Patrick McKiernan’s RV-7 | Palm Bay, Florida RV-7 #73700
On Saturday 11/16/24 N567P took to the sky for the very first time!
I started the build Thanksgiving week of 2019. My kit was a mixed bag of slow build wings, a quick build fuse, and an engine I yanked out of an old Pitts S1 and overhauled. One thing that a person learns is that completion time is always underestimated. 5 years seems like a long time but it’s pretty amazing how fast it all went by.
The first flight was amazing! I couldn’t have asked for a better flying airplane, perfect running engine, and beautiful weather! Total wheels up time came in right at 45 minutes and let me tell you the speed of this bird is impressive. The last few years I have flown a 1946 Tcraft so trying to stay over the airport resulted in a turn every minute or 2. I can’t wait to finish the gear leg fairings and see what she can really do.
Van’s has empowered a building community like no other. Throughout the build I had people volunteer to ship me tools, and even a propeller to help the build progress. Folks offer great advice and Van’s has a great Builder Support Group. I want to thank all of those that helped along the way. Thanks to all my friends and family for their support, and most importantly I want to thank my father who instilled a love for all things flying and taught me most of what I know.
Having someone that has built an RV before takes away some of the head scratching, especially if it’s the same model. My dad completed his RV-7 over 15 years ago. The thing that impressed me the most is when he would recall how things went together, or some of the modifications that I should implement in my build. Over the years my parents made several trips down. Some in his RV-7 and others by car. These trips helped me get some big chunks of the build completed. I would take a week off from work and we would work 12 hr days in the garage getting a whole bunch done. Flying his RV-7 also made the initial flight seamless and set expectation for a new airplane. I have about 50 hours in his RV-7 and I can’t describe how comfortable I became as soon as the tail came up on the takeoff roll.
Everyone knows the saying “99% done and 99% to go”. This is 100% true. For those of you that are close, keep going. Make a punch list and cross things off the list. When the list stops growing, you’re on your way to the end. The end is bittersweet. The day I moved the plane to the airport I had a feeling of sadness that the build journey was coming to an end. This didn’t last long as I quickly realized there was still a lot of work to do.
Now that the first flight is complete, I am looking forward to flying the Phase 1 off and developing an Aircraft Operating Manual for “RV7 Papa”. Once complete I promised the Wife a few trips and then I plan to tear it down for paint. Hopefully we can execute this, so an Oshkosh arrival is in my future for 2025!
Check out a quick video:
