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FIrst FLights

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Joe Waltz’ RV-10 | Montgomery, Texas (KCXO) RV-10 #41864

Joe writes to tell about his RV-10’s first flight: First flight was a blast, can’t wait to do some traveling. 5 days a week x 104 weeks = 1 RV-10. Used the EAA Flight Test Guide to develop my test profiles. Flew perfectly trimmed, discovered some new unknowns that only flight testing can reveal. More […] Read More

Phil LaMar’s RV-14A | Los Gatos, CA RV-14A #140387

Phil writes to share his first flight story: Today was the long-anticipated first flight of N1414A. She took 2 3/4 years to complete and was a complete joy every step of the way. She flew great with no squawks at all. I can’t wait to get her in the air again and work through the […] Read More

JR Davis’ New RV-8 | Ramona, California RV-8 #83655

Congrats to JR on the first flight of his new airplane! He writes: “Today my RV-8 had its first flight and an additional 4 hours of flight time. It was a good day and I am so happy I could bust. The airplane flew straight right out of the box. Thank You.”

William Frymark’s New RV-7 | Aurora, IL RV-7 #72969

William writes in to let us all know about his new RV-7 – Congrats! 12 yrs, 9mos and 1 day since starting construction. And it was a Quick Build! Hey, life is busy. Failure is not an option. I could not have done it without family support, as well as VAF, Mike Bullock’s and Dan […] Read More

Greg Uhl’s New R-8 | Columbus, MS RV-8 #81733

Greg writes in to report the first flight of his new RV-8! I bought this as a project someone else had started. With LOTS of help, I finally got the airworthiness complete and enjoyed the first flight! What a great airplane – thanks Van’s Aircraft!

Mark Weaver’s New R-12iS | Greenville SC RV-12iS #120950

Mark Weaver sends in this report on the first flight of his new R-12iS! First flight performance was really good. Some minor tweaks to do before next flight, but flew as expected. Still grinning 4 hours later. Thanks, Van’s.

Mike Bilinsky’s RV-7A | Waterford Ontario Canada RV-7A #71600

Congratulations to Mike on his new RV-7A! He writes: From the first flight I have only changed oil at 25 hrs. Quick build fuselage and wings made for easy build Used Aerothane paint Stein Air wiring, Garmin G3X duals, Garmin radio and transponder, classic interior. Great flying machine!

Felice Lima’s New RV-14A | Catania, Italy RV-14A #140436

Congrats to Felice, who writes: In November 2019 my RV-14A, I-LJMA, made the first flight. The RV-14 is an extraordinary aircraft. Beautiful. Comfortable. Powerful. In flight he did very well, with great performances. Now we are doing the test flights and solving some problems: for example, we replace the kit brakes with other more efficient. […] Read More

Mike Cummings’s RV-10 | Wellsboro, PA RV-10 #41824

Congratulations to Mike, who reports on the first flight of his new R-10: N66VK flew for the first time on October 5th, 2019 for just over 2 hours at 75% plus power. What an exciting flight, with few minor adjustments the plane now has close to 60 hours. The RV-10 is such an efficient, smooth […] Read More

Steven Hild’s RV-7 | Rio Communities, New Mexico USA RV-7 #70289

Congratulations to Steven, who sends in a written report on the first flight of his RV-7: Not much of a story, just thought you would need confirmation of the first flight to add to the tally. 18 year build, kit built engine flying out of a high elevation airport (5200). Circled the airport throttle wide […] Read More

Steve Torres’ RV-7 | Auburn AL RV-7 #74505

Congrats to Steve, who writes in the share: 3 years, 11 months start to finish! What a journey it has been. I can not describe in words the feeling I got when I pushed the throttle up for that first takeoff. She flew exactly as expected and only had to make a couple of minor […] Read More

Heiko Fricke and Detlef Oberbach’s RV-7 | EDRY - Speyer, Germany RV-7 #74514

Heiko writes in to report: My build partner Detlef did the first flight – Nothing unusual. Flight testing took until October 2018 with final certification in February 2019. OUV (German homebuild association “Oskar Ursinus Vereinigung”) greatly supported building and the certification with our LBA (Luftfahrtbundesamt). Trips to Italy, Croatia and to the French Atlantic Coast […] Read More

Simon Coombs’ RV-10 | Cairns, Australia RV-10 #41884

Congrats Simon on the first flight of his RV-10! Finally got her in the air and I am one very happy RV flyer. I can report 19 Months after commencing the build in April 2018 my RV10 VH-NWD flew for the first time. Pretty much went off without a hitch and is a dream to […] Read More

Greg Walker’s RV-8A | Aledo, Texas RV-8A #81231

Congrats to Greg, who writes in with this report about the first flight of his new RV-8A: What a day! Conditions could not have been more perfect. After almost 20 years of off and on building – the time finally came! Did a practice flight with instructor Patrick Richardson and me in the right seat […] Read More

Johan van Zyl’s RV-7 | FASI - SPRINGS - SOUTH AFRICA RV-7 #73859

We received the following report about the first flight of Johan van Zyl’s RV-7: ZU-VZJ an RV-7 build immaculately by com pilot, instructor and AP, Johan van Zyl, had its maiden flight on Saturday 14 December 2019 at Springs airfield in South Africa. No problems to report, flies straight and level and is exceptionally fast. […] Read More

Scott Wentz’ New RV-10 | Grayslake, IL RV-10 #40325

Congrats to Scott on the completion and first flight of his new R-10! Scott writes to tell us: It was a brisk Saturday December 7th morning at KENW with a few friends and most of my immediate family present for the first flight of N847CS. The plane was off the ground in what felt like […] Read More

Steve Jones’s New RV-14A! | Metamora, Illinois RV-14A #140262

Congrats to Steve and everyone involved in supporting him through the process of getting his new RV-14A ready for its first flight! Steve writes: First flight on July 14, 2019 was a success! Performance was spectacular – from acceleration pushing me into the seatback during takeoff, to climb out to 5,500′. Quickly dialed back to […] Read More

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