To all my friends and family, on Wednesday, July 28, 2010, at 7:28 AM Penny Lee took her maiden flight and slipped the surly bonds of earth and became an airplane. She handled beautifully and caused great joy at my house! Many more flights are in her immediate future as I get the test period out of the way so that I can leave the test area and start visiting everyone. Here are some pictures to look at and enjoy! (zoom in on the belly and see the big red bird!)

             

        Bob Schroeder
        [ BSchroeder at rideuta.com ]

Hi,

On a beautiful Sunday morning (27th June 2010) RV-4 C-GBVG flew for the first time here in CYRI. It climbed and went faster than any flying machine I previously owned. I am really happy with the outcome.

Empty weight: 939 lbs
Lycoming 0-320E2D
Sterba prop
I kept it very basic with only a Dynon-180 and a portable COM for the first 25 hours.

Special thanks to people in CYXK:
   my very helpful MD-RA representative Bruno, Richard who kindly offered
   his own RV-4 for check rides, hangar neighbors in YRI, and finally my
   wife Michelle who supported me in many ways during this project.

Many thanks to Mr. VanGrunsven and all the staff at Van's.

        
      

       Mario L'Allier
       Notre-Dame-du-Portage, Qc Canada
       [ mariolallier at videotron.ca ]

Saturday 7/24 at 0850, I performed the first flight of my "quickbuild" RV-9A, 9-1330, from the Mothership homebase of Aurora, Ore. Build time was 4 yrs, 3 mo. and 1665 hrs of hands on building. Empty weight is 1138 lbs.

Wind was 10-15 mph straight down runway 35, acceleration was swift, and on lift off the airplane flew "hot, straight and normal". With neutral elevator trim at rotation, it only took about ½ turn "down" to set climb trim. Climbed at 100 mph to a racetrack around KUAO at 3500ft at full throttle (26" MP / 2400 RPM, 82% Power, full rich, resulting in 14 GPH) for initial engine break-in. CHT’s stabilized at 380 to 410 and at 30 minutes into the flight, in a manner of a few minutes, all four CHT’s dropped 40-50 Deg, indicating that the rings had broken in. Oil temp was stable throughout the flight at 183.

Full power was maintained for 45 min, then throttled back to determine stall Vs IAS. Clean stall buffet occurred at 58 MPH IAS, 20 Deg Flap buffet at 53 MPH IAS. Entered the traffic pattern at 85 MPH, turned final at 70 MPH with 20 Deg flap and made a greaser landing! WOW…. What a sweet & honest airplane!!!!!!!!!!

General flight observations:
Rudder authority on take off is immediate.
Manual pitch trim is very sensitive.
Control stick flight pressures are pretty high, but well balanced.
No heavy wing.
I have about 1/3 diameter of a GRT EFIS ball left skid at high power cruise, but this needs more evaluation on subsequent flights before determining the final resolution.
With power reduction approaching the pattern, the airplane immediately slows down due to the CS prop, so speed control response is rapid.
The airplane floats nicely in ground effect, making the landing flair easy.
Not a drop of oil on the cowl/fuselage after the flight!

The airplane is powered by a rebuilt Lyc IO-320 D3G by Premier Aircraft Engines at KTTD, with Airmotive SilverHawk Fuel Injection, Left Mag and LSE Electronic Ignition and Hartzell CS prop.
The panel is equipped with dual Grand Rapids Sport EFIS’s, GRT EIS-4000, AvMap EKP IV, KX-155 Nav/Comm, NAV-121, GTX-327 Transponder, and Navaid AP-1 AP.
I had the general idea for the paint scheme, but it was the brilliant skill of John Stahr (http://www.stahrdesign.com/), who made it all come to life.

Final performance numbers will come as Phase I testing continues, but so far, it’s "by the book".

             

       Mike Rhodes
       Milwaukie, OR
       http://www.mykitlog.com/n539rv
       [ rv9av8tr at hotmail.com ]

      Glenn Cook
      [ dgcook at ca.inter.net ]

Well, after 5 years of work I flew my RV-9 for the first time on July 20th 2010. It flew hands off and made me grin so wide that my cheeks hurt. She has a newly rebuilt 0-320 150 HP engine, AFS EFIS and engine monitor,TruTrack autopilot and AvMap GPS.

