Airworthiness Inspection and First Flight!

My plane is FLYING!

I have been waiting for years to make this post. The plane made it's first flight on May 14 at 10:30 a.m! Here's the story. I apologize that they are all still pictures.

Here is a shot of the plane with it's nose repaired and painted. How about the custom swoop in the grey primer against the green primer. You can't imagine the ribbing I'm taking for this look.

I went down to Sebastian for 2 days with three objectives; 1)get transition training, 2) get the airworthiness inspection passed, and 3) do the first flight. I trained for an hour in the Velocity trainer and found that after 80 hours in a Velocity RG, I could still fly one and, more importantly, still land one. I decided to do the rest of my refresher in my own plane when I come back in 2 weeks. So, on to the other goals.

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How's this for a great surprise? I'm getting the plane and paperwork ready for the arrival of the DAR and a Lancair IV comes taxiing up. Wait a minute, I know that plane!

My Canadian flying buddy, Scott, has flown down to be here with me for the inspection and first flight with his friend Warren.

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DAR Ray Howell arrives at 4:00 to do the airworthiness inspection. Here he checks through the paperwork after inspecting the plane.

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Passed! She is now officially an airworthy aircraft. Check out that certificate.

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It is late afternoon, but John Abraham offers to get the first flight in to cap off the day now that we have all the paperwork in hand. A fairly large group has gathered, cameras at hand. He starts her up and taxis to the run up area.

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....and taxied back after the run up. The run up revealed that the prop control cable was damaged in transporting the aircraft. It binds and needs to be replaced.

It is 6:00 and everyone stayed late for me. We'll call it a day and I'll replace the prop control cable first thing in the morning.

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We couldn't get the first flight in, but we still have to celebrate getting the airworthiness certificate. I no longer have a kit, I have an honest to God airplane!

We head out to the Sand Bar at Captain Hiram's in Sebastian for some celebrating. I am really glad that my old flying buddy Scott and his friend Warren could come down and share this experience with me. It made it even better.

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Here we go again. I got to the service center by 7 a.m., pulled the cowl, removed the prop control cable and went over to buy a new one from Velocity. I had it installed and the cowling replaced by 10. Now it's 10:20 and John is ready to give it another go.

This time the run up is fine. The new prop control is smooth as can be.

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This is finally it- onto the active runway, full throttle - sounds great and off she goes.

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.....she roars down the runway with really impressive acceleration and she's off! My heart was pounding and I have to admit I got a little choked up. In the air at last

You have to check out the video. The rate of climb is ridiculously high. Before a second shot could be snapped, the plane was too far away.

Click the link for the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0WzWQKimf0
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She went overhead at 2,400 feet looking and sounding great. I posted the video on Youtube and you have to see it- this picture doesn't do it justice. Even loafing around above the field on a first flight a Velocity goes FAST!

Click on the link for the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYqddXHDtQo


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Here she comes for the first landing. It's hard to tell here, but the HID light from Duckworks is ridiculously bright. When you watch the video, you can see the plane from 5 miles out and the light is actually so bright the camcorder has a tough time resolving the plane.

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Short final and she looks and sounds great.

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......and she touches down- a smooth landing. The first flight is completed and looked great with just short of 30 minutes in the air. Click on the link to watch the landing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO91bbMhwlM
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John did a great job and brought her back safely. He's going to fly the other 39 1/2 hours off in the next few weeks, then babysit me on the flight back to Pennsylvania. There were only a few minor squawks, several of which I cleared up before I left.

To say that I am thrilled is an understatement. I have to say thank you again to the great guys at Velocity for going above and beyond to help me out while I was down there. You are the best.

Next up- the flight back home. I hope to post it in 3 weeks.

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WOD

Jaffa has decided to let those who missed the CF Total this week do it today and for the rest of you:

Helen
3 Rounds For Time Of:
Run 400m
21 KB Swings 24kg/16kg
12 Pull Ups

Post time or CFT to comments

Check out 2007 CF Games winner OPT kicking Helens ass!!

The Grandparents, Vintage Photo

The one enclosed is from my grand-parents. "Biarritz_1936" They lived normally in Reims, north-east from France.
This photo was taken just before the war in 1936 in Biarritz. They are on their honeymoon. I like this photo a lot because they just feel happy and they look incredibly elegant and stylish even if they are at the sea... it would never happen nowdays ! My grand-father was half english and until his death very elegant, a
real gentlman. I also like the contrast of the perfect hair for my grand-father and the wind blowing through the hair of my grand-mother.

