FIrst FLights

Douglas’ first flight is short, sweet and to the point! “Absolute perfect day for a perfect flight. Well worth the wait!” Congrats!

Rick sent us this report from British Columbia about the first flight of his latest RV build, an RV-7A! First flight. All went well. Good trim and strength forward. The normal big RV grin that I’ve had before as this is my fifth grin in twenty-four years. This girl is fondly called “Ruby 2” as […] Read More

Congrats to Ken, who sends in this report on his first flight: This particular airplane is my second RV (I previously built an -8 which first flew in 2002) and, over the last 21 months spent working on it, I’ve renewed my acquaintance with the RV community (the very best part of building an RV!) […] Read More

Steve’s report was short and sweet: “Thanks Van’s staff for the great design.”

Joe writes to tell about his RV-10’s first flight: First flight was a blast, can’t wait to do some traveling. 5 days a week x 104 weeks = 1 RV-10. Used the EAA Flight Test Guide to develop my test profiles. Flew perfectly trimmed, discovered some new unknowns that only flight testing can reveal. More […] Read More

Phil writes to share his first flight story: Today was the long-anticipated first flight of N1414A. She took 2 3/4 years to complete and was a complete joy every step of the way. She flew great with no squawks at all. I can’t wait to get her in the air again and work through the […] Read More

Congrats to JR on the first flight of his new airplane! He writes: “Today my RV-8 had its first flight and an additional 4 hours of flight time. It was a good day and I am so happy I could bust. The airplane flew straight right out of the box. Thank You.”

Congrats to Andrew, who writes in to tell us: First flight by RAAus instructor Will Owen. One circuit. No issues. Very happy with Vans and kit. One of four flying in Western Australia.

William writes in to let us all know about his new RV-7 – Congrats! 12 yrs, 9mos and 1 day since starting construction. And it was a Quick Build! Hey, life is busy. Failure is not an option. I could not have done it without family support, as well as VAF, Mike Bullock’s and Dan […] Read More

We received this report from New Zealand about the first flight of this student-build RV-12. Congrats to the whole team! Peter Steers, project manager, selected 12 Young Eagles and Air Cadets to join the project “Hawkes Bay Student Aircraft Build.” The project was completely funded by grants from around the Hawkes Bay community. When completed […] Read More

Greg writes in to report the first flight of his new RV-8! I bought this as a project someone else had started. With LOTS of help, I finally got the airworthiness complete and enjoyed the first flight! What a great airplane – thanks Van’s Aircraft!

Mark Weaver sends in this report on the first flight of his new R-12iS! First flight performance was really good. Some minor tweaks to do before next flight, but flew as expected. Still grinning 4 hours later. Thanks, Van’s.

Congratulations to Mike on his new RV-7A! He writes: From the first flight I have only changed oil at 25 hrs. Quick build fuselage and wings made for easy build Used Aerothane paint Stein Air wiring, Garmin G3X duals, Garmin radio and transponder, classic interior. Great flying machine!

Congrats to Felice, who writes: In November 2019 my RV-14A, I-LJMA, made the first flight. The RV-14 is an extraordinary aircraft. Beautiful. Comfortable. Powerful. In flight he did very well, with great performances. Now we are doing the test flights and solving some problems: for example, we replace the kit brakes with other more efficient. […] Read More

Congratulations to Mike, who reports on the first flight of his new R-10: N66VK flew for the first time on October 5th, 2019 for just over 2 hours at 75% plus power. What an exciting flight, with few minor adjustments the plane now has close to 60 hours. The RV-10 is such an efficient, smooth […] Read More

Congrats to Steve, who writes in the share: 3 years, 11 months start to finish! What a journey it has been. I can not describe in words the feeling I got when I pushed the throttle up for that first takeoff. She flew exactly as expected and only had to make a couple of minor […] Read More

Heiko writes in to report: My build partner Detlef did the first flight – Nothing unusual. Flight testing took until October 2018 with final certification in February 2019. OUV (German homebuild association “Oskar Ursinus Vereinigung”) greatly supported building and the certification with our LBA (Luftfahrtbundesamt). Trips to Italy, Croatia and to the French Atlantic Coast […] Read More

Congrats Simon on the first flight of his RV-10! Finally got her in the air and I am one very happy RV flyer. I can report 19 Months after commencing the build in April 2018 my RV10 VH-NWD flew for the first time. Pretty much went off without a hitch and is a dream to […] Read More