I want to think my wife Jane for allowing me to follow my dream for the last 5 years. This is the second plane have completed with her support and I am pretty sure it will be the last. We plan to do lots of traveling now that the transportation is done. Thanks also to the staff at Vans and all the other builders who have provided support.

             

        Ken Klima
        Greendale Wisconsin
        N904KJ S/N 91201
        [ kklima4 at wi.rr.com ]

I am glad and proud to report that F-PJLL, RV-6 #22822 is airborne. She flew for the first time on 9th october 2008 and has been « dressed » with her beautiiful paint in April this year. F-PJLL is equipped with an O360, CS Hartzell, one mag and one lightspeed EI, AP trio Avionics, dual GRT sport. Leather Interior from ClassicAero.

This is a very pleasant aircraft to fly…easy, forgivable… but a real blast in fact! This is really a great tourer at 160 kts at less than 8gl/h with easy landing capacities on 1500 ft grass fields… wow!

It now has 115 hours on the hobbs with already 12 counties overflown in Europe…

I am a real happy builder and owner!

      Thank you Van’s!
      Lionel Laurent
      [ lilaurent at modulonet.fr ]

I would like to report the first flight for N446RV on July 20, 2010.

I picked up my 9A from a fellow builder on June 17, 2005. He had started quite well on the build. He had completed the tail feathers, ailerons and flaps. I picked up the rest of the crated project and transported it across the country (from Syracuse, NY to Tuttle, OK) and began work. 5 years, 1 month and 3 days later I flew N446RV. It was a short flight of about 20 minutes but she flew well. There were no major issues with the flight characteristics. The engine ran very smoothly and considering the temperatures outside, all CHT and oil temperatures were well within limits.

N446RV is an RV-9A with an ECI IO-340 stroker engine with ECI forward facing cold air induction fuel injection system and Vetterman 4 pipe exhaust. It has one Slick Mag and one Lightspeed Plasma III Electronic Ignition. I have a Catto 3 blade fixed pitch prop that is very smooth and quiet. Plus it adds a bit more clearance for landings on our 3000' grass strip. Yes, I am landing my nose gear airplane just fine on a grass strip!

The panel is all glass with dual GRT HX 8.4" EFIS systems with dual AHRS and EIS4000, a panel mounted Garmin 695 GPS, Garmin SL40 comm, Garmin GTX327 transponder, Vertical Power VP-50 power control unit, TruTrak Digiflight II VGVS autopilot and PM3000 intercom. The interior is from Classic Aero.

The empty weight came in at 1033 lbs.

I have to especially thank Clark Taylor for spending 5 years of assisting me with bucking all of those rivets and for helping with every system on the airplane. I could not have done this without his help. I also have to thank my wife Mary for all the support, and help when needed. She did a great deal to help with the construction. She was even willing to help buck rivets a time or two. There were a great many other individuals too numerous to mention individually that helped greatly.

              

        Steve Ingraham
        [ steveingraham at hotmail.com ]

Proud to report N98CX, RV-10 kit 40775, got airborne July 14th at Franklin VA. With a lot of sweat, more than a little bit of blood, and maybe a few beers, the plane was completed in just over 2.5 years (QB wings). Plane flies great, can’t wait to stretch its legs. Big thanks to the family, Dani, Darby and Shelby, for their help, support and patience, and to fellow RV-10 driver Gray Bridwell for introducing me to the plane and providing advice throughout.

Started – Oct 2007
Moved across the country – Jul 2008
Completed – Jul 2010
IO 540, Hartzell 2 blade prop, Dynon EFIS/EMS, GNS 430W

          Chad Rubino, owner/builder
          [ Chad.Rubino at langley.af.mil ]

Fifty years ago today my father bought me my first airplane ride for my 8th birthday. And today, after 12 1/2 years of building/fund raising, RV-8A, N714BV took to the skies for the first time. What a thrill. I've flown a lot of RV's but there's nothing like flying your own! Slow build, Aerosport IO-360M1 with an MT 3 blade. Blue Mountain, Garmin 480, SL40, GTX327, Ultra Auracle engine monitor. She came off the ground like a shot! My only regret is that my Dad isn't here anymore to see what happened to the passion for aviation that he instilled in me. Many thanks to all who have mentored, assisted, and just hung out at the "hangar" over the years, encouraging me to finish the project. One of the upsides of taking so long is that I got to fly with Mike Seager a LOT and I highly recommend him if you get the opportunity. Ken Barto, who taught me most of what I know about building airplanes, Dan Baier for the time in his 7A, Kevin Horton for his fuselage jig WAY back when, and to my family for sharing the dream. Phase One, here we go!

