When Dave McCormick of Antioch, Illinois got the homebuilding itch in 1997, he ordered an RV-6 kit and promptly began construction. Dave steadily riveted and fabricated until he reached the quick build stage and, as they say, life got in the way. He sold his project on Barnstormers for financial reasons, thinking that his dreams of building and then flying his own aircraft were gone.
Thankfully, things got better and Dave wistfully perused Barnstormers for another chance to get back into homebuilding. That chance came in 2009, when he spied an ad for a ground looped RV-6 at a reasonable price. It turned out to be a formidable project. The plane, N190RV, had veered off the runway, struck the prop and then careened into a ditch, collapsing the right main gear, the nose gear and the right wing.
What Dave thought would be a two year rebuild project stretched out to eight years. He ended up tearing down and rebuilding the engine, replacing the prop with a Whirlwind, and building two completely new wings and the center section. As construction came to fruition, Dave received transition training in an RV-6. It was the first time he had even sat in one (other than his under construction). In August of 2017, N190RV completed its resurrection and Dave took it to the air, amazed at how light and spritely she felt.
After five years in the air, Dave felt it was time to take a really big trip. He and other home builders from Kenosha made their way to Sun ‘n Fun, having to wait out the line of thunderstorms blocking the way. He landed at LAL on Wednesday, just in time to set up camp at Homebuilt Camping and enjoy Mardi Gras night in the HBC tent. A string of Mardi Gras beads adorns the prop.