I could not resist sending you a photo of them both in Bandol on the same vacation because I find them so beautiful even though they are just wearing the minimum: a swimsuit. The photo reminds me a little bit of Man Ray photo.
Best regards,
Alexandra

WOD

Rest Day / Skills Day / Make up a Workout You Missed

Machine!

If you have not seen Sisu the Mikko Salo Doc let me know and I will lend it to you! Rob W do you still have my copy?

Hey Green Eyes!

Celeste. There is just some thing about it.

Some say it's the color of the Milan sky, some a mixture of military paints, and others the color of the former queen of Italy's eyes. [Thank you Wikipedia!] This is a timeless color that's been in our line for a number of years on our Deep V, Fusion, B43, Blunt, Aero, VXC, Aeroheat and Aerohead rims.

Regardless, all I know is our celeste comes from Australia.

Some of you have probably seen our new ad in Urban Velo. Sporting how versatile the Bottle Trap is and since we know how you love matching colors, yesterday we received the first batch of the Bottle Traps in celeste. Numbers are limited now but more are on the way!
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This Saturday is also a big day here in Grand Rapids, as it is the ribbon cutting/Mayor's Ride/'official' opening of the GR Bike Park. Join Ryan, J-Bolt and a slew of others at 9am for a trail day, then at 11am let the riding ensue!

Then Sunday, I'll be heading back to my homeland [Cedar Falls, IA] for an extended weekend and will be putting on a little urban ride with a few people; and yes, I'll be rocking the 16" folding fixie! It looks to be a good weekend here in the Midwest, so get out and ride!
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Finally a few videos for the weekend. The first two are from the Velo City 2010 Tour, the first is a recap of sorts followed by a teaser from the past LA event

The final video is from a film project in it's early stages of development. 'Career Courier' is a documentary on, you guessed it, career bicycle messengers. We're excited to be a part of this project and look forward to seeing Kenton put together his vision for the film. Share the love, click on the widget below to see the video and help support the cause.

Garance's Birthday at Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa

Recently, when we were in Australia we spent Garance's birthday at a really great resort. The rooms, the spa, and the food were all wonderful, but all that interested me was mountain biking around the resort's grounds.

When we told our Australian friends we were gong to the "outback" for the weekend, they laughed when we told them that it was Wolgan Valley and said that the REAL outback was another hour away. After a few more incidents like this we stopped calling it the "outback" and started calling it the "halfback."

(click on image to enlarge photo)
This is Chris, Garance's assistant. Everywhere we turned was another photo-op. With the landscapes, animals, and food, this place truly made me fall in love wth the idea of photography outside of the big city.



I took this picture while riding my bike very fast, too fast in retrospect, on a bumpy dirt rode. I'm surprised that I got even one shot in focus.

Self-portrait of my shadow at sunset. The great/scary thing about these little grass-covered paths is that your bicycle moves so quietly that you can sneak up on a group of kangaroos before they even notice you. I wasn't particularly interested in surprising any kangaroos, so we spent a lot of time singing very loudly while we rode. Human League anyone?

I know that I'm a total city kid and I'm sure that some of you have wrestled bears and hunted dinosaurs, but for me, being this close to wild animals while on a mountain bike was pretty cool.

My primary reading material while flying to Berlin was a book on shooting better landscapes. Hopefully I will get a chance to shoot a few more soon. Maybe the Amish countryside could be cool?

Month of the Bike

After posting on a 16" folding fixie, I must say anything else is pretty much going to pale in comparison. Regardless, as most of you are aware, May is National Bike Month. A lot can be said about how to leverage this month to gain more attention for cyclists and raise awareness for a slew of different cycling related needs/causes.

The League of American Bicyclists head up this movement with this coming week for Bike Month being Bike to Work Week [May 17-21] and Friday, May 21, slated Bike to Work Day. This week could arguably be the most important week for Bike Month, by choosing to ride into work instead of driving can help bring cycling to the forefront of thought and conversation. From co-workers to passing motorists, questions will be asked or at least thought by others wondering if cycling is a viable alternative to driving. The more cyclists out commuting serve as reminders for the need for traffic rights and safety for all who are using the roadways.

The League of American Bicyclists is striving to pursue the National Strategy for Advancing Bicycle Safety that was put forth by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has with 5 very achievable goals within it:

Goal #1 Motorists Will Share the Road

Goal #2 Bicyclists Will Ride Safely

Goal #3 Bicyclists Will Wear Helmets

Goal #4 The Legal System Will Support Safe Bicycling

Goal #5 Roads and Paths Will Safely Accommodate Bicycling

These first 3 goals are the simplest to achieve yet seem often forgotten. As cyclists we have and desire equal rights to the road; with these rights we must also obey the rules of the road otherwise we forfeit those rights.

Be safe. Be smart. Now get out and ride!