            


       Bob Northrup
       RV-8A (80578)
       N714BV
       [ Bob.Northrup at ultra-fei.com ]

N595RV has now flown her required 25 hours and will be on the way to Air Venture soon. My maiden voyage was July 3rd with amazing density altitude and heat she shot off from the mountain airport like the bird she is. Too many folks to thank for the mentoring and help. But my main mentor Dave Garris and wife Carol both have patience of a saint.

Thanks Van for your great design. Orville and Wilbur would be proud.

Randy Means
N595RV
Mountain City Tn.
[ RMeans at sao9.org ]

SN: 82897 N348AS
First flight: July 10, 2010 Tail kit purchased at Oshkosh August 2008
Engine: Lycoming 0-060 A1A
Prop: Hartzel C/S
Empty Wt: 1123 w/o wheel pants
Avionics: GRT HX, HS, EIS, Trio Pro Pilot, Garmin GNS 430W, SL 40, 327 and audio panel
Build time: @14 months with QB kit

This is my second kit that I have built and with the cnc pre punched holes the learning curve was very quick. My first plane and RV-6A took almost six years to complete before she flew. This one went together very quickly. There is a lot more testing I have to do as this was a very quick up and down flight to check that she would fly.

          Allan Stern
          [ stern@marshall.edu ]

I am very please to report that my RV-6 has successfully transitioned safely to 'flying' status with a 30 minute flight in country NSW, Australia..

The aircraft and engine (O-320D1A and Sensenich metal FP prop) performed flawlessly for the flight.

The aircraft has been a very slow build, commenced in 1997 (I even riveted the main spars !). It is a basic VFR platform with the only noteable feature being an EFIS of my own design and manufacture. The final weight was 1025lbs.

Thanks to Lesley (my wife) especially for her support and for putting up with my obsession over the many years. Special thanks to my family (Jo, Dave, Adam and Jacqui) and many supportive friends (especially to Simon Pike). They tell me this was my project, but in reality it is also theirs. Without them I could not have done it.

            

      Doug Gray
      Heathcote, NSW
      Australia
      [ dgra1233 at bigpond.net.au ]

Hey Y'all

I flew my RV-8 N38ZC last week on July 7, 2010 for the first time at Mojave Airport. The flight was about an hour long and the only squawks were rough idle mixture and poor com toward the end of the flight. The airplane is in good rig and all the engine temps are good. Thanks to SpaceShipOne pilot Mike Melvill and F-4 driver/ race pilot Ralph Wise for flying chase in a beautiful T-18. It has been almost a week since first flight and I have 26 hours on the airplane, with plans to take it to Oshkosh. I have taken it to Vne, 4 g's, and operated in Mojave winds gusting in the high thirty knot range and I couldn't be happier with the airplane. Way to go Vans!

N38ZC has a 180 hp parallel valve O-360 with the Airflow Performance injection, the Van's recommended Sensenich prop, and a Dynon D-180 in the panel. Dry empty weight is 1050 # without wheel pants.

Thanks for a great airplane!

              

                             Video of the first flight is on Youtube at:
                     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddCvQBiWK9g

         Zach Reeder
         [ zachcheyenne at gmail.com ]

July 13, 2010 RV-10 865HB Mike Howe and Rick Barnes First Flight July 13, 2010 with Rick at the controls. Flight went perfect and everything works great. Thanks to Scott Schmidt for flying chase and checking speeds.

                         Additional Photos can be viewed at:
                                http://www.etigerrr.com/

                         Click here to view a short video

           Mike Howe
           [ mikedhowe at gmail.com ]

Just wanted to thank you guy's for a quality kit that the average person can build. First flight went great and it flew hands off. I've been flying since 1979 and this is the best handling plane I've ever flown.

Build time....34 months
Started September 2007
First Flight July 11 2010

              

        Darrell Bice
        [ dwbice at Bechtel.com ]