Flight Chops is building an RV-14

TFulwider said:
So if you take away the cameras it'll be like a lot of people that are "building" their own RV! :)
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Not sure why building is in quotes. Most of the guys I know that are building projects are doing the bulk of the work themselves with occasional advice mentoring and help from friends. To me, that's a bit of a different scenario from assembling a team of pros to run the build and do the build while you film it and maybe get your hands dirty once in a while too. And I'm not knocking him for doing it that way. But if you assemble a team of experienced techs in a hangar full of tools and equipment and then represent that as 'this is what's its like for an amateur building a kit plane...' well let's just say I would find that to be a little bit disingenuous.

And I'm not saying that's what he's going to do. Maybe he'll be the one that does the lion share of the drilling and deburring and dimpling and riveting and he'll just have the team there to film him and guide him and setup work areas. But that wasn't what I took from his comments on the project so far. What I took from his comments is that he doesn't know what a bandsaw is and is glad he's got a team of experts who can handle those things for him.
 
I put building in quotes because while there are a lot of people that are building their projects from top to bottom, there are also many that are being built by professional shops while the owner watches.

What I got out of the video is him showing exactly how green he is on everything. Time will tell, but I bet you'll see him becoming more and more hands on as he learns and educates himself.
 
So we all have seen the terms “amateur” and “professional” thrown around in this discussion and others regarding building an aircraft.

So what do those terms mean to you?

If an experienced A&P/IA with tons of heavy structures experience builds a plane, it it amateur built?

And if some of his equally experienced buddies help him, is that professional assistance?

:cool:
 
Over the years folks have lamented the lack of aviation--particularly GA focused--programming on TV. We're now in the new world of media where people don't turn on the TV to see whats on, they go to youtube and see what's new. Flight Chops, and other youtube channels, are filling in the niche that we as a community longed for.

This dude, and others like him, are bringing in new younger blood. How many 30 somethings want to go to EAA chapter meetings to listen to old guys drone about their 8 year builds? Yeah, that many. I'm older than Steve, but I can identify with him much more than I can identify with retirees building planes in their spare time. I've got a 4yo, so I'm not sure building is in my future any time soon, but I suspect Steve will do a good job of making the process interesting to watch, even if it is heavily edited and he has a whole gang of helpers.
 
I took my IFR checkride 9 days after my first training session.

Flight chops is awesome, he got me interested in flying little airplanes again. Looking forward to this video series.
 
SkyDog58 said:
So we all have seen the terms “amateur” and “professional” thrown around in this discussion and others regarding building an aircraft.

So what do those terms mean to you?

If an experienced A&P/IA with tons of heavy structures experience builds a plane, it it amateur built?

And if some of his equally experienced buddies help him, is that professional assistance?

:cool:
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It's amateur built no matter what your experience level is.

"Professional assistance" means a paid service. (at least according the DAR who inspected my plane)
 
OneCharlieTango said:
Every. Single. YouTuber needs an editor. Chops's 14 minutes could easily be cut to 7 with no loss of content. I couldn't finish it. I can't finish most of them. And it's not like I'm some short-attention-spanned youth.
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I started watching a flying point A to point B video this morning that was 58 minutes long. 15 minutes would have made a better video. I couldn't finish it, either.

Are YouTubers given credit for minutes watched, or just views?
 
OneCharlieTango said:
Every. Single. YouTuber needs an editor. Chops's 14 minutes could easily be cut to 7 with no loss of content. I couldn't finish it. I can't finish most of them. And it's not like I'm some short-attention-spanned youth.
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TLDR

Ok kidding aside, I agree there are tons of folks creating content on youtube who could benefit from a good class on editing. But I think Steve's doing ok in that department. Not everyone wants their entertainment limited to 3 minute chunks. His content is generally interesting enough to hold my attention. Maybe my tastes are just simple that way. Shrug.
 
I just watched one of the videos. Lots of (what I call) "filler footage". Material that has no direct relevance to the topic. Glamor shots of a Harvard, views of flight jumpsuits, etc. Someone boxing up a pizza??? That 13:48 video could have easily been half that without the fluff.
 
Fallsrider said:
Are YouTubers given credit for minutes watched, or just views?
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Watch time is big.
So is "engagement"
Clickbait that gets people to watch a long video are some of the things that move you near the top of the search algorithm.

MUST WATCH! THIS COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE!!!!!!!

On a serious note...
 
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I quite enjoy the videos - I think it will be interesting to dip into occasionally - I can’t see myself watching the whole series though.

I prefer watching MrAviation101 to be honest - production value is much better and good story arc. And Steveo1kinevo also good fun.

But that JustPlaneSilly guy? Would NEVER watch him - he’s a Certified Lunatic . (Haha - it’s only his videos I get alerts for...)
 
donjohnston said:
I just watched one of the videos. Lots of (what I call) "filler footage". Material that has no direct relevance to the topic. Glamor shots of a Harvard, views of flight jumpsuits, etc. Someone boxing up a pizza??? That 13:48 video could have easily been half that without the fluff.
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The Flying Chops videos have so much potential, and some of them seriously miss the mark.

