Bergj69

Thanks for sharing all this information. Well, I've made my mind up: as soon as the funds will allow it, I will search the market for a finished, second hand Velocity. Preferably a RG, but I won't be picky. . . Regards, Jeroen

Sorry for that stupid mistake: Johannesburg - Hilversum The Netherlands is of course a longer distance! It feels odd compaired to the routing I looked into (Plain View Texas, via Gandar, Greenland, Iceland, Schotland to Hilversum) the Routing Johannesburg - Lusaka - Dar Es Salaam - Nairobi - Adis Abeba - Al Khurtum - Aswan - Cairo - Eraklion - Rome - Hilversum is about 1050 NM longer! I know I'm taking a bit of a de-tour but I would like to avoid Congo and Rwanda. And I'm hoping things will turn for the better in Nairobi shortly.

Thanks for the tip! As you can see in my edit in the post, I've found the link to the Brits and their Oddesey. South Africa - Netherlands is more convenient: practically the same time zone, no large water crossing. Distance slightly shorter. So, I'll keep an eye on that Velocity!

Hi Tom, I've extensively run through that history but I can't seem to find it. Perhaps I bumped onto the Brits from a different location and this caused the site not to appear in the (extensive) history list. I've been browsing quite a lot lately because I'm considering to buy an aircraft. The options are countless: buy a (very old) 1977 C172 with a constant speed prop and 195 hp engine (advantage: Dutch licence on it, cabin space, reasonable cruise speed 130 kt, disadvantage: age), buy a brand new kit (advantage: I get to assemble my ideal configuration, can even put in a diesel engine that runs on Jet A-1 wich is cheaper in the Netherlands than AVGAS 100LL, disadvantage: very, very time consuming), buy a finished kit (advantage: it flies, it's relatively young, disadvantage: located in The States, means I need to get an American PPL and need to fly the machine to the Netherlands across the ocean or tear it apart and put it in a container, bring it to a harbour, put it on a boat, collect it at the harbour in Rotterdam and bring it to the airfield, etc, etc) So, to cut a long story short: I've been looking all over the internet to find info. During which period a tumbled across the British adventure. As it looks now, the most likely option is buying an American finished Velocity and fly it across myself. The Brits did it in 5 days (and were stuck due weather for 1 day), so it sounds doable. I wanted to have a closer look at their routing and now I can't find their story... Thanks for your hint though! Update: I've just checked the browse history on my desktop (normally I hardly ever use that one because I'm sort of attached to my laptop) and found the story again: http://www.debenlogic.co.uk/velocity/contact.htm and then scroll down a bit and, when your interested, you can read it yourself!

A couple of days ago I read a report somewhere on the Internet about 2 British guys that crossed the Atlantic in their freshly built Velocity. I was so dumb not to bookmark this site, now I can't find it anymore. Anyone of you perhaps knows what I'm looking for? It was a trip made by two British guys out of a party of 4 who built the aircraft at the Service Center. Some of them were former airline pilots. It took them 5 days to fly to England, I think they did it round about 2005. I wanted to take another look at their routing, cause I might end up with the same mission... Who can help me out here?

I found a Pilots Operating Handbook (strangely enough, made for the plane I'm interested in buying http://reiny.ruess.com/hb-yjn/Flughandbuch-HB-YJN.pdf) and found this text: The inboard portion of the large wing strakes are used as baggage areas, accessible from the front and rear cockpit. These, combined with special suitcases and other storage areas, provide nearly 10 cubic ft of baggage room. Well, that answers my question! 238 liters that can contain max 45 kg, this should be more than enough for a weekend trip. So I think I'll be going for the SE rather than the XL: sure the XL offers even more space, but is so much harder to get built and all in Europe. And when it will become available, it will probably much more expensive.

Thanks Drew and Emteeoh, I thought the cabin space of the Velocity SE would be somewhat bigger than the Cozy, but I'll look in to that. I've got the feeling the XL would offer some space, certainly enough for the weekend with the kids and the wife, I'm just not sure about the SE in that scenario. Since I live in the Netherlands, I do not have an opportunity too often to sit in either a Cozy or a Velocity, there just not too many around here, just a hand full. I'm considering buying a finished, second hand Velocity SE RG that is in Zürich, Switzerland. And that's, compaired to the States, just around the corner. Before taking a trip to Zürich, I'm hoping to find out more about cabin space with regards to the Velocity and the Cozy for that matter. The reason I'm not planning to built for myself is well illustrated in this story: The First Flight..... From The Eyes of The Wife http://www.velocityaircraft.com/Velocity%20Online/Velocityonline.html#Builder_Articles (scroll down a bit). Even though I think building a Velocity XL RG would be a great adventure, I'm afraid I can't sell the wife the concept of her husband being gone in some garage or shop in the vicinity for the next 4 years on practically every spare hour. . . But I think I can imagine the great feeling it must give when you fly your own built aircraft for the very first time..

Exactly something I am curious about. . So far 36 people have looked at your question, but no answers yet. I would like to know if I can go on a long weekend trip with my two kids (13 and 11) and still carry some luggage. And where would I leave that luggage? In front of the rear seats, at the childrens feet? Come on Velocity owners, help us out here!