Member Profile: Ralph Inkster and his RV's
Air Cadets were good to me, I learned discipline (ha), I got rides in military transports of all sorts, got to go to various camps & courses, learned to march. I received my Glider Pilot License through them. Unfortunately I wouldn't keep up my license, family finances as they were. Some 20 years later I saw a magazine called ‘Kitplanes'. I was mesmerized. This got me dreaming about flying again & introduced the idea of building a personal aircraft. In 1991 I completed my Private Pilot License. Inspired to build, I bought a Miranda wood airframe project. After starting to work on it, I realized I couldn't fit in the cockpit so the hunt for something more appropriate began. An RV-6 project came up for sale, the airframe actually looked like a plane, I was blinded with excitement so I jumped on it. |
Boats, tanks or planes? As a youngster I would have preferred to be on a sleek warship, rather than slugging through the mud or climbing into those flimsy things called planes. It was more of a fashion statement that finally drew me to planes. The Sea Cadet uniforms just looked funny to me. Air Cadet uniforms were smart looking, besides I remembered my uncle's wartime pictures & wanted to look like him. It helped that my brother already belonged to Air Cadets so things just fell into place.  |
In hindsight, keeping objectivity, and knowing what to look for would have saved me a lot of money. The 6 was essentially dismantled and started over again, not with kit parts, but as a new plans built project. About half way through the project I got the great idea that I could build an RV-7A alongside the RV-6, another moment of madness. The 6 was put to the side and full effort was applied to the 7 and after 22 months I actually had a completed ‘kitplane'. Building efforts are now focused on completing the RV-6. |
The first RV-6 project will fly in 2006! |
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In the early days of rebuilding the RV-6, I was truly frustrated with renting, so I purchased an older Cavalier SA102.5. It required a little TLC, which amounted to about 8 months of refurbishment including new avionics, multiple airframe repairs, prop & rebuilding the engine. Eventually my efforts resulted in resurrecting a nice little plane, which I flew for 6 years. |
Wife Cheryl & Ralph in front of Cavalier SA102.5 |
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Completion of the RV-7A in 2005 marked a totally new concept of flying for me, I'm truly spoiled now, with having flown over 200 joyful hours in its first year of flight! I'm hoping to pass on some knowledge & experience to other builders, and as a result I am an EAA Tech Councillor. |
The second RV7A project, finished & flying -
On the way home from Tuktoyuktuk |
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Update Feb 2008! C-GMMJ gets a paint job! What a beauty! Great picture except for the goofy guy at the controls... oops sorry Ralph - that's you! {editor]. |
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Update Feb 2008! C-GMMJ gets a paint job! |
Stay tuned for updates as Ralph continues to finish his other RV...