WAY TOO MUCH filler for the hands on content. The worst was his video on building a Flight Sim at home. seems like half the video is his techie describing over-clocking and how various cooling methods work. Zero time spent on equipment selection and configuration.

He switches between participant and film director crating meaningful content gaps in his presentation.

-David
 
The couple of Flight Chops videos I've seen on the progress of the build, it looks like he's just dropping in on the guys really building it, and helping out enough for a video.
 
I just started my RV-10 build not long time ago. I am also attempting to video-blog/document all steps as much as I can while keeping my videos short.
My goal is go through every step and comment/add ideas/provide recommendations on each step for future builders.
In my opinion the experience of building of airplane is extremely valuable for a pilot!
In case if anyone is interested the link to my youtube RV build blog is in my signature.
 
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More power to Flights Chops Rv14 build, sorta, but based on the 3 vlongs so far not even remotely representative of what most builders face. Does show some interesting aspects but Jason Ellis has a good youtube channel or Tim Olsen is a good reference https://www.myrv14.com/ I have zero affiliation with either just my HO
 
TFulwider said:
Probably about as long as I've been working on mine!
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Timbeck2 said:
Me too. :oops:
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StevieTimes said:
I got my private in 2009, my instrument in 2011, and it looks like my last logbook entry was in January of 2015. I am still under 200 hours, I believe.

So I started flying, got my instrument, and quit flying in less time than it's taken you to obtain your instrument rating!

:)
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WannFly said:
I am super determined to get the IR done this year. I am 100% positive that I will. I had said the same thing last year. But hey, at least I am consistent!!
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Git 'er done boys!

If you like to travel via general aviation it's a huge help; yuuuge! ;)

I was planning on waiting a year after my PPL to start my IR. Only 1 1/2 months after the PPL checkride I started on the IR. Got canceled for a day trip with the family twice for some rather benign weather and immediately started. Now we avoid thunderstorms and ice, but go pretty much otherwise.

It's my favorite way to travel. :) Flew up to Lexington to visit our middle daughter a couple of weeks ago, only 1.7 on the hobbs each way. :cool: The drive is typically 6 hours. Last time we drove it was ~7 1/4 hours. :( Even in the rain on the way up it was waaaay better than getting stuck in construction and accident slow-downs.
 
wayne said:
Git 'er done boys!

If you like to travel via general aviation it's a huge help; yuuuge! ;)

I was planning on waiting a year after my PPL to start my IR. Only 1 1/2 months after the PPL checkride I started on the IR. Got canceled for a day trip with the family twice for some rather benign weather and immediately started. Now we avoid thunderstorms and ice, but go pretty much otherwise.

It's my favorite way to travel. :) Flew up to Lexington to visit our middle daughter a couple of weeks ago, only 1.7 on the hobbs each way. :cool: The drive is typically 6 hours. Last time we drove it was ~7 1/4 hours. :( Even in the rain on the way up it was waaaay better than getting stuck in construction and accident slow-downs.
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The year has come and almost gone, I am no closer to where I was with the IR and on top of it, changed job and now have to travel freaking 2-3 weeks a month. I always wanted to spend a lot of time at the airport .... well I am now at the pax terminal. Forget IR, I am struggling to stay VFR proficient
 
Wow not much Love for FC here!

I haven't watched all his videos but he does seem like a pretty genuine guy who loves flying and does a halfway decent job of producing videos, promoting aviation safety and you could definitely watch a lot worse aviation videos on YouTube than his. I also appreciate he doesn't use super click baity type titles (I'm looking at you Matt Guthmiller) nor does he place a lot of bimbos in his vid previews for clicks. The videos where he is taking 15 mins to talk about flying a cool plane for the first time is great e.g. the Carbon Cubs, the DC3 etc. I can also totally sympathize with the lengthy process of getting certs and ratings; I started my Private in 1991 and didn't finish til 1999 and still don't have an Instrument rating yet!

While I think Chops is pretty charismatic, I don't know if I want to listen to guy talk about building a plane that has 0 experience doing so, but he might prove me wrong. Doing a build is a goal of mine at some point in the future; finding the time is going to be the tricky part and that is a problem a lot of guys have and why so many builds never get completed.

To make a build video that will get a large number of viewers it should emulate something like a Discovery Channel automotive show; you know the format; "we gotta build this car in 2 weeks and sell it auction or we'll loose the shop" type of show. They usually follow a project start to finish in 1 or 2 episodes. For an aircraft it'll obviously take longer and we don't need the whole fake drama of a Discovery channel show, nor any of the corner cutting; but the build series needs to complete in a fairly reasonable amount of time to get good viewership. I'm talking about making videos that are primarily entertainment with some education not an in depth how to or one discussing the matierial properties of one Aluminum alloy over the next.

