This blog is called N888PB for a reason.  I’ve reserved N888PB with the FAA as the eventual registration number for my RV-8.  I got to thinking today.  Three “8”s in a row is a mouthful.  In fact if you count it out the entire registration becomes 7 syllables!  (In case you haven’t figured it out, the eights are for the RV model, and the letters are my initials… kind of lame)

But you know what?  I don’t think I care what my N-Number is!  I do care that its easy to spit out on the radio.  Minimum syllables.  With that in mind, I went to the FAA website today in search of the shortest available number measured in syllables.  The shortest I could find was 21W which turns out to be four syllables.  It does roll off the tongue much easier than 888PB. I can imagine saying “Tower, Experimental Two One Whiskey 3 miles east with information bravo.”  Compare that with “Tower, Experimental Eight Eight Eight Papa Bravo 3 miles east with information bravo.”  Yeah, the first one is much less of a mouthful.  Reserving N-Numbers only costs $10 per number per year, so I reserved 21W.  I’m still not sure which one I’ll use, but I’ve got at least a year!  Maybe something shorter will become available… 🙂

Empennage.  The only thing remaining before I begin the wings is for me to roll the leading edges of both elevators.  I’ve been putting it off because it is kind of a pain in the ass.

Wings.  I had hoped, based on the shipping estimate provided by Van’s, that my wings would arrive prior to this long holiday weekend.  Unfortunately, they did not.  Any day now!  I’ll post more as soon as they show up. I did do some minor shop setup over the weekend.  I labeled containers and organized tools and shelving in final preparation for the wings.  Cheers.