Wolfgang Hammerschmidt’s RV-14 | Wr. Neustadt, Austria (LOAN) RV-14A #140705

Way to soar, Wolfgang! Here’s to many more adventures and congratulations on his first flight. He writes:

After receiving the restricted permit to fly from Austrocontrol, I had to wait only a couple of days to prepare myself and the aircraft for the maiden flight. On October 19th, 2023 @ 15:03 UTC, OE-VWH took off on RWY 09 @ LOAN and climbed out to 1500 AGL, maintaining the left-hand traffic pattern and establishing a fast cruise setup with 75%power and about 160kts. No frightening CAS, all values in range – only impressive climb and cruising performance. After a couple of patterns OE-VWH made a short breakout to the south before returning after 20min to the airfield and landed on RWY 27.

Taxing back – my hangar mates offered a warm welcome and a more-than-happy pilot opened the canopy. It was definitely worth spending many hours in the workshop – building this fabulous OE-VWH. Many thanks to Steve Hicks and his informative website (he built a marvelous RV-14) and to the support team @ Van’s answering requests quickly and professionally.

Looking forward to my next flights – hope weather in Austria will remain generous for test flying OE-VWH.