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FIrst FLights

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First Flight Reports

Mike Walker’s RV-10 | Cold Lake, Alberta Canada RV-10 #41779

Cheers to Mike for completing his RV-10 and first flight. He writes: After 6 years and nearly 2 months of building, RV-10 41779 took to the skies over Cold Lake, AB Canada for the first time. It was constructed using the QB option for wings and fuselage, with an Aerosport IO-540 D4A5 up front. G3X/GTN750 […] Read More

Steve Methot’s RV-7 | Angus Ontario Canada RV-7 #74364

Congratulations to Steve on his first flight and completion of his RV-7! He reports: After 10 years of on and off building, C-FSMW finally took to the sky on Jan 7, 2024 at Edenvale Airport, Ontario, Canada. The weather was cold, the sky was grey, but the excitement of this moment was as if the […] Read More

Christoph Widmer’s RV-12iS | Switzerland RV-12iS #121242

Great work, Christoph, in completing his first flight in his RV-12iS! More adventures are to come. He shares: First flight on a beautiful day. The plane flew perfectly as expected, just pure joy. Thank you, Van’s, for making this wonderful kit and I hope you will successfully continue to build those kits for many more […] Read More

Scott Oloff’s RV-10 | Oxford, CT RV-10 #41762

Congratulations to Scott on his first flight in his RV-10! He shares: Flight was mainly uneventful with a smooth takeoff and landing. The only squawk that needed to be addressed is that on departure, I recognized that the airspeed was showing values less than half of actual. I activated my backup alternate static air which […] Read More

Brad McRee’s RV-9A | Hawkins County, TN RV-9A #90916

Congrats to Brad on his first flight with his RV-9A. He writes: Yet another RV-9A flew today. This airplane was completed by a first-time builder with help from his RV-builder/owner friends Chuck, Mike, George, and Bob. Throughout the process, Van’s Aircraft has been a pleasure to deal with and I remain a steadfast supporter of […] Read More

Mark Misage’s RV-12 | Austin, TX RV-12 (original) #120327

Congratulations to Mark on the completion and first flight of his RV-12! He writes: N624RV took to the skies for the first time on December 11, 2023, in the able hands of Hank Seidel, who landed an hour later sporting the Van’s grin and reporting a beautiful flier with zero squawks! We have been working […] Read More

Ben and Sophie Polwin’s RV-7 | Lincolnshire, UK RV-7 #74763

Cheers to Ben and Sophie on the completion and first flight of their RV-7. They write: A little late to report but we are excited to announce that our slow build RV-7 flew on 7 July 23, 4.5 years after starting the build. It flies beautifully and we can’t wait to explore the world in […] Read More

Anthony (Tony) Rose’s RV-6A | Hilliard, Ohio RV-6A #20634

Congratulations to Tony on the completion and first flight of his RV-6A! He reports: It was very rewarding to find out that a plane I built in my garage over an eight-year period could fly so well! Thanks for the support over the years!!!

Dave Swanson’s RV-7 | Eagan, MN RV-7 #74793

Great work, Dave! We’re excited to see his first flight and completed RV-7. He shares: After receiving my airworthiness certificate earlier in the week, followed by a couple days of gusty winds, I had to take advantage of calm winds and an empty traffic pattern. Flight was uneventful but exciting. Thank you to the Van’s, […] Read More

Bob Mowry’s RV-12iS | Butler PA RV-12iS #120-987

Great work, Bob. We’re excited to see his first flight in his RV-12iS. He shares: After seven years of part time building, N412X finally took flight on October 3, 2023. My wife and I started construction at Synergy Air back in October of 2016. I could not have completed this build without the faithful help […] Read More

Bruce Lee / Chandler Webb’s RV-14 | Safford Arizona RV-14 #140647

Congratulations to Bruce and Chandler as they completed their first flights! Bruce reports: After solving the problem of a bad spark plug on our 1st attempt, of all the things we didn’t expect, our actual first flight morning was just glorious! The weather could not have been better, a nice cool desert morning with a […] Read More

Mark Russell’s RV-10 | Denver, CO RV-10 #41634

Applauding Mark’s successful debut flight with his RV-10. Here’s to many more adventures. He reports: First flight of N14BV took place during the pandemic on June 20, 2020. It was noteworthy for being unremarkable. No squawks, no unexpected alarms, no drama. Just the excitement of being in the air for the first time. Credit goes […] Read More

Thaddeus Bettner’s RV-10 | Chico CA RV-10 #42159

Cheers to Thaddeus for conquering the skies in his RV-10! Here’s to many more flights ahead. He writes: An amazing aircraft to build and fly. First flight went perfectly and I was the pilot!!! Thanks so much to my family for patiently enduring this project, my son Gabe who helped buck and rivet the 10,000+ […] Read More