Fellow readers;
Nathan is an inspiration, his drive, tenacity and passion for aviation is self-evident. If we all worked as hard at our abilities as this young man does we would all be billionaires. I admire Nathan for his attributes, many people in his situation would be continent sit on their hind sides. Instead Nathan is making a difference in both his work for Bill Graham and conveying to people of all abilities the wonderful world of opportunities aviation offers. Nathan may never pilot a 787 for a major airline but he will be responsible for many a young person joining our aviation ranks.

I’ve seen some RVs that have panels nicer than a jumbo jet that circles the globe. I just cut circles in the sky with over-the-top maneuvers in my RV-4.

All I need for that is an airspeed indicator and an altimeter plus some basic engine instruments (oil pressure and temp) and I’m off having fun. A G meter is nice, too, but not required. Hey, isn’t fun what the RV was designed for versus flying straight and level or on instruments.

Why do folks have these complex engine monitoring systems? 80% of accidents are pilot error versus the engine. You can tell most engine problems by simply listening.

I’ve had my RV for almost 10 years now. I still have the same Valcom cheap radio that doesn’t sound good when talking to ATC, but I rarely talk to them anyway.

Why have a digital transponder that costs a lot. Is ATC going to see me better?

Looking out the front enjoying God’s creation upside down is much safer than relying on ATC while you have your head buried in a colorful GPS screen. I have the cheap bottom of the line Garmin transponder and a Garmin 196 that I’ve had for 8 years (no color required).

I busted my DG in 2004 while doing a bunch of jinking maneuvers. I replaced it with a $2.99 auto compass, which actually works better. My plane has been sitting outside since 2003 with a full body cover. Sure a hangar would be nice, but that’s not required. My plane actually stays cleaner than when I had it in a dusty T-hangar. However, the paint still looks good because I clean off the bugs after each flight . So, why spend an arm and a leg for a hangar? Yea, I’ve got a lot of dings in it from flying it instead of letting it sit there as a static display. Who are folks trying to impress? I didn’t buy an airplane to take to air shows to talk about paint. I bought it to fly upside down and talk about how to fly a better maneuver.

For some reason, I see a lot of RV builders and pilots more concerned about the instrument panel and the paint job and I often want to say, why didn’t you build something more inline with a Cessna than something that you can go nuts in? I prefer going nuts and use some touch up paint, if needed. I still need to get that touch up paint; it’s been on my list of things to do for almost 10 years.

Ned