Flying excites me!

Flew the Cessna 172 this morning for a short flight.  Flew out over our "mud plant" and then came back and did a power off - full flap short field landing just for kicks.  Squiked it!!

Love this video:

New blog description - What excites me!

This blog is about more than just building an airplane.  It is about building a lifestylye that can make my dreams come true.

What Excites Me?

Flying.
Giving Christmas presents.
Flying commercial first class.
Being able to afford the time and money to go to AirVenture every year at Oshkosh.
Emagining how good it will feel to weigh 160 lbs.
Emagining how much fun it will be to challange young guys to one-arm push-up contests.
Writing that last check to pay off a debt!
Being available to spend time with my grandkids and do things that they want to do (that costs $$).
Being able to write a check for my Zenith 750 Cruzer airframe kit, engine, instruments, etc.

to be continued.....

Truth Vs Homeostatis - time to change my brain.

Wow.  Looked around at some cheaper homebuilts - mostly wood.  Why do a cheap one?  No money.  Is that what I really want?  Heck no.  I like the Cruzer.  I like working with metal. I want to do the Cruzer.  So what is the problem?  Money.  For me it is not about what to build - it is facing the truth that right now I don't have the money.  Why don't I have the money - homeostatis.  Our brains are designed to keep us from changing. Get over it brain.  I'm going to change.

I'm putting my Cruzer project on hold for now.  I don't want to commit to a $45K-$50K project at this time.  I'd rather do something around $10K and have somethng to work on.  Joyce finally admitted that she is not kean on flying in a "homebuilt" aircraft and doesn't care if I build a single seater.

My friend, Jim Kos, has offered me space to build in his old sheet metal shop in Canute.  Joyce is really excited about that because we won't lose any garage space to a project.

I was leaning toward the Pietenpol again (have plans etc) but as a CFI I really don't like the visibility in the Pietenpol.  Sort of back in the "shopping mode".  Sent for info from Falconar and read that Team Mini-Max is coming out with side-by-side 2 seater.

Found My Favorite Paint Color

Haven't done anything since last post and it has been a month since working on my Cruzer.  I got approval for time off to go the the Zenith Aircraft Open House on 9/20/14.  I'm going to go early and catch the last day of the rudder workshop.

Here's pic of the color paint I want.

A Busy Life

I haven't worked on the Cruzer since 8/10/2014, but I thought I would post that life has been very busy trying to get yard finished and work has been very busy and I've had to work a lot of overtime (no extra bucks - I'm on salary).  Haven't worked on it - but I think about it everyday.

I have added some 3 way adapters to garage light and outlets so I can run extension cords to plug in my laptop and drill.  Oh yea, I did sweep out the garage - got to have a clean shop!

Work Everyday - day 7

Sometimes the most important thing that I get accomplished in building my aircraft has nothing to do with building my aircraft - you've got to get the honey-do's done.

Work Everyday - day 6

Finished drilling rudder spar doublers.  Drilling out rudder hinge.

Work Everyday - day 5

Started drilling out rudder spar doubler.  First time using clecos.

Work Everyday - day 4

Finally got my handi clamps and toggle clamps from Aircraft Spruce.  It took about a week.  Smoothed and deburred another rib.

See how shiny and smooth.

Working every day - day 3

Trying to work everyday.  Smoothing parts.  See my construction log.

Working Everyday

Sunday night watched the HomebuiltHELP tail videos. I love the videos.  Very helpful. Finally got some 3M Scotch Brite heavy duty pads to rub down all the edges on parts. Still rubbing them down.  What I've learned is that I was not very well prepared to get started.  Ordered rudder kit and some tools from Zenith but needed MORE...

My Kitlog.com website is up and working.

Great news!  Heard back from Kitlog.com support and discovered that my website wasn't working because I hadn't "uploaded" a construction log.  Uploaded an entry and it is now working. Thank you Kitlog.com.  My Kitlog.com website is Dave's CH750 Curzer.  My Kitlog site is designed as a specific tool to help meet the FAA requirements to get my aircraft registered once it is done.  This blog on the other hand will be where I will post my "educational" experience.  Enjoy.

One Week Wonder - Third day - AirVenture 2014

My Prologue To Finally Getting Started

I first learned to fly at the Base Aero Club when I was a Medic stationed at Torrejon AFB, Madrid, Spain.  The club owned two Cherokee 140's.  My intro flight included an introduction to aerobatics by doing barrell rolls in a Cherokee 140.

Why A Blog?

Sometimes obstacles create new and creative paths.  I purchased the Kitlog Pro builders logbook software but have not been able to get the website to work and I have not heard for many days from the support department.  Other posts online suggest that there isn't a support department.  Oh well. What good is an aircraft builder's logbook if you can't share it?  Right? After searching for an alternative I discovered that about the only thing availabe is a blog. Heck, if I can build an airplane, I'm sure I can make this blog work for me.  Enjoy.