Ken Balch’s New RV-14A | Clermont, FL RV-14A #140494

Congrats to Ken, who sends in this report on his first flight:

This particular airplane is my second RV (I previously built an -8 which first flew in 2002) and, over the last 21 months spent working on it, I’ve renewed my acquaintance with the RV community (the very best part of building an RV!) and committed myself to taking an active part going forward. It’s great to be back!!

The -14A project arrived at the hangar late last month and, after several weeks of final assembly and tweaking, was granted its airworthiness certificate by Vic Syracuse last weekend. Another week was spent fixing a couple of last-minute issues (fuel seeping, P-mag timing, and prop low-pitch adjustment) and she was ready to fly yesterday.

As expected, it flew like an RV! In other words: fast, nimble, and utterly predictable. These airplanes really are the “total performance” package.

My sincerest thanks and appreciation go to my wife, Jean, for all of her love and support over the years. Also to my close-knit group of fellow RV-14(A) builders (all of whom have traveled to help me – some from many states away – on multiple occasions): Alex Cole, Mark Atwood, Shane Barker, Dan Ruehl, and Glenn Martin. I’m very much looking forward to reciprocating – by RV!