EAA SportAir Sheet Metal Workshop

I flew down to Riverside, CA with a couple of good friends of mine, Dan Zitter and Andre Boule, to attend the EAA SportAir sheet metal workshop.  The flight down was beautiful with a nice 10-15 kt tailwind most of the way.

We flew right over the approach end of 16R at Van Nuys…

and landed at Riverside Municipal.  The class was at Flabob, but RAL had rental cars.

I really like the terrain around Riverside.

The class started Saturday morning around 8am.  I’m pretty sure my friends and I were the youngest people there.

Our teacher was Buck Greenlaw.

Andre doing some assembly.

Dan doing some drilling.

Andre squeezing some rivets.

Our “classroom”.

Me with our completed assembly.

Our class was held at the historic EAA chapter 1 hanger.

Leaving Riverside.

Lousy groundspeed on the way home.  At one point, it dipped to around 80kts.

And a nice clear night arrival back at Reid-Hillview.

Overall, I was pretty disappointed with the SportAir class.  I had heard great things about the class, so I had high expectations.  The materials were complete shit though.  The pieces didn’t remotely line up and edges of sheets weren’t even straight.  On top of that, our instructor was pretty disappointing.  Despite his impressive credentials, I think I would have learned a hell of a lot more from another RV builder.

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