Video of our 2024 Spring Meeting ...  The RV Roundtable with Tom Berge.

Lake Elmo airport (21D) is in the process of implementing a noise abatement initiative.  The Metropolitical Airports Commission, which manages the airport, has been proactive in addressing a significant increase in noise complaints over the past year.  This document discussing this topic and also includes a comparison between flight operations and noise complaints at the local reliver airports. 

Video of our 2023 Spring meeting at Lake Elmo.  Guest speakers Eric Janssen and Pete Howell.

Enjoy....

Here's the video of our January virtual meeting with Guil Barros.   Enjoy...

Eleven "antique" issues of the newsletter have been added to the "RVator's Log" page.  They range from the March 2007 to the December 2005 issues.  The graphic format on some of the issues did not convert properly so you may see some issues with photos not displaying but the content is there.  Enjoy.......

The September issue of the RVator's Log is now available HERE.....

The June issue of the RVator's Log is now available HERE.....

The March issue of the RVator's Log is now available HERE.....

The December issue of the RVator's Log is now available HERE.....

The September issue of the RVator's Log is ready for your reading pleasure HERE......

Mark Owen's RV-12 has been flying for several months.  Every RV that takes to the air has a back story that is unique.  Here's Mark's story...........

The March issue of the RVator's Log is ready for your literary pleasure.  Click HERE....

The December issue of the RVator's Log is now ready for download HERE......

The September issue of the RVator's Log is now ready for download HERE......

Most of the club was at our Summer hangar party where we honored RV-guru extraordinaire Tom Berge.  We presented Tom with a commemorative book with a ton of "Tom" photos and testimonials from club member on Tom's impact on their projects and planes.  Here's a link to the publisher where you can page through and enjoy the book!!  You can enlarge the size of the page for better viewing.

The June 2019 issue of The RVator's Log is now ready for download HERE........

Every time I make a trip to Hibbing to visit Midwest Aircraft Refinishing, I usually find some reason to marvel at their artistry with a spray gun.  Monday of this week, I flew the RV-7 north to meet up with Frank Huber who was taking his RV-7A back for some minor touchup work.  His RV is painted in Bud Anderson's "Old Crow" paint scheme and is flawless, as I would have expected by any paintwork coming out of Hibbing.

The big news is their completion of a major addition to their facility.  Their new hangar is more than doubles the size of their other buildings.  One half is a sterile dust free space where they can do their final polishing and vinyl graphic work.  The other side is a state of the art paint booth big enough for a King Air.  Brightly lit with LEDs, the north wall is one big filtered air inlet and the south wall is the exit.  All the air is filtered and captured so no bad chemicals escape into the pristine Minnesota north woods nearby.

Most of their work is Cirrus restorations and repair, but their reputation is spreading among the RV community.  If you want the best, book early, as they are usually scheduled 8 to 12 months out!

- Doug

For more details on how Midwest Aircraft Refinishing came to be, here's an article in Business North magazine from last fall.

Frank Huber's RV-7 in front of Midwest's new paint hangar

This is the detail side of the new hangar.  Final finish work is done here before delivery.

The paint "booth"...  filtered air comes in through the entire wall

George Virnig explains the "exhaust" side of the hangar to Frank

Their bread and butter is Cirrus repairs.  This one in the process of recovering from a chute recovery with major composite repairs.  

This is a recent Cirrus restoration (it's a 2004 model). The carbon fiber effect is painted not vinyl graphics.  It's a secret how they do it, but they do it!!!!

Our resident tech counselor Tom Berge recently returned from Austria where he reassembed Joerg Pfeiffer's RV-9A.  Joerg's RV had been based at the Lino Lakes, MN airpark for a number of years.  He splits his time between the U.S. and his home in Austria managing his company JP Powersports Engineering.  This fall Joerg decided he wanted to move the airplane back home to Austria.  In late November, he and Tom took the airplane apart, crated it up in a standard shipping container for the trip to Europe.  After it arrived, Joerg contracted with Tom to come put it all back to together.  So in March, Tom and his wife Karen spent two weeks in this most beaitiful part of the world splitting time between RV "work" and sightseeing.

Here's a short clip of the engine start on March 17th.  Keep in mind the battery has been sitting in the airplane since the end of November and traveled on trucks and ships for all of this time with no attention whatsoever.   The Odyssey PC680 is a pretty robust battery and will hold a charge a LONG time without human intervention!

Here's a couple shots of around the local area in Nuziders, Austria (about an hour's drive east of Zurich.)

Driving to St. Moritz

This is certainly not Minnesota!

Pretty impressive place to fly your RV!!!

Our June summer hangar party (aka Anoka Extravaganza) is history.  Go HERE to check out the photos......

Tom Irlbeck tribute page

Tom Irlbeck reflects on his  57 years as a pilot, 71 1⁄2 years of flying....

RV-4 pilot John Field recently took his niece Mono for a ride in his beautiful yellow -4.  She wrote him this REALLY COOL thank you note...  You'll love it!!! (make all that labor worth every minute!)