Welcome !


My name is Charlie Kendall. My wife Mary and I live in Columbia Missouri where she is a dental hygienist and I work in youth ministries. We are in the very early stages of starting to build an RV-10 from Van's Aircraft. Since we believe in doing everything on a cash basis, this will be a LONG rewarding adventure.
This website will keep you updated on our progress.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

India

It's been a crazy week. Have not had time to do anything plane related. Heading off to India tomorrow for three weeks with a group of students. There will be no new posts until after December 11.

Friday, November 9, 2007

First RV Flight

A few days ago I got to go over to Lee's Summit (KLXT) and hang out with EAA chapter 91. There are a bunch of RV's based out of LXT and several more in construction.

Mike Dooley was my contact and he spent a couple hours giving me a tour of his shop. Mike has just started an RV8 Empennage, so he showed me all his tools and a few parts cleco'd up.

Then we went on a tour of the EAA hangers at the airport... the chapter president has an awesome -9A that he let me try on...











A few other people had completed airplanes...

And finally, my first ride in an RV... Keith Shultz's RV-6A...



Thanks guys.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Why an RV-10?

Flying has always been a lifetime dream of mine. My first plan was to get my private pilot's license right out of High School. Well, after about 2 lessons, money was an issue so I focused on college.

Fast-Forward 9 years. On February 1, 2007, I bought into a flying club in Boonville, Missouri (KVER) and began taking flight lessons again. With more money and time, I finished my license in mid-April and have now logged 113 hours to date... most in our 1969 Cessna 172, and the rest in our 1963 Cessna 182.

Building an airplane has always been a dream of mine as well. There have been several models that interest me, among them the Velocity, Cozy Mark IV, and all the Vans Models. All of these planes appeal to me for different reasons. I love the canard look and performance. But the drawbacks are the fact that grass and short fields are not advisable in that configuration. Something about high stall speeds, long takeoff/landing distance, and a pusher prop (gunk thrown into the prop from the wheels) make soft fields impractical.

I really love having all types runways accessible to me, and the Vans series of aircraft fit that bill completely. The other big factor in choosing an airplane is cruising speed. We are cross-country people, with family scattered all over America. The RV meets all our objectives perfectly. And to top it all off, there is SO MUCH builder support from the RV community and from the factory itself. These are the reasons that more RV's have been built than any other homebuilt on the market. So, RV it is.

Loving the aerobatic capabilities of either RV-7A or RV-8, I had completely settled on one of these. (I think tri-gear looks better on side-by-side and tail-dragger on the tandem.) After some discussions with my wife of 3+ years as to what she would prefer, she said definitely the side-by-side. Hence, our decision to go with the RV-7A.

Well, as you can see, we are now settled on the RV-10. How did that happen? Well, one day recently my wife reminded me that we are still young and, although no kids have arrived yet, we will want some in the next few years. How does a two-seater enter into that equation? Will I want to sell my newly finished -7A and restart the build process all over again so the kids can ride as well? I DON'T THINK SO. RV-10 it is.

After flying nearly 60 hours of cross-country in my club's slow, inefficient spam cans, I am ready to start the process of amassing tools and getting ready for the fun and challenge of building.