Ever since I first started watching "Roadkill" on YouTube I thought there needed to be an Aviation version, obviously with more safety in mind. Something along the lines of a few guys taking 5 days to resurrect some ramp mummy, or dusty old project in the back of a hangar, get it airworthy and fly it somewhere (safely). Plane Saver's did a DC3 in a year, so no reason why 2 or 3 guys and an A&P/IA couldn't get an old single engine back to airworthy in a few days. You need to have A LOT of time on your hands to watch all of the Plane Saver's vids but the DC3 went from pretty much scrap to flying in a fairly reasonable amount of time.

Even if it takes 2 years to film a build, edit it down and roll out a new video every week or 2 over a couple months once the build is complete. It would also be nice if the builder/host/vlogger was an experienced builder with good on camera presence, this is seriously lacking in Aviation videos (many seem to still be filmed in a 1990s style). Take a look at Uncle Tony's Garage on YT that guys KNOWS MOPARs and keeps his vids short yet is able to convey a lot of knowledge when he's presenting. If we had an A&P or EAB guy that could be huge help for new builders.
 
Rogue_Ryder said:
While I think Chops is pretty charismatic, I don't know if I want to listen to guy talk about building a plane that has 0 experience doing so, but he might prove me wrong.
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As you shouldn't, instead listen to him interviewing the people doing the work. There is plenty of content out there be it on YouTube, EAA or individual build logs.

I don't think there's anyone resurrecting debilitating ramp aircraft though. You would be hard pressed to do that in 5 days though, parts alone could take a week to get.
 
Rogue_Ryder said:
To make a build video that will get a large number of viewers it should emulate something like a Discovery Channel automotive show; you know the format; "we gotta build this car in 2 weeks and sell it auction or we'll loose the shop" type of show.
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Blech.... Not at all interesting. It may get a stupid number of views, but...

OkieAviator said:
I don't think there's anyone resurrecting debilitating ramp aircraft
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Not in the one week 2 episode format, but for example: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTMN_Y5P_PfwzzCJ2w-h5yg
 
OneCharlieTango said:
Every. Single. YouTuber needs an editor. Chops's 14 minutes could easily be cut to 7 with no loss of content. I couldn't finish it. I can't finish most of them. And it's not like I'm some short-attention-spanned youth.
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I think there's some magic in the YouTube algorithm for 13-17 minute videos. It seems every prolific YouTuber makes 15 minute videos. If you've ever watched the "Today I found Out" guy you'll know that you can make a 15 minute video on literally anything. Here he tells you in 17 minutes why airline seats don't align with windows.
 
Not sure how many of you have watched Steve's IFR VLOG, but it appears Transport Canada's test and preparation for the instrument rating is quite a few notches above the FAA's. I passed my IR earlier this year after roughly one year of training, flying once a week, sometimes once every two weeks and I found it MUCH easier than what I've seen in Steve's VLOG. It definitely would've require more time and dedication on my part to go through TC's process.
 
He lost a lot of time on the IFR rating to all the filming he had been doing. If I had to choose between finishing my IR and training to solo the T6 I'd take the T6 any day! Or the jets, carbon cubs, Phenoms, etc that he's had the opportunity to fly because of the channel.
 
eman1200 said:
As much as he’s dragging out his IFR experience on YouTube I can see this project getting boring to watch real quick.
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eman, when you're right you're right.
 
Another airplane in the fleet (take a look at some of the tiedown'd planes at airports nowadays, the fleet is functionally shrinking for sure, ) spending money on gas, fees, A&P's... anything to help GA. And this build will be documented professionally... If the plane takes 2,000 hours to build and FC spends about 10, so what...
 
Brad Z said:
Stick to your cartoons.
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like this?

45gl13.jpg
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Just wanted to announce that I am building a Gentle Lady RC glider. We started ~3 years ago and hope to have it in the air before Spring of some year.
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Ha, I built one about forty years ago. It looked so nice I didn't want to ruin it by flying it.
 
I enjoyed watching a lot of FlightChops' flying videos early on, the ones where he's actually flying the planes and letting us watch him learn, make mistakes, and learn more. Nothing against his newer stuff but I do agree there is quite a bit more fluff these days.

Then I got hooked on Mike Patey's channel with Draco and now Scrappy. Holy hell, that dude's a certified madman. Plus his videos are pretty much zero clickbait, all nitty gritty, and about him creating monsters from the ground up. Highly recommend his channel.

Trent Palmer and his Kitfox flying is usually some awesome entertainment as well. Also like watching Steveo1Kinevo for unadulterated TBM850 porn, along with Aviation101 and his Skyhawk shenanigans and learning experiences. I enjoy his recent trend of digging deep into GA safety and improving training to save lives.
 
drummer4468 said:
I enjoyed watching a lot of FlightChops' flying videos early on, the ones where he's actually flying the planes and letting us watch him learn, make mistakes, and learn more. Nothing against his newer stuff but I do agree there is quite a bit more fluff these days.
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Fallsrider said:
I started watching a flying point A to point B video this morning that was 58 minutes long. 15 minutes would have made a better video. I couldn't finish it, either.

Are YouTubers given credit for minutes watched, or just views?
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It seems with passing of time he puts less and less effort into his videos and gets on to unfocused tangents. His flight sim video was exactly this point. More than half the time was talking about the guy helping him and not the Sim and decisions made.
 
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