FIrst FLights

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

Congrats to Greg, who writes in with this report about the first flight of his new RV-8A: What a day! Conditions could not have been more perfect. After almost 20 years of off and on building – the time finally came! Did a practice flight with instructor Patrick Richardson and me in the right seat […] Read More

We received the following report about the first flight of Johan van Zyl’s RV-7: ZU-VZJ an RV-7 build immaculately by com pilot, instructor and AP, Johan van Zyl, had its maiden flight on Saturday 14 December 2019 at Springs airfield in South Africa. No problems to report, flies straight and level and is exceptionally fast. […] Read More

Congrats to Scott on the completion and first flight of his new R-10! Scott writes to tell us: It was a brisk Saturday December 7th morning at KENW with a few friends and most of my immediate family present for the first flight of N847CS. The plane was off the ground in what felt like […] Read More

Congrats to Steve and everyone involved in supporting him through the process of getting his new RV-14A ready for its first flight! Steve writes: First flight on July 14, 2019 was a success! Performance was spectacular – from acceleration pushing me into the seatback during takeoff, to climb out to 5,500′. Quickly dialed back to […] Read More

Congrats to the Students and Mentors of Southern Arizona Teen Aviation who completed their new RV-12iS! We are an organization that works with High School students. Thank you Eagles Nest and Teen Flight for the inspiration and coaching. Over the course of 2 1/2 years 15 students and 7 mentors worked on the plane. With […] Read More

Congrats to Chris on his new RV-7! It flew!!! After two military moves and five years, my RV-7 quickbuild slipped the surly bonds of Earth at Meadow Lake Airport (KFLY) in Colorado. I had so much help in this construction as documented in my first flight video. Thank you!!

Congrats to Daryl on the first flight of his new RV-1o! First flight was great! Airplane handled very well! Going to be a comfortable airplane to enjoy. I’m retired from Southwest Airlines, so I won’t be non-rev’ing anymore! Hah! Installed the Airflow Systems air conditioning and I’m so glad I did! Really makes a difference […] Read More

Jeffrey writes in to tall us about the first flight of this RV-14A! The first flight was delayed for several days by spark plug fowling that kept the lower plugs from firing. After cleaning all the oil off the lower plugs several times and getting the engine up to temperature we were able to get […] Read More

Bruce Swayze writes in to share the story of his RV-7A’s first flight. Congrats, Bruce! The first flight of my RV-7A is the culmination of years of work and attention to detail, and it’s almost surreal that it’s finally happening! This was a standard-build kit (not quick build). Since I’m still working on my PPL, […] Read More

Graham Leembrugen’s #22246 RV-6A flew today 21st November 2019. The slow build started in 1993 and all Graham’s friends are very pleased to see his aircraft finally take to the air from his grass strip… VH-XHG is powered by 0-320 turning a Burnie Warnke 70/74 wood propeller. Test Pilot for the flight was Greg McFarlane.

Congratulations to Ian Chapman, who write in about his first flight: On Sat 12 Oct 2019 after 25 years of construction Van’s RV-6 ZK-VNZ #23570 took to the air with David Wilkinson (RV-8 ZK-WLK) at the controls. It was fantastic watching an aircraft that one has constructed in the garage at home lining up on […] Read More

Congrats to Bill Sallee on the first flight of his new RV-9! He writes in to tell us: Bought from a gentleman from Wisconsin that spent 10 plus years building and decided to sell, I finished her up and took her for her first flight, besides a couple of minor squawks, she flew straight and […] Read More

Greg writes in to tell us all about the first flight of his new RV-8A – Congratulations! It was a long time coming but it’s finally flying. My wife Dianne and I ordered our tail kit at SUN & FUN International Fly-In & Expo in 1998. I was given a demonstration flight in an RV-8 […] Read More

Steve writes in with his great news! Congrats! 1st flight of my new RV-7 performed by my good friend Rory Hansen (RV-6 builder/owner) and myself departing Payson (KPAN) around 4:30pm lasting a little over an hour as I worked to get the engine moving along on the break-in process, doing some basic stability tests, trim […] Read More

A belated report, but exciting and fun – Congrats to Denis! “After almost 40 years of flying helicopters it was time to fly some fixed wing A/C. After 12 years of part time building it all came together on Nov. 15, 2018. C-GWHL took off from Kingston (CYGK) and went up for initial flight. The […] Read More