Plane Has a New Home

After three and a half years in the garage. I finally moved the plane to its new home in my hangar!

There was probably a lot more work I could have done before moving it, but there were some circumstances that dictated I needed to move to the airport.

It started by first getting a giant truck with a lift gate. Once I got that to the house I had my friend Mike over to help me out. We removed the canopy and rear window (which I just had sitting on the plane temporarily…need to finish this) and then rolled the plane out into the driveway.

I know it doesn’t look like much, but seeing the plane in the driveway is one of the coolest things.

After doing some measurements and planning over the last couple months, I realized that the wheels were too wide for the lift gate. Luckily Mike had a 4×8 sheet of plywood that we laid on top of the lift gate.

We rolled the plane forward and lined it up. If it wasn’t for the plywood, this would have been a very precarious balancing issue (Thanks Mike!).

We chocked the wheels once we made sure the engine wouldn’t hit the floor of the truck when lifting, and then raised the plane up and pushed it into the truck. My girlfriend Britney did an awesome job holding the whole airplane in the air!

Once the plane was in. we loaded up the rest of the few remaining items and secured everything down. It felt a little nerve wracking having all this in the back of a truck, but it all went off without a hitch.

I managed to drive the truck (slowly) down to the airport in San Martin and we basically did the reverse, and there were no issues. Luckily the rain held off the whole time we were moving.

We rolled the plane in and it felt like a huge accomplishment. I immediately wanted to start mounting the tail and wings and everything on the plane, but the wings will have to wait for another time.

I loosely fit the horizontal and vertical stabilizers using some clamps. This is probably the coolest thing ever (so far)!

All in all, it was a very successful and satisfying day. I couldn’t have done it without the help of Mike and Britney and of course my mom, who brought us all some lunch and helped with the moving of everything! (Garage can now be used for her car again)!

Plane Has a New Home

Flap motor housing

First off, I got myself a hangar! I’ve been checking the hangars at the San Martin airport for a while, and finally got in contact with them and got the hangar last Wednesday! It’s a nice T hangar that’s north facing (shaded all day), and has plenty of room for the project. I’ll be migrating there over the next couple weeks.

Before making the big move, there’s still a couple things that I want to finish up in the garage. The first thing was that when I installed the canopy release mechanism, I realized that the flap housing was being pushed backwards and wouldn’t install. So I modified the mounting holes, and everything lines up much nicer.

This will get installed with a couple washers and the offset of the holes won’t be noticed.

I also installed the elevator push rod that goes through the center tunnel, since I had everything off. It needed some coaxing but it installed just fine.

The push rod connects the control sticks to the bell crank that’s right behind the baggage bulkhead.

I also cut some two conductor wire to length for the flap motor power lines, and added a couple connectors so that it’s removable. Once it’s installed this will get a zip tie wrapped around it between the tabs and it will be fully secure.

Next up is to finish the canopy frame.

Flap motor housing

About me

Hello! My name is George Fahmy and I’m building a Van’s Aircraft RV-7  and I’ll be documenting my build on this website! Its going to definitely be a big project, but I think I should be able to handle it. 

My callsign N890GF is a combination of my birth month/year/initials. I spent a long time debating what I wanted as my callsign, and after repeating this out loud over and over again, it just rolls of the tongue and thats when I reserved it with the FAA!

Ever since I was a young boy I knew I was going to be an engineer, I was drawn to taking things apart and putting them back together. I started flying remote control planes early on in life and when I got to college I began studying Aerospace Engineering. I also continued flying remote control planes and they kept getting bigger and bigger. When I graduated college and got my first job, I decided to pursue my pilots license and on March 16th 2016 I passed my checkride and became a Private Pilot! My dream of flying has become a reality, now I am trying to fulfill the other half of that dream which is to fly a plane I built myself. 

I can’t wait to get to that point, but until then I’m glad to share my progress and this experience with everyone! 

-George

About me