FIrst FLights

Congratulations to Hans on his new RV-12! Flight went flawless. Piet flew off-hands straight right out of the box. A fine touring airplane with great comfort and lot, lots of fun!!

Congratulations Dennis! He writes:  Had my first flight yesterday and what a day it was. The plane flew great and the performance is excellent. Thanks to everyone that helped in my build, including Van Aircraft, VAF, and especially Tim Olson for his online posts and transition training help, it made the first flight really easy. […] Read More

Congratulations to Jim on the first flight of his beautiful RV-14A! He writes: Fun first flight, uneventful. Aircraft performed flawlessly, flew hands off. Its been a fabulous journey building a slow build kit. Special thank you to my wife for all her encouragement. Made many friends over the years and couldn’t have done it without […] Read More

Congratulations to Michael on his new RV-12! He writes: The aircraft performed almost perfectly from its first flight. A few initial issues such as an intermittent contact break in a socket, rudder trim tab and radio presets were quickly resolved. I now own a stunning aircraft, exceeding all expectations. The touch-screen EFIS and autopilot are […] Read More

Congratulations to Johan, who kept his first flight report short and sweet: Rather uneventful , no heavy wing or any other issue apart from the rubber seals on the filler plates fuselage to wing that were flapping in the breeze, I’ll have to glue them to the plates. What a machine, this will be fun!!! Johan

Congratulations to Pete, who recently wrote in to let us know that he has flown his new RV-7 for the first time: On Friday, September 24, my RV-7 N174PM took off from Aerocountry with Chuck Wilson at the controls. Jeff Hansen flew chase in his RV-4. Chuck reported that it flew very well. There was […] Read More

Congratulations Ivan! One day after receiving its airworthiness certificate from DAR Jon Ross, our RV-7 took flight for the first time on 9/13. The first flight went off without a hitch. The airplane flew just like it was supposed to- fast and straight! And boy is it fun to fly! It is a VFR machine […] Read More

Scott wrote in to let us know about the first flight in his RV-8: My RV-8 has fully fledged. I took it for a short flight after a long build. The build was an interesting experience for sure, some frustrations but I learned lots. Looking forward to more flying and learning in phase 1 and […] Read More

Ken and Steve recently completed and flew their new RV-10 for the first time: Made the first short flight near the airport. The flight went well with no surprises.

Congratulations to Ian on the first flight of his RV-14A! He writes: I have always been fascinated by aviation, but for much of my life the idea of me flying was unachievable (time, money etc.) Then in 2008 I took the plunge and got my PPL, after about 100 hours life conspired against me and […] Read More

Fred wrote in to let us know about the recent completion of his RV-8: Finally, after almost 13 years, my RV-8 #82906 slipped the surly bonds quickly and effortlessly on 8/29/2021. The first flight went without any issues, it tracked straight on the ground and flew hands off in the air. Life and work pushed the […] Read More

Congratulations Paul! Today began a new phase of the RV flying lifestyle, versus the RV building lifestyle! First Flight was AWESOME! Looking forward to much more flying. The responsiveness, power, and ease of flying cannot be achieved in the spoken word, it must be felt in your body as you become part of the aircraft. You […] Read More

Congratulations to Danny on his new RV-9! He writes: The flight lasted .9 hrs and was pleasantly uneventful. The chase plane was manned by friends Wayne Bennet and Cary Grey in a Grumman Tiger and it was pretty cool that they couldn’t keep up. I’m sure there’s a lot of people to give credit to […] Read More

David recently completed his RV-8: I got my RV-8 signed off by a DAR on 7-23-2021, the first flight was on 7-26-2021. The first flight went well with only a few adjustments needed mostly calibrating the fuel flow readout and I had to rebalance the tires. I previously built an RV-6 and flew that for […] Read More

Congratulations to John on the first flight of his RV-12iS! Great first flight. Absolutely no surprises. A delight to fly. Flew just like the SLSA plane I flew for transition training. Thanks Van’s Aircraft for a great building experience and first flight experience. This is the second aircraft I have built. The first was a […] Read More

Lee and Cliff wrote in to let us know about the recent first flight of their RV-14A: After a gear up landing in a rental Piper Arrow due to a maintenance error (actually series of errors) Lee decided enough is enough and order the first kit for the RV-14 in December 2012. Lee toiled away […] Read More

Kevin and Jason wrote in to let us know about the recent completion of their RV-10: After a little more than 3 years of building, N232KJ took to the smoky central California skies. This was the second RV build for Jason and first for Kevin. RV-12 chase plane was piloted by Greg Hartt who is […] Read More

Mark wrote in to let us know he has completed and flown his new RV-14: Approximately 25 years ago my A&P instructor took the class to his house to show us the RV-4 he was building in his basement, obviously the seed was planted. N141MS took flight on August 10, 2021, 3 ½ years after […] Read More

Congratulations to Michael on the first flight of his new RV-12is: My son, Karsten, and I built this plane as a pandemic project. I earned my Sport Pilot certificate in May of 2020 and it became obvious right away we needed our own plane. After much research we decided the RV-12iS was the right plane […] Read More

Congratulations to Robert, who recently wrote in to let us know about the first flight of his RV-8: Nine years total time (5 years to build, 4 years not building, away for work). I’ve learned more than I ever thought I’d know about what goes into aircraft. So much fun to fly (can’t wait to […] Read More