Erik Mortenson’s RV-14 | Logan, Utah RV-14 #140689
Congratulations to Erik on the recent completion of his RV-14! He writes:
In the final moments, I questioned everything. Have I done enough to get the result I want? Will I live to see tomorrow? I countered this with positive thoughts like – I’m not the first person to do this, it’s a proven design, everyone else was ok…. But am I a good enough pilot to handle the problems that will certainly arise?
Throttle forward. Slow and smooth. Gauges green, Airspeed alive. I know the plane is going to be way out of trim. Ready for anything. Liftoff. Hands off ?!?
Climb out, wait stop climbing, must level off. Ok, we are going to accelerate this beast into the yellow arc, be ready for anything. Trim it out. Control surfaces look good. Temps coming up. I am going REALLY fast. There is traffic below me everywhere and the panel is calling it all out.
A few laps in I just can’t believe that every gauge is perfectly in the green and my oil temp is at 183
187 KTAS. 79 % power. Drinking the fuel at 17.5
Yes, it’s real. Everything is ok. You’re ok. You did it.
I wanted the least experimental plane I could build. My DAR said this is it.
Circling the airport for one hour in the yellow arc with a lot of traffic is stressful. Picked my spot and slowed her down and got her down with a solid B+ landing. Took the cowl off and haven’t gone through it deep yet but nothing so far.
THANK YOU-
- Van’s – The quality, the instructions, the support. I can’t believe how good this kit is.
- Aerotronics – it always felt like I was their only customer. Lightning-fast email response. Extremely patient with me.
- Lycoming and hartzell. Smooth and solid
- Aircraft specialty! Cleveland Tool!
- Classic aero!
- E mag air
- Michael Seager training
- Plane Schemer! Helped design and coach me through this difficult scheme!
- YOU! VAF and Facebook groups. It’s just not possible without all of you.
My “master’s degree” is now complete. Quite the learning experience. But the learning isn’t over.
Regrets? Not really. Building is expensive in money and time though. I built most of this plane from 5:30-8 am in the morning. 2 yrs and 2 months.
Half QB. Self-painted. Estimating 2,500 hours.Seems like a waste to come this far and not use your skills and knowledge to do it again. 😉 maybe later.
