I got a call during spring break that the fuse QB and finishing kit were ready to be picked up. This was 5-6 months ahead of schedule but definitely welcome news since September and October are usually marching band months for our family. I got time off scheduled for work, rented a 24′ enclosed trailer and planned our route. It took us ~28 hours to drive the entire route.

On Wednesday morning, April 2nd, we woke up and drove to Van’s Aircraft which was just south of the hotel we were staying at. We went around back and picked up the crates we came for which the warehouse worker stated were just two crates. I think he was remembering the non-QB fuselage which is one crate and the finishing kit which is the other. Luckily I checked with someone back in the building and they reminded him it was indeed three crates. That would have been very inconvenient if I had traveled all the way home missing the biggest crate which is the QB fuse. Since there wasn’t much time between learning this and the factory tour, we decided to do it after the tour and flight was completed. I forgot to take pictures of the factory while we were going through because I was so mesmerized just taking in all of the organization of parts, machinery to form components, and assemblies being completed such as spars being riveted, and even a factory built RV-12 being finalized in its assembly.

We then got the chance to go for our first flight in the RV-10! I was blessed to get this opportunity as the weather reports continually showed that it was going to be overcast and raining during that time, but thank the Lord it cleared up and we were able to go flying! When they opened the hangar I realized that the aircraft that was at Oshkosh this past year was the same aircraft that was the original yellow, blue, and white aircraft they use to demo with but it had just been redone. They had completely redone the paint and had a brand new glass panel put into the aircraft. So, if you want to see what it looked like inside, go and look at my Oshkosh 2024 post and I have videos there of the interior. I have to say that the RV is way easier to get in than any other aircraft I have flown, except maybe the Cardinal. They are very close when compared from the pilot’s perspective, but the passenger ability to get in is much better than the Cardinal. Once in, everything was well organized with the Garmin glass panels.

The visibility from the cockpit was amazing! I was surprised that even without a back window, I could still see pretty far behind me if I had to. The flight angle of the aircraft was also surprising. I had greater forward visibility than I’ve ever had in an aircraft. It could also have been the seat positioning, but it sure looked like the nose was lower down so I could see further forward. Also the windows going down the sides allowed me really good visibility around the nose compared to the Piper’s I’ve flown in the past. It was just amazing to watch the Garmin system manage the aircraft both from a flight control perspective with the autopilot but also from the engine management that you could see from the Garmin interface. I was also surprised at how easily their engine started up too. It was like my car with how easy it started! I’ve never had that experience before, even with the newer aircraft that I flew with Monarch Air which was only about 6-7 years old.

There’s just so much that was amazing about this aircraft and I am definitely glad that my research was spot on even without flying the aircraft LOL Kind of hard to back out now I would guess. The aircraft flew very easily. The vertical control was lighter than the roll control but it was very easy to keep the plane on track and the two finger controllability they talked about is not an exaggeration if you are just maintaining straight and level flight and making gentle turns.

We then headed back to the airport and landed. The aircraft was actually very easy to taxi on the ground even though you don’t have direct control over the nose wheel to steer around. Just a little bit of braking helped with maneuvering around.

After we got back we loaded up the final crate and we said goodbye to Van’s Aircraft! The next time I will visit them will be to show off our finished airplane to them here in the next few years!

With everything squared away, we decided to take a bit of a rest day. They recommended we go to the Evergreen Aviation Museum. It had some good displays in there, but the gem of the whole thing was to get to see the Spruce Goose. I’d seen the old news reels and pictures of the aircraft, but to see this thing in person put “massive” to a whole new level. This thing was so big! They said it was as tall as an 8 story building, which I can definitely believe. The thing took up the entire hangar with other displays littered all around it. The plywood construction was amazing to see as they had cut a hole into the plane for easy entrance to see the plane through out. I took an up-close picture of the layering and it was amazing since most of the plywood you will see in any lumber yard is often questionable. Even the best pieces that are meant for furniture or other display purposes are not as pristine as this was. Even the reinforcement brackets for gluing the components together were made out of small layers of plywood as well. It was amazing to look at! There was an old gentleman there that works at the display that wrote a book about its construction process and he had cited sources for all of the details on the planes construction. I couldn’t pass that up as it would be amazing to see how this was done.

We then went to the local Deseret Bookstore which was actually the best store we’ve been to so far. Granted we’ve not been to one in Utah, Arizona or Idaho, but I was surprised at how well this one was stocked. Even better than Dallas which I figured would have been pretty good. We then spent a good amount of time at the local temple in Portland. It was so pretty and I always love seeing the different architecture of these buildings with each place we visit.

The next day we started our long trip home. It took the same amount of time (~28 hours) and was definitely the hardest because I was excited to get the parts home and I had already been driving alot already. We had to stop at the Buc-ee’s both on our way and back so that we could enjoy that little bit of heavenly oasis on our trip. I am glad we were able to make this trip and that everything went extremely well!

When we got home, we opened the crates after getting home to make sure everything looked good. I also was able to finally complete the entire build manual in my three ring binder. I’m glad everything got home without an issue! All in all we logged just over 3,700 miles and made a ton of pit stops at all of the Love’s gas stations along the way. We burned through 484.56 gallons of diesel to get there. I wish I had tracked how much def I used but it was about 20 gallons as I had to fill up 5 times and it was about 4 gallons each time. In total I spent $1,599.79 on fuel alone. The wind was the biggest contributor to my mileage. The trailer is not very heavy, even with the crates, but the trailer has a large profile and the wind could push on it quite significantly. My average gas mileage this month was 9.115 mpg. That’s as bad as when I’m pulling the fifth wheel RV which weights just over 12,000 lbs. This trailer with the crates on it is no more than 5,000 lbs. The trailer was 3,360 lbs., the finish kit was 431 lbs., the QB fuse was 818 lbs., and the cabin cover crate was 350 lbs. We were extremely blessed thought. We didn’t hit any major weather on our trip and though the wind was strong, it wasn’t unmanageable. Also the weather cleared up for us for our flight on Wednesday and everything made it home safely with no tire blowouts on the trailer! Very grateful for all of this and I’m excited to get the wings finished, which I finally got more primer right before we took off for Oregon. I’m also still glad we went to get it so we knew the crates would make it without any damage and the parts would be safe. It was also good to go see the Van’s Aircraft facility and see where things are coming from and the quality and care they put into everything.