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FIrst FLights

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Scott Stewart’s RV-14 | Arlington, WA RV-14 #140325

Congratulations to Scott on the first flight of his RV-14! He writes: It finally happened! After two years of building, and another six months of painting, my RV-14 finally flew this week! Four years ago, my wife was wandering around the Van’s display at Oshkosh and snuck over to the -14 demo plane. When she […] Read More

Jesse and Ken Norling’s RV-12 | Auburn, WA RV-12 #120577

Congrats to Jesse and Ken on their new RV-12. Here’s their story: Nearly 10 years ago, I bought the RV-12 empennage kit after looking at several different airplane options. This started the best father-son project you could imagine. I started the build, and as I got further along it became a weekly tradition for my […] Read More

Gary Thorne’s New RV-12 | Rotorua, New Zealand RV-12 #120172

Congratulations to Gary on his RV-12! He wrote to tell the tale: It was ready to fly in March 2020. Inspections were scheduled for late March. Then the country went into a 6 week lockdown courtesy of Covid 19! Finally got inspections done in May and flew on 6 June, a date I’ll remember as […] Read More

Martin Rousseau’s RV-9A | La Sarre, Quebec, Canada RV-9A #91124

Congratulations to Martin on another RV, this one being an awesome RV-9A! He writes: It’s my second RV. I have an RV-7A since 5 years. The test flight of the RV-9A was done without any problem. A left heavy wing will be easily fixed but besides that, all goes perfectly! IO-320-EXP engine, Whelen light, Dynon […] Read More

John Johnson’s RV-7 | Murphy, NC RV-7 #72974

John writes in to share the story of his new RV-7’s first flight! N9974P is a standard build kit that took over 13 years to build. I enjoyed the build and it was a true learning experience. I performed the first flight at KRHP which went well except for an inoperative airspeed indicator and a […] Read More

Jonathan Elliott’s RV-7 | Dunedin, New Zealand RV-7 #72430

Nice work, Jonathon on your new RV-7! He writes in to tell us all about his new airplane: After a 3 year build my RV-7 took to the skies yesterday for the first time. Happy to say we had a successful first flight and it’s flying perfectly. Hands off straight and level, can’t ask for […] Read More

Alexander Cole’s New RV-14A | Oviedo, FL RV-14A #140509

Congratulations to Alex on the first flight of his new RV-14A! He writes: N14YZ had her first flight on April 13, 2021 – she flew almost perfectly and I could trim for hands-off flight. Thankfully, the day was uneventful, but likely because of all the preparation and planning that went into it.  First, I’ll have […] Read More

Ryan Wuerz’ RV-14A | Picayune, MS RV-14A #140200

Congratulation, Ryan on the first flight of your new RV-14A! After spending this past week with Mike Seager, this morning’s flight was a non event. Just a couple minor squawks: – Need a snubber on the MAP sensor – Slightly heavy left wing (may be too early to call?) Aside from that – she ran […] Read More

Stephen Taylor’s RV-12iS | Auckland, New Zealand RV-12iS #121063

Congratulations to Stephen on the first flight of his RV-12iS! He writes: I have been beavering away for 3.5 years to complete my RV-12, ZK -TSP (Taylor Steve & Pam ). After some frustrating days/months, programming the Garmin GX3, we managed to sort the issues, with the last one being the fuel pressure. By the […] Read More

David Stukus’ RV-10 | Exeter, Rhode Island RV-10 #42074

Congratulations to David on the first flight of his RV-10! He writes: With the sure and skillful hands of the very talented Vernon Darley, N4400k broke the sure grip of gravity, and took the sky for the first flight. The push of the throttle brought to life the amazing Io-540, and with great excitement the […] Read More

Jereme Carne’s RV-7A | Worland, Wyoming RV-7A #74579

Jereme wrote in to let us know about the first flight of his RV-7A: 3/9/2021 marks the day that N187E became a true airplane. After getting back from transition training I had some last minute things to do to the aircraft to get her ready for flight. I had a slight brake leak on the […] Read More

Heinrich Grafenhorst’s RV-7A | Bremen, Germany RV-7A #74317

Heinrich wrote in to let us know about the first flight of his new RV-7A: Hello, After five years of building, I had my first take-off. The aircraft flies great! It´s a cheap version of the RV-7A with an overhauled O-360 A4M engine and a fixed pitch prop. The panel is very simple with an […] Read More

Bruno and Salvo Sanna’s RV-7 | Toulouse, France RV-7 #72121

Congratulations to Bruno and Salvo! They write: Started to build a long time ago (2004) and a long stop since January 2018. Finished the aircraft last December (2020). We built this fabulous bird together, father and son, and did the first flight together as well! All went very well as expected. Van’s team provided perfect support and […] Read More

Dave Shipley’s RV-14A | Yates City, Illinois RV-14A #140655

Congratulations to Dave on the new RV-14A! He writes: I started building the Empennage kit at the end of September 2019. I found it to be easy and had it completed by November 2019. I received the Quick Build Kit end of February 2020. I received my airworthy certificate on December 6, 2020. This was […] Read More

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