FIrst FLights

Michael sent us this photo of his third RV8, which he has recently completed at age 78!

Congrats to Daniel on the first flight of his new RV-7 in Switzerland! He writes to let us all know: After 9 1/2 years of fun building with great support from my family, friends, the local RV-Community and the team from Van’s Aircraft I departed my local airport in HB-YTB #73881for the first time. All […] Read More

Congrats to Mark, who built his RV-8 at Synergy Air’s facilities in Oregon! Here is his first-flight report: On Monday September 21, the skys cleared of smoke over central Oregon. I flew N23MB on its first flight out of KEUG. The airplane flew straight and true, and has amazing climb performance. I will finish my […] Read More

Tom writes in to fill us in about the first flight of his RV-8! RV-8 N563RV had it’s first flight on 1/9/19, after 2yrs and 9 months of building and painting. I had about 1000hrs of RV time in 4, 6, 8, and 7A models and 563RV behaved perfectly on her first flight No trims […] Read More

Congratulations to Rusty and everyone involved in the completion and first flight of Rusty’s new RV-12! They wrote in to tell us the awesome story: After 9 years of diligent building, health issues put a stop to Rusty’s build. EAA Tech Counselors Alan Wieder from Eugene and Gary Ludeke from Creswell finished up the build […] Read More

Congratulations to Hugh on his new RV-8! He writes in to report: N908QC (my son’s name is Quenten) took to the air on July 29, 2020, a Covid baby. I decided to build an RV-8 in April, 1997, at Sun-n-Fun. I took delivery of the empennage kit in March of 2008. Patience. It spent most […] Read More

Nice Job Brett on your new RV-8! He wrote in to report: We received our airworthiness on 8/21 and got everything buttoned up in time for an evening test flight on 8/22. What started as a project with my fiancé ended up as a family affair with my wife and daughter helping finish. Slow build […] Read More

Congratulations to Ron on the first flight of his new RV-14A! After 20+ months of building, RV-14A, N3318S took flight for the first time today. I can’t put into words how gratifying it was to leave the earth in a machine that I built. Special thanks to Jared Solomon for making the first flight with […] Read More

Kudos to Robert, who wrote to report on the first flight of his RV-10! I could not have imagined all the new skills and friends this project would create. Choosing to use slow build kits, doing my own avionics and painting myself was a great choice. Thank you Van’s for designing such a wonderful airplane.

Congratulations to Roger on the first flight of his new RV-14. He wrote in to report: Six and a half years and it’s finally airborne. This was a slow build kit and my first build. Initial flight was smooth with no issues. I am looking forward to the test flights. Thanks to all my friends, […] Read More

Congrats to Yves, who writes us from Switzerland to report the first flight of his RV-8: On Tuesday 8th of September, I could finally take off. I was quite nervous but everything worked out perfectly! I am super happy and can’t thank enough my fiancé to let me work so many hours on my airplane. […] Read More

Kudos to Arthur on the first flight of his RV-8. He reports: Flawless first flight. Did 5 hours of training in make and model outside Chicago and a 4 hour first flight briefing with an EAA flight counselor prior to flight. Once on the ground, I was informed to call the KSYR tower. Where the […] Read More

Congratulations to David on the first flight of his new RV-7! He writes: Ran out of reasons not to fly, so the first flight was off of our strip, 26OH on Saturday, 9/12/20. Flew twice the first day, no problems so far and no heavy wing. She is equipped with an Aerosport IO375 B1B and […] Read More

Congrats to Mark, who writes in to report: Thanks to the patience and support of my wife, the help of many friends and EAA members from the three different Chapters I’ve been associated with during a 4½ year build (6 years start to finish with a year and half hold due to moving to a […] Read More

Joseph sends in this awesome video to report the first flight of his RV-9A! Congrats!

Congrats to the Ibarra’s, who sent this report about the first flight of their RV-12: We are so anxious about behavior of plane. Was all of our work ok ???? On 08/21/2020, weather was great, only a little crosswind from north, but, was at this time or never. No more excuses. Only a little taxi […] Read More

Congratulations to Kay, who sent this RV-7 first-flight report! Started 11 years ago, but with a 7 year break in between. That makes 4 years, which isn’t to bad. She has an io-375 spinning an Hartzell CS. Dynon Skyview with a lot of steam gauges. 1095 lbs, CG is perfect. First 20 minutes flight was […] Read More

Congrats to Walter, who writes in to report: After a six year build the RV-8A was ready with a fresh pink slip from Mel Asberry. The pilot was made ready after several hours with Mike Seager in the factory RV-9A. The takeoff roll seemed very short as the IO-390 and 74 HRT prop decidedly pulled […] Read More

Dave and Jeff write in to tell us: N109DJ (for Dave and Jeff) flew great in the early morning hours of Tuesday, August 18. Both now have the RV grin. Thanks to Bob and Keith ( both built RV-8s) for their help and expertise. Congrats!!

Congratulations to Brian, who writes to tell us about the first flight of his RV-7: After nine years of building, I was just a little anxious as I taxied out on a beautiful calm clear morning. Once I added power for takeoff though, I was laser focused on the task at hand. Thanks to a […] Read More