The wind was out of the northeast, and we landed on runway 4. People in the pattern seemed a little tense. Why does it always seem that way, that at one of these weekend events you always get some people who are just a little nervous, and then it spreads to other pilots who are trying to enter the pattern and all that. In those environments I try to keep my radio calls nice and calm and "happy" sounding, in hopes that it might help ease the tension if *somebody* in the pattern isn't frantic. There's no reason to get tense...just fly your plane, don't do anything stupid, and keep a sharp eye out for traffic.
Dave and I walked the line and poked our heads into all the open hangars. Good stuff. We bumped into several people who are considering building RVs, and we gave 'em the usual "DO IT!" spiel. One guy was kinda funny...he was complimenting Dave on how gorgeous his plane was, and he asked, "So that's a new plane?" He didn't realize that it was a homebuilt, that Dave had built it himself. He was kind of surprised and very impressed when Dave told him. It's amazing that some people (a) don't recognize RVs as RVs, and (b) have no idea about "these homebuilts." I guess I used to be in that group until a few years ago! Well, Van's just sold the 2000th RV-7[A] kit recently, and there are something like over 3800 RVs flying already. The completion rate just keeps going up as Van's makes it easier to build these airframes. One of these days I figure the RV will be pretty much ubiquitous. At least around here in SoCal, where you can't swing a dead beagle by the tail without hitting an RV.
We took off from Santa Paula and made the quick hop over to Camarillo, where Dave topped off. As we pulled up to the pumps, an airport security van pulled up and the guy driving said he recognized me from my web site. I feel like a total schlump, because I already forget his name. I think it was Greg. I haven't seen his name on the email lists -- and so it hasn't been photographically etched into my mind (I'm terrible with names in person). Anyway, he's building an RV-7A and shares a hangar with a couple of other RV-7A builders at Camarillo -- including my buddy Jack Lockamy. Jack -- I was there at your hangar and checked out your plane while you weren't around. That was weird. Anyway, it looks like you guys are building beautiful planes. Can't wait to see everybody in the air one of these days.
I got this shot of our planes as we were about to fire up and depart Camarillo. I haven't been taking many photos lately, and I figured I can talk all day long about it, but unless I provide *proof*, I could be just making all this crap up...
Since Dave led up to Santa Paula, I took lead on the way home to Chino. It was bumpy as hell. I was glad I was lead...although Dave did an amazing job holding station despite the bumps. We were getting a real workout. It's been hot as hell, and there were thermals everywhere. Hey, I'll take it. Bumpy flying beats sweating over a project in the garage! Flying an RV is like the nuclear bomb in the rock-paper-scissors game.