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Greetings from Baghdad

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Jman

Site Developer
Joined
Oct 22, 2002
Messages
1,881
Location
Pacific NW, USA!
Greetings,

I just wanted to post a message here to say hello and let you all know that things are going ok over here for me on my deployment to Baghdad. Although I have not posted since arriving here, I have been popping on now and then to make sure everything is running smoothly. I'm flying around 85-100 hours a month now which works out to about 4 days on 3 days off a week. For quite awhile I was flying 8 to 10 days straight, just with shorter flight times. Made for a severe lack of motivation to work on things here at HBA. However, now that I've settled into somewhat of a routine I hope to be on here much more.

For those of you who don't know, my name is Jake Crause and I'm the Site Owner. I'm also an OH-58D Scout pilot serving in an Air Cavalry unit in Baghdad. I'm also an avid homebuilt aircraft fan, Cheerleader, and soon to be builder. I created this site in the hopes that one day it would become useful to someone. I'll let the members decide if it is succeeding.

Before I left for Iraq I built my 15 foot worktable, insulated my shop, and purchased the Corvair engine that would power my Pietenpol Aircamper project, for which I already had the plans. I was all set to start the build but with the Deployment on the horizon I decided to hold off. While here, I've done some soul searching about what it will take to complete a plans-built aircraft like the Pietenpol. I came to the realization that a Plans-built project, during this phase of my life, is just not realistic. With the prospect of deployments, training missions, schools, etc I believe that a Kit-Built is going to fit me better. I want to be able to come home from a month long training mission, walk out to the shop with my son and, with minimal hoopla and head scratching, pick up where we left off. Having a detailed construction manual and all of the necessary materials at hand is going to go a long way to make that happen. Don’t get me wrong, a Kit-built will have plenty of ups and downs, but I’m hoping that building something that has a tried and true step-by-step process will keep me on track a little better.

So, now I'm on the hunt for a new project and I think I've got it narrowed down to 4 kits....The RV-7, RV-7A, RV-8, or RV-8A....<GRIN>. Ok, those are not the only kits that catch my fancy but if I'm going to build a kit with the minimal amount of fuss the RV is a sure thing. The performance is wonderful, it's easy on the eyes, it's dependable, and, from what I understand, the builder support and construction manual cannot be beat. So...for a military pilot who has a family and a war to worry about, it's about perfect. Of course it does cost three times what the Piet was going to cost but I will gladly....ok, maybe not gladly, but I WILL be willing to part with more money to ensure a more relaxed and less head-scratching build. Why do I feel guilty though??? <GRIN>

So….I'll probably be on here getting my moneys worth asking all sorts of questions about aluminum and bucking bars now. Please bear with me :gig: .

Well, that is about it for now. I'll go into some more details about my adventures over here at a later date...like my total hydraulics failure in a 30 degree descending right bank over a very hostile area. That was fun :shock: .

Talk to you later.

Jake
 
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