FIrst FLights

Congrats Dave! Rolled down the runway, and it tracked well. Felt the stick get “light”, and then I was off. It wasn’t until I was at 1100 ft, that I said to myself, well it flies and the enormity of it started to sink in. Followed Mike Busch’s recommendations on how to properly break in […] Read More

Great work, Michael! He writes: Building this aircraft has been a journey of highs and lows and a test of patience and a lesson in persistence, flying this wonderful piece of engineering is well worth the price of admission. A big Thank You to everybody at Van’s Aircraft, Van’s AirForce and EAA Tech Councilor Bob […] Read More

Congratulations to Scott on the completion of his fourth RV! He writes: Fourth first flight in personal RVs that I built over the last 20 years. Flew great with a slightly heavy left wing and too flat prop pitch. It climbed like crazy but would quickly hit the yellow for straight and level. Now have […] Read More

Congrats to Greg on his RV-7A! He writes: Greg Miller finally flew his RV-7A for the first time on Aug 14, 2024. It was perfect morning with light and variable winds and cooler than it had been for weeks. I spent 43 minutes orbiting the field with a big grin on my face. The airplane […] Read More

Congratulations Chris! I am proud to announce that serial #74866 took its first flight early in the morning on Sunday 8/11/2024. I was the test pilot and received 5+ hours of transition training from Alex DeDominicis, referenced from the Van’s website. He did an outstanding job, which gave me the confidence for my first flight! […] Read More

Congratulations to James on completing his first flight with his RV-14. He writes: “The Spirit of Jack Gilfillan” is a tribute to my father. Three generations of Gilfillan’s at Villanova University with my dad leading the way (‘56, me ‘92, Dave ‘22, Annie ‘24). He walked on to campus on a scholarship when he was […] Read More

Cheers to Noah! Congratulations on your first flight. Exactly 700 days after the first kit arrived, N412BZ became a real airplane with a successful first flight out of Allegheny County Airport (KAGC). An hour of circling the airport revealed no squawks and an engine that was breaking in nicely. 85 hours of Phase I and […] Read More

Congratulations Bob! After 5 years building, I finally took to the skies with a very uneventful and smooth flight from Conroe/North Houston Regional Airport. I flew for about 25 minutes before returning for a nice landing. The airplane flew beautifully just like it was designed. I was so pleased with how easy it was to […] Read More

Congrats to Paul on the completion of his retirement project! He writes: This is my retirement project. It took a bit longer than expected, both due to not putting as much time as expected and to COVID delays. First flight was about 1/2 hour at Glendale AZ airport. Biggest squawks were that the nose wheel […] Read More

Congratulations to Rick on his new RV-14A! He writes: Standard build. Flies great! Impressed with the performance. I worked with the Nashville FSDO for my AWC portal submission and inspection. They were very helpful and great to work with.

Congratulations to Homer on completing his first flight with his RV-14A. He shares: I started this project in October 2016 and after only 7 years 9 months, and 3108 labor hours (weekends only, slow-build), N861FM took to the skies for the first time. It is a solid flyer with no bad tendencies. It flies straight […] Read More

Great work, Joe! He writes: Uneventful 30 minutes 4000 ft above the field at South Albany Airport (4B0). Uneventful except for my RV Grin. A tremendous satisfaction after almost 5 years of building. New YO-360-A1A Catto 3 blade Vetterman exhaust w/mufflers Full IFR Dynon panel with 2 10” touch screens. I recently returned from transition […] Read More

Congratulations Jerry! He writes: It took just under five years to complete my slow build RV-10. First flight took place on a calm, cool March morning and was completely uneventful. Airplane flew as expected with no issues – still grinning after every flight. Special thanks to Vic Syracuse for the advice during the build, DAR […] Read More

Congratulations to Peter on the completion of his third RV-8. He writes: As a repeat offender along with my brother-in-law, this is the third RV8 we have built along with a build assist on a RV 7 and owning both a RV7A and a RV6 along the way. Despite this history, it never takes away […] Read More

Congratulations to James on the first flight in his beautiful RV-14A. He writes: It flew very straight and true

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

Perfect

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

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