Inspiration

It’s always inspiring to see a completed RV-10 to help keep your eyes on the prize. It’s especially inspiring when you cross paths with a recently-refurbished showplane quality example. I had that luck when I stumbled upon (somewhat accidentally, somewhat on purpose) the 2020 AOPA Sweepstakes RV-10, just a few days before its reveal to its lucky winner!

I had been day dreaming of building an RV-10 for probably 10 years now, so I was completely thrilled to learn that AOPA has chosen an RV-10 for an annual sweepstakes plane in the same year that I committed to build! I was following its refurbishment over the last several months. Then I was super thrilled when I had the chance to see the finished airplane in person.

Update: January 24, 2021:

A couple of weeks ago (January 11th), some people were posting on the RV-10 Facebook Group that they had been tracking N260MG westward. I happened to look it up just then on FlightAware, and saw that it had departed Wells, Nevada and was halfway across California, and looked to be heading to the Bay Area. I extrapolated the track, and it was actually pointed directly to Livermore. Sure enough, I saw it “land” online at Livermore several minutes later. I texted my hangar row neighbor Dave (who built his own beautiful RV-10 himself!) notifying him that one of us might be the winner 😉

The following weekend, Dave and I were both at the airport chatting about the sweepstakes RV-10 being in Livermore, and yet another hangar row neighbor said that he saw “the red plane” just the day before, so we were quickly able to determine which hangar had been hiding it. At one point that day, while I was in my hangar working on my own build, Dave decided to visit the hangar and tried to pry information out of a person in the office associated with the hangar, but they were dutifully tight lipped! But Dave did get a clue on how long the plane would be there.

Saturday January 23rd rolls around, and I head to the airport before 10am for my weekend ritual. Well, the hangar in question is open and the red beauty is in sight. And who did I see? My hangar neighbor Dave was watching from his pick-up truck! We thought either the plane was moving that day or being prepped. We didn’t think it would be awarded in Livermore actually. I went back to my hangar, and was monitoring the radio. Dave came by shortly after saying that it had been pulled outside.

We went back, and Dave Hirschman from AOPA was there doing some final detail for the reveal! He was very friendly and super kind to allow us RV-10 fanboys to ogle over the plane and ask questions, and we remained at a healthy social distance of course. Really enjoyed our chat with him.

Well, the plane was awarded the very next day to a local pilot, Aaron Benedetti, a Boeing 787 captain for United who is also an active General Aviation pilot. Here is Dave Hirschman’s write-up on the reveal. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing more of this plane around Livermore!