runway requirement isn't a bit conservative for my airplane. Taking off from Boulder (4000 ft) with density altitude near 8000 ft and full fuel didn't leave much excess runway.

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  Crossing the divide around Rollins Pass. I peaked at about 13,800 MSL, but density altitude was 16,400. I was surprised to note that I was still climbing at 160 KTAS and 500 fpm and still had throttle to go. It occurred to me that the regs give O2 requirements based on indicated MSL, when density altitude must be more representative of O2 content. (Of course I wasn't above 12,500 more than a few minutes).

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  Air Center of Salt Lake at Muni #2 (U42) were very friendly, helpful and accommodating. Spotless hangar where they put my plane with a jet and twin turbo. (the plane was very happy there).

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  I've been very happy with my twin GRT screens. They have reliable, functional; and the customer service great. The right screen shows the map with terrain when flying relatively low around Boulder area. All that red terrain is higher than I was.

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Rich Guerra

Rich has a ton of pictures on his excellent website, here are a few of my favorites.

General

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  Meteor Crater, near Winslow, Arizona 9/2002

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  More Meteor Crater

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  The tiny cars and buildings along the rim give a sense of the size of the crater.

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  Arizona desert, returning from California to NM.

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  Approaching Sedona, Arizona. 9/2002

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  Ramp at Sedona

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  The red rocks of Sedona once more 9/2002

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  Shiprock, sacred to the Navajo, northwestern NM, near Farmington. 10/2002.

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  More Shiprock

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  We enjoy the delicate beauty of high cirrus clouds

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  Grand Canyon

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  Halfway through the first leg to SQI, Tim and Robert Rhodenbaugh catch up to Dad and I. With 350+ HP on his Velocity XL RG, he is moving somewhat faster than we are!

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  RACE 32 is going ....

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  Clouds returning from Oshkosh 2006

October, 2001

I journeyed to Velocity to obtain my factory checkout. I trained with Nathan Rigaud who was thorough and extremely helpful. We flew in both the "Multicolor" Standard Velocity and the new XL FG trainer doing multiple maneuvers, simulated engine outs and lots to landings. It was an extremely useful experience and a LOT of fun! After I finished the dual required by the insurance company, I rode along on another flight and snapped some photos of the Sebastian area and Florida coast. The photos demonstrate nicely the visibility from the cabin of an XL.

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  Sebastian Municipal (X26) seen from the pattern. All the following photos were taken from the spacious back seat of the XL FG and demonstrates the great visibility available for passengers and pilot in this plane.

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  After I completed my dual training, Dennis Woods, a British Airways pilot, was gracious enough to allow me to ride along to see how it's done! Takeoff Roll!]]

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The Voyage Home - JANUARY 21, 2002

The FAA fly off time was done - it was time for N724X to leave the nest! I resolved to move the plane from Melbourne to a temporary base at Iowa City Municipal (IOW) prior to moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico in the near future. I made one last trip to Orlando, this time only one way. The weekend was spent checking and rechecking everything I could think of and a few I didn't. An oil change revealed no significant metal in the oil filter which was a relief. Finally, everything was tightened, twisted and packed - it was time to go ...

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  The night before: final tinkering. Note that the nav light on right wing is inop. The cable had come uncoupled. Ouch! The wire was pulled back into the end of the strake and reconnected. An easy job if one is a double-jointed contortionist! A little manipulation with some tubing and long forceps pulled the wire back into position and allowed a more firm reconnect. I make a mental note never to do that again.

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  The view was glorious! I almost wanted to step out and walk on those clouds! The weather the remainder of the way was VFR all the way!

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  Into the clear! On into Georgia. The day was drawing to a close, however and without an AI, I didn't want to fly at night, even with clear weather. I set down at La Grange, GA, southwest of Atlanta, outside Bravo airspace. My first experience landing at a different airport. I taxiied up to an empty ramp and shut down. By the time I opened the door, there was a crowd of about 10 people appearing seemingly out of nowhere, ogling N724X! It was the strangest thing! Everyone was extremely friendly and many offered to help and gave tips as to where to stay. A quick inspection revealed that there was nothing I could do about the vacuum pump. I resolved to settle in for the night...

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  N724X dozes on the pre-dawn ramp, covered with ice. So much for my super early start. Sigh ..

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  Not something I'd ever want to encounter in flight! The folks at the FBO were super helpful and very interested in the plane. After joining me as I stood forlornly staring at N724X, they offered a place in their heated hanger next to the Citation. Problem solved in short order!

Oshkosh 2002

Check out the full story of Rich's "Oshkosh Miracle" on his website.

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  Rocking wings at FISK! The end of the journey. In spite of swarms of aircraft all converging on one point, it all seems to run smoothly. Bobbing along at 90 knots for any length of time this low to the ground in a Velocity feels almost alien but is necessary to blend into the traffic. The Fisk "control tower" is off camera to the left. You can see the legendary RIPON approach railroad tracks below. We were vectored toward RWY 9.

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  On final for OSH runway 9! FISK approach dropped us in front of a Lear jet being cleared for an instrument approach. Before I could key the mike, the jet pilot acknowledged the clearance and commented that there was a "slow moving little guy" in the way. Since I resembled that remark, I couldn't take too much offense. A quick 360 allowed the jet to pass and we landed gently on the white dot. Luckily, the nosegear held and the plane and I were saved the ignominy of an abrupt stop in front a very large aviation audience.

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  It's our turn! The OSH controller cleared us for takeff saying, "Velocity, clear for takeoff, sidestep to right to avoid the Mooney just off runway" Couldn't help but smile as we eventualy did catch up to the Mooney!

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  The beautiful landscape of Wisconsin rolls by as we bid a fond farewell to Oshkosh and Airventure 2002! Little did we know that there was more "fun" to come!

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  We make a pit stop in Shenandoah, IA to check weather and gas up for the push home to New Mexico.

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  On final 22 at Shennandoah.

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Rocket Racing

Here are some excellent pictures of the testing being done out west, courtesy of mojaveskies blog.

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  N216MR Airventure 2008

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  Airventure 2008

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  Airventure 2008

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  Airventure 2008