Van’s Aircraft likes to talk about the “RV Grin”…the smile we builders eventually have when we finally get to fly our RVs.  I got a chance to practice my grin today when I flew to lunch at New Bedford with my friend Tim in his beautiful RV-10.

Tim’s airplane is unique in a couple of ways.  First, it has a ballistic parachute recovery system integrated into the fuselage.  The fairings below and behind the cockpit windows house parachute risers that are attached to fittings on the main wing spar carrythrough.

The other novel aspect of Tim’s airplane is his Avidyne Entegra PFD and MFD.  I don’t know of any other RV (or any experimental airplane, for that matter) with Avidyne avionics…it’s a very nice addition.

I’m definitely smiling, and I think I caught Tim by surprise…but I’m sure he’s about to smile too.  Thanks for the ride, Tim…it was a great motivational boost!