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FIrst FLights

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First Flight Reports

Jon Owen’s RV-14A | Valley City, North Dakota RV-14A #140738

Congratulations to Jon! He writes: QuickBuild wings and fuselage along with a very nice custom panel from Aerotronics allowed me to complete my RV-14A in about 19 months, working mostly in my garage. The kit and instructions were excellent! First flight was smooth, wonderful performance and handling!

Reilly Keen’s RV-12 | Johannesburg, South Africa RV-12 #120152

Congratulations to Reilly, who recently wrote in to tell us about the first flight of his new RV: My RV-12 was built over a 12 year period. During this time I moved to a different house 4 times. Powered by an Aeromomentum AM15 engine. I have learned an unbelievable amount during this build and it has been a […] Read More

Isaac J. Schantz’s RV-10 | Salt Lake City, Utah RV-10 #41847

Isaac wrote in to let us know about the first flight of his RV-10: With my wife, daughter, son-in-law and two grandkids watching, this wasn’t the time to get jittery. In fact, I was concentrating so much on the flight that I didn’t have time to get the jitters. Engine power was right where it […] Read More

Larry Hawkins’ RV-3 | Farmington, New Mexico RV-3 #11456

Congratulations to Larry on the completion and first flight of his RV-3: Larry never really intended to finish his second RV kit, an early RV-3. He just enjoyed building. After some years and few hiatuses, he inevitably ran out of excuses to fly it. On August 12th, she was pointed skyward. She’s just recently completed […] Read More

Juliette Cosh’s RV-14A | Athens, Tennessee RV-14A #140726

Congratulations to Juliette on the first flight of her RV-14A: After transition training with Zack, the first flight was seamless. Other than having to pull the throttle back a little to keep the engine from over-speeding on take-off (prop adjustment to follow), N8181J flew perfectly. What a terrific flying plane… I couldn’t be happier! Juliette

Todd Protacio’s RV-14 | Chicago, Illinois RV-14 #140547

Congratulations Todd! He writes: I decided to build rather than buy a flying plane for the hobby, but it quickly turned into an obsession that I spent every free moment on. I built the first half of the project mostly solo, it wan’t until finishing the fuselage that I found a building partner. The empennage […] Read More

Eric Risdon’s RV-8 | Neuville, CNV9, Quebec, Canada RV-8 #83274

Eric writes to tell us about the first flight of his RV-8! Building the RV-8 is quite an adventure but only the beginning. It flies like an arrow, straight and fast, very easy to handle as everybody reports. The RV grin is true 😀 The adventure continues !!!

John A. Heit’s RV-14A | Helena, Montana RV-14A #140484

Congratulations to John on his first flight! He writes: Flies like a rocket! Very responsive with no bad habits; great visibility. Thanks to my wife (Laura) and son (Kevin {A&P}), Ron Rasmuson (A&P/IA, RV-6A builder), Al Hathy (A&P/IA, Globe Swift restorer), Marlin Sander (RV-7A builder), Lance Seaman (RV-8A builder), Woody Hopler (F15 and RV-7 driver) […] Read More

Adam Wachtel’s RV-7 | Thornhill, Ontario Canada RV-7 #70770

Congratulations to Adam on the first flight of his beautiful RV-7! He writes: While building I would look at this first flight page and wonder how anyone could wait an extra minute to post their first flight. Here I am one year later and only posting mine now. A testament to how much fun it […] Read More

Scott Johnstone’s RV-12 | Niagara, Canada RV-12 #121110

Scott writes: Despite the nerves the first flight was uneventful and it was an absolute joy to cruise smoothly through the air in this beautiful little machine. Thanks to Grace, William, Sydney and Elizabeth for their patience (C-GWSE).

Alexander Cole’s RV-14A | Oviedo, Florida RV-14A #140509

Alexander wrote in to let us know about the first flight of his RV-14A: 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 […] Read More

Max and Elaine Cloward’s RV-7A | Draper, Utah RV-7A #71170

Congratulations to Max and Elaine on their new RV-7A! Max writes: Wheels up was almost exactly on schedule at 10:30am this morning, Saturday November 20 2021. What a wonderful experience! Gently apply power, the airplane started to accelerate. Then nearing full power the airplane jumped forward. At 50 kts slight back pressure, the nose came up […] Read More