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 light sun-blocking cloud deck. 4FC performed as we had expected it to.

The 1st take-off was completely normal, the tail flies so quickly it’s a pleasure to see, and it was flying a quick 600-700 ft after adding power. This was Chandler’s 1st First Flight, after having built his own RV-14A for his dad. Now a corporate pilot with 2500+ hours who holds an ATP and is a CFI, he is an excellent pilot and provided a great build-assist project for me and my dad. This has been a father and son project that is way better than sitting on the couch talking about the weather.

Laps above the airport were made, slow flight to landing speeds were accomplished, and Chandler saw cylinder head temps and EGT numbers we expected. The reward of a sweet tire chirp was had as the official first flight came to a close with a dandy wheel landing. A left heavy wing was quickly remedied with a couple of follow-up flights in a very well-behaved tailwheel airplane that I fell in love with after flying with Sterling from Van’s in N144VA. I’ve got a lot to learn, and a great CFI and building partner to help me get it done.. What a great journey and a great kit company we have with Van’s Aircraft.