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      FLIR-Forward Looking Infrared

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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

Moving to Paint Schemes

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