2020 Sweepstakes: Overheard at OSH

“It’s bigger than I thought.”

“That’s a lot of power.”

Your AOPA Sweepstakes RV–10 got lots of attention at the AOPA campus during its big reveal at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2019, and the comments from thousands of visitors seeing the airplane for the first time were almost universally positive.

I anticipated at least some pushback to the first Experimental/amateur-built airplane AOPA has ever offered as a sweepstakes aircraft, but there was hardly a murmur of resistance. Of course, it’s impossible to find a more Experimental-friendly audience than the one that attends the annual EAA convention in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, but I didn’t hear a peep of protest.

This airplane was built in Canada and first flew in 2007, and it’s lived a rough life. It had been based at an oil-patch town in Saskatchewan for nine years, and the chipped paint on the wing leading edges attests to lots of visits to gravel airstrips. Two former owners learned to fly in it, so it’s safe to assume that not every landing has been graceful. And it’s been exposed to some of the most extreme weather in North America.

But aviators who were seeing the airplane for the first time looked past the imperfections and saw the promise.

A three-screen, digital IFR avionics suite with two primary flight displays and a multifunction display from Advanced Flight Systems drew lots of praise, and visitors dropped by to look at the weather displays whenever midweek thunderstorms got close, or they wanted to monitor airplanes flying the FISK arrival. Even on the ground, ADS-B weather and traffic were clearly shown.

There were lots of questions about the Avidyne IFD550 that serves as the brain for the avionics system, and visitors were impressed that it can act as an attitude indicator showing detailed synthetic-vision depictions of terrain and runways.

A carbon fiber instrument panel and center console from Aerosport Products had some observers asking whether the smooth, matte-black finish was real carbon fiber or simulated. (It’s real!)

A gray leather interior had just been installed in the AOPA Sweepstakes RV–10 a week before the big show, and company owners (and Brazilian natives) Luis Ferreira and Eliane Lignelli of South Florida Sport Aviation were there to talk to visitors, along with their daughter, Beatrice.

“Ours is a family business so we’re all deeply involved,” Lignelli said. “I so enjoy meeting customers, and potential customers, in person. They can see our products and our passion for all that we do.”

There were lots of questions about the airplane’s performance, and whether it can go as high or as fast as Van’s Aircraft claims. (It can. Top speed: 179 KTAS, ceiling 20,000 feet.)

And there were a great deal of questions, observations, and suggestions about the airplane’s future paint job that, in broad strokes, went something like this:

“Are you going to paint it before you give it away?”

Yes.

“Is it still going to be yellow?”

We haven’t decided, and artist Craig Barnett of Scheme Designers will have lots to say about paint.

And finally—and we heard this a lot—“Take good care of my airplane for me!”

Will do.

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