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FIrst FLights

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Gordon Griffin’s RV-7A | Sydney, Australia RV-7A #73219

Congratulations to Gordon in Australian on his new RV-7A! The first flight was at Shellharbour Airport with Glenn Bridgland at the controls. The aircraft performed very well but the left wing is heavy and particularly noticeable at higher airspeeds. We are doing our research and checking configurations on the aeroplane to understand why it is […] Read More

Ryan and Michael White’s RV-9A | Polk City, Iowa RV-9A #90388

Congratulations to Ryan and Michael on completing and flying their RV-9A! In February of 2020, Ryan and Michael White, father and son, started building a Vans RV-9A and, nearly 3 years later, took their first flight on December 18, 2022. During the Winter of 2019, Michael brought up to Ryan that he was interested in […] Read More

Jeffery McBirnie’s RV-7A | Bozeman, Montana RV-7A #74298

Jeffrey wrote in to let us know about the recent completion of his RV-7A! After nearly 10 years of building, the first flight happened. It was an uneventful, but in a good uneventful way, if that makes sense? Nerves were high as I did rebuild the engine myself so lots could go wrong. I also […] Read More

Christian Schaerer’s RV-8 | Basel, Switzerland RV-8 #82861

Christian flew his RV-8 for the first time, congratulations! After 3000 hours in 6.5 years of building my standard kit RV-8, I finally took off for the first time in Basel, Switzerland (LFSB). I tested the control behavior in clean and landing configuration and after a couple turns I returned for landing. The hobbs showed […] Read More

Mike Weed’s RV-8 | Venice, Florida RV-8 #82883

Congratulations to Mike! He writes: Excelsior flies!  10 years, 2000+ hours and one hurricane (note lack of hangar doors!). Standard build, Titan IOX-370, C/S, G3X, GNX375, A/P, Lemke seats, John Stahr paint. Started build in the family room (with encouragement from awesome wife Kathy), finished in a new airconditioned man-cave/shop. Wearing my RV-6 anniversary shirt in homage […] Read More

David Randall’s RV-9A | Jamestown, New York RV-9A #91931

David wrote in to let us know about the recent flight of his RV-9A: A lifelong dream was realized on December 10th 2022. After 7 years of building N965DR took to the skies and became an airplane. Although I did most of the work myself, I had plenty of help along the way. My family […] Read More

Greg Barnes’ RV-7 | Stuart, Florida RV-7 #73557

Congratulations Greg! He writes: After nine and a half years of hard work (and a lot of learning on my part), my RV-7 finally took to the air. Many thanks to all of the people that helped me make this possible. I can’t image that I would have ever been able to complete it without […] Read More

Ryan Drake’s RV-7A | Livermore, California RV-7A #74583

Congratulations to Ryan on his new RV-7A! He writes: After six years of building, I conducted N12VD’s initial test flight out of Livermore, CA (LVK). The airplane flew very well, straight as an arrow. CHTs were high on initial climb-out, but easy to control with additional airspeed. Tested all control surfaces including trim and flaps, […] Read More

Jeff Justis’ RV-10 | Oxford, Mississippi RV-10 #42029

Jeff recently completed his second RV. What an accomplishment! Jeff writes: My first Van’s kit was an RV-6 that took me 23 years to complete in 2010. Not having 23 more years I decided to go with a quick build RV-10, and with my son Jeff’s help, N3360V first flew uneventfully in Oct, 2022 with […] Read More

Denny Presley’s RV-8A | Tracy, California RV-8A #81311

Congratulations to Denny on the first flight of his RV-8A! He writes: After 9 months of delays getting my FAA registration documents sorted out, it was appropriate to use Veterans day as the first flight. The tail number, N399HP is my daughters Birth Month, Year and her initials. She now serves in the US Military. She […] Read More

Mike Dash’s RV-14 | Fowlmere, Cambridge UK RV-14 #140275

Congratulations to Mike on his new RV-14! He writes: Great First Flight. Many new skills learnt. Avionics and paint were the most daunting! G-RVDD flew straight and true on its first flight. Testing now complete and await the issue of my U.K. Permit to Fly Nov 22. 

Joop Sint Jago’s RV-7 | The Netherlands RV-7 #74612

A big congratulations to Joop Sint Jago on the completion and first flight of this new RV-7 in The Netherlands! Five years and a bit after my son and I started the tail-kit class at Synergy (Eugene), PH-YAR took the skies for the first time. And there was no sign that this was her first […] Read More

Marlon Young’s RV-4 | Santa Rosa, CA (KSTS) RV-4 #1565

Congratulations to Marlon Young on the first flight of his newly-completed RV-4! Marlon writes: Just after 3:01 on Veterans Day, November 11, 2022, Redtail N301FS took to the air for a one-hour flight. Kit 1565 was purchased and started about 30 years ago but got stalled and sat in a garage for almost 15 years […] Read More

Scott Stewart’s RV-12iS | Hubbard, OR RV-12iS #121287

Scott Stweart gets a big “congrats” on the completion and first flight of his new RV-12iS! He writes: What an incredible journey! Wicked, crazy fun every step of the way, from placing the Empennage kit order through the first flight. Great support by family, friends, the aviation community and many at Van’s. AWC in hand […] Read More

Glen Fuller’s RV-9A | Perth, Western Australia RV-9A #91619

A big congrats to Glen Fuller in Australia on the completion of his RV-9A! He writes: After a very long build Scarlet, our RV-9A, took to the skies from Jandakot airport, Perth Western Australia. She flies extremely well and to all the Van’s specs. She’s fitted with a Garmin G3X EFIS, autopilot and houses a […] Read More

Dave Hock’s RV-7 | Littleton, CO RV-7 #74261

Congratulations to Dave Hock on the first flight of his new RV-7! He writes: After 2,900 hours of building interrupted a couple of times with life events RV-7 N732DH took to the skies on November 1st, 2022! I have to say it was one of the biggest events in my life after marriage and the […] Read More

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