Another year of flying the RV-9A around the skies. Let’s see how 2022 went. This year I managed to only fly 96.6 hours. Just under what I did last year, but at least it was close to my usual target of 100 hours. The price of gas this year went way up, and my average fuel cost per hour hit $34.87. I burned about 536 gallons of Avgas at an average price of $6.01/gallon. Still quite affordable when you consider the miles per gallon and cruise speed of 150 Knots (172 miles per hour). Try that with your car!
I made a few more longer trips happen this year. Oshkosh Airventure 2022 was the big trip again. I flew out there solo and had great weather flying out and just dodged a few rain showers on the way back. That trip alone was about 25% of my flying for the year. Leading up to Airventure I had some issues with my P-Mag ignitions and spent quite a few weeks down for maintenance. Other than that, the airplane has been flying reliably and regularly.
I did a couple of fun weekend camping trips this year. I took my son up to the historic gold rush town of Columbia, CA, then my youngest daughter and I spent a weekend in Escalante, UT. I had plans to do some fall camping trips, but school and other commitments kept me too occupied to schedule anything.
I did manage to fly out to Sedona with my wife for a wonderful long Veteran’s Day weekend for our anniversary. We also flew into my hometown of Long Beach to attend a memorial service for a friend who passed, and again on a later date for birthday party with friends. We made multiple trips up to Cable Airport in Upland to meet with family. We also spent a weekend up there when we attended the USC vs. Washington St. football game at the Coliseum.
I did 9 breakfast/lunch flights this year. The usual locations are Hemet, Corona (usually there to pick up something ordered from Aircraft Spruce), and the EAA Chapter 14 lunch on Saturdays. We did a lunch meet up at Lake Havasu at the Hangar 24 Brewery. My goal for 2023 will be to do more lunch fly outs and meet ups.
I had several airplane related jobs to work on during the year. I assisted a builder on completing an RV-14A tail kit. I did tank repairs for two RV-9A’s, and an RV-14A. I did a pre-buy inspection on an RV-4. I also started a new set of RV-10 tanks for another builder. I’ve already got a couple of other jobs lined up for 2023. Hopefully I can find time during my final semester of A&P school to knock off the occasional repair job.
I visited 7 new airports and took up 2 new passengers. The airplane finished 2022 with 1044.0 hours on the Hobbs meter. I now have 1183.3 hours of flight time (758.6 hours of cross-country and 46.1 at night). Take offs and landings are at 1635. I have a couple of projects planned for the airplane (the IFR panel upgrade is still pending). First, I need to take the exams for the Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic certificates. Once that is done, I’ll get working on the Instrument rating and Commercial certificate.
I hope everyone out there has a wonderful 2023!
Flying Over The Hills 