Yes, 14A. Sorry for the confusion with the title. There weren't any non-A's when I finished mine. :)

It's a completely different leg, very similar to the RV-10 but nothing like the earlier RV's. Much stronger. The mains are much stronger too.

Neal Watsons, right at the marina. It was the most convenient we could find for a quick trip.

The RV-14 and Zenith are to completely different airplanes, so you'll really want to put more weight on exactly what you want to do with the airplane. If you don't travel far and more of an LSA plane meets your needs, then the Zenith may be a good way to go, but if you're into distance travel, the RV-14 definitely would be more suitable. 1,400' would be a maybe minimal comfortable strip for the RV-14 for daily use, as long as those 60' trees are not right at the approach end. You'll want all 1400' available for you, even though you can land in less. I'm not sure you'd want much less for a Zenith either, but a slower approach speed would shorten it some. The biggest decision though is the mission you have for the airplane. Personally, while I love visiting a grass strip, when I consider the cost and the maintenance, I question the true "convenience" even with a 40 minute drive. It's true that you can't beat it when you can walk from your house to your hangar and see your plane and work on things, but the days spent mowing, filling holes, and expense involved in keeping it smooth would be a hassle for me as much as a drive. Throw in that you now have an unlit runway, with no instrument approaches, that may become saturated and unusable on some days, or completely snowed over and rough as heck in the winter, and at least where I live, I wouldn't bother with it. It's hard enough just to keep the ice away from the front of a nice municipal hangar so I can use the nice asphalt. :) I get the pull though, as the dream of a hangar at home sure is attractive. Build the plane you want to fly the most, and you'll end up happy. Also consider the costs as the RV-14 is likely to cost a bit more.

And Merry Christmas to you too!

That really is the hard part, isn't it. :). You never know how it will work out, so you do the best you can. Sometimes you fail, but sometimes you win. It was heart warming to get this from her and know that no matter how much I failed, it must have been ok with her. Hope you have as much fun with your boys as I did with my girls, the rewarding feeling is great!

It really was a lot like building the RV-10, and I consider both of them to be pretty easy builds. Yes, it's a lot of time and work, but for anyone who is handy with tools, it's really not all that complicated. The kits are great. The RV-14 is also a ton of fun to fly.

There are lots of things not to like, actually, for the price. First, it's much larger, and extends much further back, which makes access to other subpanel items harder. Second, it jitters a lot. Next, it really doesn't do that great of a job displaying pitch. But when you look at the lack of information, it forces you to get multiple instruments. I had the ADI + Altimeter + Airspeed Indicator, all as 3 separate 2.25" instruments, and now this single box gives all that information and a whole lot more, plus gives me the G-meter that I thought would be nice to have as well. I even like having the extra OAT probe to compare to my others. Don't get me wrong, the TT ADI was the best I could do back in the day, but this new stuff simply couldn't come fast enough. TT does a spectacular job with autopilots, but it's easy to see that the ADI wasn't a big focus of their attention. In the end, this is a huge upgrade from the ADI, and actually better than the RC Allen box that costs over twice as much. They're going to be the ones that feel the impact the most, if this stuff ever makes it into the certified world.

@@MyRV10 I've got the original ADI with GPS track and inclinometer. It's been steady as a rock and extremely responsive, as is my twitchy plane, so it's been a good match. It's never jittered. I paid $1200 from Gulf Coast if I recall correctly. It's seen me through a lot of bad weather and with the heading and attitude all in one instrument I felt really spoiled. It reduced my scan and made instrument work relatively effortless. Yes, compared to this instrument you reviewed for just $400 more it boggles the mind how much more one gets these days for the money. Just the HSI function is magic, together with everything else it does. It'll be interesting to see what autopilots it will interface with. uAvionix plans to get it certifiicated I'm reading and will make a tremendous impact on the market I suspect. I'm in the E-AB world as you are so it's not an issue but it's good to see the spam cans getting a break finally. It surely must be painful to see these wonderful and relatively inexpensive tools appear over the years and not be able to install them. .

:) Nice...I like your style. :)

Thanks. The stall warning is pumped into the audio panel, and has verbal audio warnings. So it only yells at you through your headset.

Who needs a stall warning horn when the kids screaming are enough to let you know.

That's a good catch that you noticed that. First, keep in mind I'm new to aerobatics, so my skill level is still on the low end. But, the maneuver that you noticed that on is an Immelmann and after half of a loop, you roll upright at the top. The speed is fairly slow when you reach that point in the loop, and the controls are mushy. To keep the airplane unloaded, I roll and push a little. On that one it looks like maybe I was too aggressive on the push. You're correct that if you go to negative Gs, that wouldn't be good for the engine. For the brief period that you noticed though, the oil pressure would not have been affected that greatly. For any extended negative Gs, an inverted oil system would be required. Thanks for watching!

The music is a great touch

That's an easy one. Just KFXE ---> MYAF. We file for customs, and then nothing after that. For Altitude, we'd generally go for 7,500-9,500 for that first segment, if the clouds allow it VFR. But if it's only 2,000 BKN, oh well. You just stay under, but say a few extra prayers before departing that your engine remains healthy. Other than one trip, we've always gone with multiple planes. There are also plenty of people on the radio flying in and out of the small islands. Direct is also a loose term, because when there are rain showers, you just go around them. Never depart without full fuel, and watch the weather pattern for a day before you go. Fly the shortest distance between islands when possible, and then fly down island chains or shorelines. You have to accept that there are some things that can go wrong that will not end up pretty, but realize that these loose-tolerance airplane engines are built that way because they can withstand quite a bit before they just quit. You overfly near Bimini on that first leg, which is a safe haven. And after that, you pass near by the intersection SWIMM, which lets you know the consequences. :) We generally aim for the north tip of Andros island, to get us near land quickest, but there isn't much on that island you'd want to land on. From there, when crossing anywhere to the East, we would aim for MYEN, which puts small islands along your path for many destinations. And keep track of boats, knowing that if the worst happens, you're going to aim for the water right next to one of them. The Bahamas is much more comfortable than flying to the Caymans. That one gets my spine stiff.

RV-10 / RV-14 Adventures Thanks for your in depth response!! Really like the extra tips you threw in there such as always being situational aware of where rain clouds and boats are located. I just recently got my PPL and it will probably be some time before I attempt something like this but it looks like an awesome getaway I’ll put on my bucket list!!

@@benjamingroenveld6203 Super that you're a new pilot. Read all you can on water ditching and visualize it with your passengers with your eyes closed in the plane you fly. Banyan at KFXE rents life rafts if you want one, but absolutely have manual inflating life vests and wear them for the crossing. Also have at least one handheld PLB attached to whoever will be first out the door, and make sure everyone knows how to use it. With some simple safety points contemplated, you're in a better position for such a flight. The flight itself is generally easy depending on the time of year. Spring is best, because one June comes, you'll be circumnavigating storms much of the summer. The good news is, when flying the islands it's almost always good visibility below the clouds so it's easy to see your way around them if they aren't monster sized. Having satellite weather is a big plus too. ADS-B weather won't reach out into the islands.

The EFIS system is an old Chelton EFIS IDU-1. They haven't been made for many years now. They were popular until around 2006, and back then they were ahead of most everything. Today however, many systems have even more functionality, although most aren't nearly as well designed from a user interface perspective.