Stefan Schroeter’s RV-10 | Germany RV-10 #42331

Stefan Schroeter’s RV-10 has gone aloft for the first time. Here’s more:

My RV-14A wasn’t in the air yet when I let myself be persuaded to join a building project for a four-seat RV-10 as part of a building community. Based on my experience building my RV-7 and two RV-14s, the build was supposed to go relatively quickly…

After only 8 months of build time for my own RV-14, I could not have foreseen the problems waiting for our small building community. This included my workshop moving from the south of Germany to EDAX (Müritz Airpark) in the very northeast of Germany, house construction, hangar construction, COVID, and much more.

Friedemann and I decided in March 2020, at the start of the first lockdown, to order the RV-10 as a QuickBuild version. Before that, we had spent many evenings discussing, over one or the other cold drink, the sense and usefulness of a four-seater.

More build time and more parts because it is larger. Higher costs for the kit, engine, desired panel, and four seats mean more interior, more leather, just more of everything. Operation will also be more expensive with the bigger engine, due to higher fuel and oil consumption, more maintenance, and higher insurance.

On the other hand, one can expect a different travel feel, very high comfort, more space, more width, and seats with heated seats that are all adjustable in flight as well.

First of all, we would like to thank our supporters and helpers who have repeatedly offered a helping hand. Special thanks go to my Sabine, who now swings Niethammer better than I do. She was always available for us, especially when we needed to fit into small gaps; we could not do without her. She also frequently came up with ideas on how to solve one or another problem.

Special thanks also go to our examiner Werner Koch, who has been by my side for 20 years with advice and action. A knowledge database that does not exist on the internet. Our helpers such as Kay, Florian, Bernd, Roger, and also the airpark staff who happened to pass by were occasionally enlisted as well. Thomas Sandmann is indispensable when it comes to questions from the LBA, documentation, or certification. It’s wonderful to have people like that around.

After almost four years, I’ve finished my airplane, house, hangar, and garden. I have time to think about my next project, and of course to fly, and to finally set up my workshop exactly as I originally wanted, and so on…