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FIrst FLights

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First Flight Reports

Brad Peltola’s RV-6 | Tonasket, WA RV-6 #23740

Congratulations to Brad on the completion of his RV-6! A one hour flight above the airport at 25 square to help break in the xpio360. All went well. Slightly heavy right wing. No other issues. First landing was excellent thanks to some recurrent training from Mike Seger. Nice to be back in an RV again. […] Read More

Wesley VanDyke’s RV-8 | Cal-Nev-Ari, NV RV-8 #83541

Cheers to Wesley on the completion and first flight of his RV-8! He reports: Southern Nevada Van’s Aircraft RV-8 The plane is titled “A Brother’s Love,” and she flew for the first time on March 24th, 2024. The first-flight was a bit of a rodeo, not perfect, but testing and tweaking has provided the promised […] Read More

Carlos A Hernandez’s RV-7 | Goodyear, Arizona RV-7 #72740

Cheers to Carlos for conquering the skies with his RV-7. Here to many more flights ahead! He shares: 17 years of ON-OFF-ON building, the big day had come. First flight for my RV-7 “Penni” at the Phoenix Goodyear Airport (KGYR) went perfectly! She flies like a dream! 145-147 knots at 2480 rpm and 78% power. […] Read More

Bradley Littleton’s RV-7 | Lancaster, CA RV-7 #74105

Cheers to Bradley on the completion of his RV-7! He writes: I had my first flight today of my RV-7, serial number 74105. It was so worth getting transition training before the flight. Thanks to my wife for putting up with this crazy thing for so long. Here’s my build by the numbers for anyone […] Read More

Scott Stone’s RV-7A | Hot Springs, AR RV-7A #74956

Great work, Scott! He shares: I was convinced by my next door neighbor to build a RV, he had built a RV-14 and had the tools and expertise and with Covid running rampant there was nothing better to do than build a plane. Great experience then he asked if I would help him build a […] Read More

Carl Wood’s RV-8 | Tallahassee, Florida RV-8 #82877

Congratulations to Carl on completing his first flight with his RV-8! He shares: I finished this quickbuild kit in less than two years, paperwork delayed the first flight by a couple of months. All went well, fantastic handling and performance. The Showplanes modifications were well worth it! IO390 exp 119 with dual PMags.

Greg Saulsbury’s RV-9A | Texarkana, Arkansas RV-9A #91360

Congratulations Greg! First flight of my RV-9A brought out grins and giggles between myself and my very experienced Additional Pilot who is also an A&P and CFI. No surprises in the performance of the plane. Big grins when EFIS showed 185 mph ground speeds while orbiting KTXK at 5,000 feet. Looking forward to working the […] Read More

Tim Ewbank’s RV-14A | Bonaire, GA RV-14A #140842

Congratulations to Tim on his first flight in his RV-14A! First flight take-off at: Apart from high oil temps and CHTs the flight was unremarkable. I staked close to my home airport in case there was any issues needing a quick return to base but everything went well and after 3 hours I landed as […] Read More

Ronald Mortellito’s RV-9A | Somerset, NJ RV-9A #92309

Congratulations Ronald! He writes: My Van’s RV-9A slow-build project was the perfect retirement activity. In a bit over 4 1/2 years from my basement to the garage and ultimately to the hangar, I had a beautiful aircraft. My wife and my 15 year old neighbor occasionally pitched in when I needed help reaching those impossible […] Read More

Adam Bezanson’s RV-10 | Fremont, NH RV-10 #41687

Congratulations to Adam on the completion and first flight of his RV-10! He reports: A little after 8 years of building, having a kid a year and a half in, and building a house, my RV-10 took to the skies on June 1st, 2024. Thankfully, it was the highest heart rate, most boring flight, which […] Read More

Bruce Wagner’s RV-14A | North Little Rock, AR RV-14A #140901

Congratulations to Bruce on completing his RV-14A. He shares: My second RV project took to the sky on 7/6/2024 after a rewarding 3yr 6mo solo slow build. First flight went well with only the expected higher oil temperature and a slight amount of right rudder needed for it to fly completely hands off. The 2500’+ […] Read More

Jim Elliott and Joel Dryden’s RV-9A | Hesston, KS RV-9A #92215

Cheers to Jim and Joel of the completion and first flight of their RV-9A! They write: On a picture-perfect day in central Kansas, N295JJ took flight with two owner-builders on board. It added a tricky element to break in a newly overhauled engine at the same time as a new airframe, but the first flight […] Read More