Congrats to Doug on the first flight of his new RV-7! He wrote in to report: My RV-7 took to the skies on April 18th, 2021 at the experienced hands of Doug Roth. I built this plane with a ‘keep it simple’ approach. My instrument panel is rather sparse. I have an analog airspeed indicator […] Read More
Congratulations to Robert on the first flight of his RV-7A! He writes: My RV-7A has joined Van’s Airforce! My build time was much longer than I expected, but the result is well worth the wait. The feeling of the wheels leaving the ground for the first time is indescribable. I had a video camera running […] Read More
Congratulations to Scott on the first flight of his RV-14! He writes: It finally happened! After two years of building, and another six months of painting, my RV-14 finally flew this week! Four years ago, my wife was wandering around the Van’s display at Oshkosh and snuck over to the -14 demo plane. When she […] Read More
Congrats to Jesse and Ken on their new RV-12. Here’s their story: Nearly 10 years ago, I bought the RV-12 empennage kit after looking at several different airplane options. This started the best father-son project you could imagine. I started the build, and as I got further along it became a weekly tradition for my […] Read More
Congratulations to Gary on his RV-12! He wrote to tell the tale: It was ready to fly in March 2020. Inspections were scheduled for late March. Then the country went into a 6 week lockdown courtesy of Covid 19! Finally got inspections done in May and flew on 6 June, a date I’ll remember as […] Read More
Congrats to Spencer, who writes in to tell us about his new RV-8 that he recently flew for the first time! Way to go, Memphis! Beat my 3 year goal! The day started with massive thunderstorms along the FL coast, and ended with an inspection and a first flight. The engine purred (phew!) and the […] Read More
Congrats to Andrew and Florence on their new, slow-build RV-7! They wrote in to share the news: Nine years seems like a very long time, but after finishing the empennage in just six weeks we found that sometimes the RV build had to take a back seat. Juggling a move, a house remodel, two airline […] Read More
Congratulations to Martin on another RV, this one being an awesome RV-9A! He writes: It’s my second RV. I have an RV-7A since 5 years. The test flight of the RV-9A was done without any problem. A left heavy wing will be easily fixed but besides that, all goes perfectly! IO-320-EXP engine, Whelen light, Dynon […] Read More
John writes in to share the story of his new RV-7’s first flight! N9974P is a standard build kit that took over 13 years to build. I enjoyed the build and it was a true learning experience. I performed the first flight at KRHP which went well except for an inoperative airspeed indicator and a […] Read More
Nice work and congrats to Craig, who writes in to tell us: The airplane was inspected on 3 March by a Designated Airworthiness Representative and it was issued a Special Certificate of Airworthiness on the same day. I prepared the plane for it’s first flight over the next few days. Friday the 10th of April […] Read More
Nice work, Jonathon on your new RV-7! He writes in to tell us all about his new airplane: After a 3 year build my RV-7 took to the skies yesterday for the first time. Happy to say we had a successful first flight and it’s flying perfectly. Hands off straight and level, can’t ask for […] Read More
Congratulations to Alex on the first flight of his new RV-14A! He writes: N14YZ had her first flight on April 13, 2021 – she flew almost perfectly and I could trim for hands-off flight. Thankfully, the day was uneventful, but likely because of all the preparation and planning that went into it. First, I’ll have […] Read More
Congratulation, Ryan on the first flight of your new RV-14A! After spending this past week with Mike Seager, this morning’s flight was a non event. Just a couple minor squawks: – Need a snubber on the MAP sensor – Slightly heavy left wing (may be too early to call?) Aside from that – she ran […] Read More
Congrats to Lynol, who writes in to tell the world: It all started back in 2010 with a tail kit bought from a co-worker, who didn’t have time to build. After a 6 year build delay due to overseas 787 Introduction assignments and moving to Canada, the 787 inspired “Dream Flyer” was finally finished in […] Read More
Congratulations to Stephen on the first flight of his RV-12iS! He writes: I have been beavering away for 3.5 years to complete my RV-12, ZK -TSP (Taylor Steve & Pam ). After some frustrating days/months, programming the Garmin GX3, we managed to sort the issues, with the last one being the fuel pressure. By the […] Read More
Congratulations to David on the first flight of his RV-10! He writes: With the sure and skillful hands of the very talented Vernon Darley, N4400k broke the sure grip of gravity, and took the sky for the first flight. The push of the throttle brought to life the amazing Io-540, and with great excitement the […] Read More
Jereme wrote in to let us know about the first flight of his RV-7A: 3/9/2021 marks the day that N187E became a true airplane. After getting back from transition training I had some last minute things to do to the aircraft to get her ready for flight. I had a slight brake leak on the […] Read More
Congrats to Ariston on the completion and first flight of his RV-14! He writes: For over three years (1,149 days, to be exact), I have spoken of how I own what I consider to be an incredibly foolish thing: an airplane kit. Today, I no longer own an airplane kit. I own an airplane. The […] Read More
Heinrich wrote in to let us know about the first flight of his new RV-7A: Hello, After five years of building, I had my first take-off. The aircraft flies great! It´s a cheap version of the RV-7A with an overhauled O-360 A4M engine and a fixed pitch prop. The panel is very simple with an […] Read More
Congratulations to Bruno and Salvo! They write: Started to build a long time ago (2004) and a long stop since January 2018. Finished the aircraft last December (2020). We built this fabulous bird together, father and son, and did the first flight together as well! All went very well as expected. Van’s team provided perfect support and […] Read More
