Paul & Victoria Rosales' RV-6A Airplane Travel Stories

Since my first flight in our custom-built RV-6A on July 4th, 2000, we've flown our plane to 49 States in America, Bahamas, Bonaire, Canada, Cayman Islands, Cura ao, Dominican Republic, 16 islands of the Lesser Antilles, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Turks & Caicos and Virgin Islands. In 2005, we took off out of Key West with 5 other RVs, flying southbound over Cuba to Little Cayman (~330nm) where we spent a week diving in 'Paradise'. We had an AWESOME time on the islands with GREAT friends. All these trips and (making) new friends were made possible because we built (from 1995 to 2000) an RV aircraft! In 2007, after 6.5 years (and 2501 hours) of flying, our engine was overhauled. The plane was 'down' for 2 months, and I had the plane back in the air within 2 weeks of receiving our new engine. Late in 2017, we completed a Top Overhaul with new Superior Millennium cylinders. In 2009, we flew or plane to the Cayman Islands with a 'newer' engine! For 2011, Our trip was to the island of Great Exuma in The Bahamas with 16 aircraft: The most ever to join us on a trip! 2012 kept us in the USA with visits to friends in the Western part of the country. In 2013, we flew a TRIP-OF-A-LIFETIME to the Turks & Caicos, British Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic, south to the ABC Islands (Aruba/Bonaire/Cura ao), east to Grenada and north up the Lesser Antilles, island-hopping all the way!!! We departed on April 6th and returned home on May 5th after flying nearly 12,000 statute miles over 70 hours; We landed on 23 islands! 2014's flying also kept us pretty close to home....within one state of California :-) On April 9th, 2015, we started our trip back to the Antilles with 10 other RVs for a 3-week vacation since we REALLY LOVE flying the islands and being on 'island time!!!! We returned home on May 3rd after flying 25 days, 8600+ nm and 67 hours. One of the highlights was that we saw the hour meter turn 4,000 hours too! Click the 2015 link below for the trip details. 2016's big trip was for the 30 Year Anniversary of the RV-6 design at Oshkosh where I got to fly in a 34-ship formation, then narrated the Thursday's Airshow for the 30-ship formation in honor of Van! 2017 has us flying BACK to the Caribbean Sea to the Islands of St. Kitts, St. Croix and Grenada with 8 RVs joining us. We departed on Saturday April 15th and returned home to California by April 30th. See the trip report on the Van's Air Force website. I flew to EAA AirVenture 2018. I left on Thursday July 19th and returned Sunday July 29 putting ~30 hours on the plane. On Tuesday, July 24th, I flew formation (#4 behind LEAD) in the Tuesday Showcase with 23 other RVs! ;-) Once I returned from Oshkosh, with the help of my great friend Robert Paisely of EFII, we changed out my old 1990's LASAR Electronic Ignition for his new, modern System 32 Electronic Ignition System. I am SO HAPPY with it!!!! His design gave me better starting, a smoother running engine, better fuel economy and MORE POWER!!!! We are now 700+ trouble-free hours with this system and have installed a couple of systems on friends RVs! On April 19th 2019, we departed California for a trip back to the Cayman Islands and Grand Turk to SCUBA dive with my friends at Conch Club Divers and Blue Water Diving. We flew 47 hours and covered 6800+nm... IT WAS A GREAT TRIP WITH RV FRIENDS!!! I need to find a 'rainy' day to take the time to get the trip report onto the website here... On July 16th 2019, I flew to Santa Monica for dinner to celebrate my 40th year as a Private Pilot... and took my VERY first passenger... Victoria!!!! The Year 2020....we layed 'low'....like everyone else because of Covid.... Our planned Caribbean Trip for 2021 was cancelled due to the continuing Covid pandemic...but on on July 3rd, our RV passed 5000 hours on the plane!!!!! This was just a day short of my 21-year-anniversary of my first flight!!! It still seems like just yesterday that I had my first flight ;-) Our plane has brought MANY new friends and MUCH JOY to our life!!! For the year 2021, We flew ~210 hours and flew ~16,500 nautical miles :-) Obviously, WE LOVE TO FLY! Here's a video of what it's like to land and taxi to our Rosamond Skypark Home... Van's Aircraft celebrated 50 years in business this year, and I was honored to be selected to for a 3-ship formation photo shoot over EAA Airventure 2022 (during the show). The Photo by Ed Hicks made the October '22 Cover of EAA Sport Magazine!!! Look for us again to be featured in the July issue! UPDATE: On October 15, 2022, while flying the Airshow at Edwards Air Force Base, my hobbs meter turned 5,300 hours! We departed April 13th for our next Caribbean flying adventure to St. Croix, Antigua and San Salvador (Bahamas) and returned on April 30th: We flew exactly 7900nm over 58 hours. Darwin & Kelly Barrie along with Gene Larsen joined me for all the islands with Dave & Alina Buono, Tanya Benning & Nichelle Jackson and Danny & Mary Kight joining us on San Salvador... I HIGHLY recommmendthat if you SCUBA, you make the trip to San Salvador and stay at the family-owned/operated Riding Rock Resort! The Diving was EXCELLENT! As of December 1st, 2023, Our RV-6A hobbs was showing 5,492 hours. That's about the distance of flying ~35 times around the world at the equator using an average of 160mph!!! It's currently down for engine overhaul but I now own/fly an RV-8 and have about 40 hours tailwheel time ;-) Checkout our USA and Caribbean pin maps (click USA map to zoom in). I've written these stories to keep the homebuilders motivated and also inspire the fliers. We hope you enjoy these stories as much as we enjoyed flying them! Paul & Victoria
11 Hrs to Oshkosh  Ways to fly more Florida 2001   East Coast 2001 Eureka 2002
Durango 2002 Waco 2002 Spokane 2002   Oshkosh 2002 Smiley Creek 2002
Golden West 2002    Death Valley 2003 Mesa Verde 2003   Smiley Creek 2003 Oshkosh 2003
Yellowstone 2003 East Coast 2003 Turks & Bahamas 2004   Carlsbad Caverns 2004    Glacier Park 2004
Oshkosh 2004 Hurricane Ivan 2004     Mexico 2005   Cayman Islands 2005 Rogue River 2005
Rosamond 2006        Turks & Caicos 2007   Oshkosh 2007   Cayman Islands 2009     Colorado Whitewater Rafting 2010
Bahamas 2011Antilles 2013 Tahoe-Minden 2013   Antilles 2015 Antilles 2017





And if you are looking for a Guided Tour of the Caribbean, I recommend Jim Parker's

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