| [Wings 'n' Things/Aviation...Wings.361 ...July 4, 2005]
by Judie Betz RV AVIATORS GRAVITATE TO LOVE'S LANDING With two grass runways to fly from and numerous other Van's fanatics to compare notes with, Love's Landing Aviation Community near Weirsdale has become a real gathering place for the sprightly little two-place homebuilt called he RV. At one time a couple of years ago there were 33 houses at Love's Landing and 10 RV planes or projects. That's one third of the community owning the same plane! Currently the percentage is a little different, but not by much. With 44 residences (several are still under construction) and 11 kits or completed RVs in the hangars (or soon to be in, once the hangar is built), that's still about 25 percent! As with RV owners everywhere, some folks are builders and some are buyers. Whatever it takes to acquire one, those having an RV pretty uniformly agree that they are fun and reasonably economical to fly. Early Love's resident Miguel Cubano is on his second purchased RV-6. A Naval captain and surgeon stationed in Jacksonville, he loves to have nice weather and a surgical schedule that will allow him to make the hundred-mile-plus commute from Weirsdale to Navy Jax by air. What a way to go to work! Julie Dane, who splits her time between Love Field and Leeward Air Ranch, can make the 20-mile commute between the two aviation communities quickly in her RV-6A. Built from a kit, it was a neighborhood project; Julie and her late husband, Dan, began building the plane and a number of her Love's Landing neighbors helped her to complete it. Daryl Bennett, who had been dreaming of owning an RV for years, has a real beauty of a blue and white RV-6A tucked away in his hangar. The neighbors are hoping to see him fly it one day soon. Ollie and Lorene Washburn are very frequent flyers. Most sunny days find them pushing their bright yellow and red RV-6A out of its color-coordinated hangar for a trip to breakfast, lunch, or a visit to family or friends around the state. With two pilots in the family who both love to fly, the little plane gets plenty of exercise. The Washburns have had the RV for about six years and have put about 850 hours on it, going to places like Pittsburg, Arizona and Oklahoma. It is IFR-equipped and has a nosewheel for Lorene, the junior pilot in the team. "It's a good airplane," Ollie said. "We got rid of another good one, a Cardinal RG we'd had for 16 years to get this one." Ollie has been available to help his neighbors decide which RV to buy, and then has helped with training when the big decision was made. Doug and Jane Craig built their RV-6A for travel, a favorite pastime of both. They had thought perhaps even Alaska someday, but did a trial run by land first, then decided a high-wing load-carrier would be more appropriate, so Doug got started on his second homebuilt, a Murphy Elite. Tragically, Doug was fatally injured in an accident in their RV last November. We all miss seeing him in the little yellow, black, and white plane that he so enjoyed flying. Mark Reagan was building an RV-6A at his home base, Cherokee, NC. He came down to Lakeland for an RV fly-in during the Spring of 2004. "I met Ollie Washburn and he said he lived at an airpark, Love's Landing. If 1 came by to visit while I was in Florida, he'd give me a ride in his RV-6A. Well, 1 went up there for the ride, and ended up buying a lot. Now we are building a house and hangar, and the family will be moving to Florida, at least part time for now, once the construction is completed." Meanwhile, Reagan, kept working on his RV project, and completed it just in time to bring it to an RV fly-in at Love's. He's been flying the sharp red and black on white RV for just over a year and has about 150 hours on it. Not bad for a 450-hour private pilot who started out with ultralights. In fact, he has about 300-plus hours in the lightweight planes, but earned his pilot's license and chose to build the RV because of its speed. "Now I can run back and forth from Cherokee to check on the building project," he said. Next week the rest of the RV brood will be introduced. |