![]() |
I would have never thought about building an Experimental aircraft, but a young kid was selling magazine subscriptions door to door, the only magazine that piqued my interest was Kitplanes. My first copy had a picture of Pat Hatches beautiful RV-4(God rest it's soul), and there was one other RV-4 in the Completions section, it too was beautiful. I remember the inside cover of the magazine was a Lancair ad, and the back cover was a Glasair ad, both of them quite fancy. Buried in the middle was a small Vans ad making claims that I found hard to believe, but were backed up by testimonials. I ordered the VHS tape and info packet, and the rest is history. That was 1989.
|
In 2005, I was standing in the local flying club when an aircraft taxied by; I asked someone: "What's that"? I was informed that it was an RV-6. I responded "What's that"?
Several days later, the pilot of the aforementioned flying machine came up and said; "I understand you've never been up in an RV"? I responded in the negative. And he took me for a half-hour flight. That SOB cost me a hockey sock full of money! Ordered an RV-7A kit several months later and finally got it flying last April. It's a dandy! :) |
Met Bob Larcel at Hillsboro Oregon airport 1983 while flying for Hillsboro Helicoptors and teaching in fixed in wing. Saw his RV-3 out of the window and hunted him down. In Van's first couple of promo video's Bob has the 3 with the basic RV paint scheme. It's scratch built, when I first saw the plane it was upside down hanging from the roof of the hanger. He had made wet wings instead of the header tank and was trying to use a slosh to seal the top of the tank in the wing. His version of the wet wing could not be removed. Not sure if he is still around, very nice and helpful. A man on the other side of the airport named Dave gave me a ride in his white yellow, orange and red RV-4. I had a tail kit for a 4 next month, but didn't start building until we moved to Southern Calif, flew in 1992.
|
Would have been in the early 90s. I was working for a friend of mine on the airshow circuit and we were staging from their midwest house. A neighbor took me for a ride in a newly completed RV 4. Mind you, with two full size guys off a grass strip in the middle of a midwest summer day I was not expecting much. When we were off the ground in just a few hundred feet before he got full throttle on I was impressed. Then we went up for some light aeros, went flat out to 180 and slowed to 50 and the thing was controllable and predictable throughout the envelope I knew one day I would build one.
|
I grew up with dad building a Fisher Classic on a budget in the basement.
He always talked about building a RV-4 even though he had never even had a ride in an RV. I was at OSH in 2002 saw a Glassair I TD for sale flying for a pretty good deal but was still more than I could swing at the time. Several weeks later found a partially finished RV-4 with Engine, Prop, and mostly dated instruments and avionics. Went in head first having never sat in an RV much less built or flown one. Finally got a ride in a RV-6 about 1 month before I finished the RV-4 which was 2004. Fast forward....2009 we were married and I felt we NEEDED! to upgrade to a Harmon Rocket. I was so close to ordering the first parts of the Rocket...I mean I practically picked the phone up several times to order it but something held me back. Few days latter we found out a baby is on the way......a friend had just finished his RV-10 and by this time I had PIC time in the RV-4, RV-6, RV-7, RV-8 and RV-10. He said take my RV-10 to Virginia when you go next time and see how you like it. I was sold. I couldn't believe the speed that big ole thing would do on a relatively good fuel flow. I ordered the -10 Kit. 22 months latter it was flying and 2 weeks or so latter we had our 2nd little girl......time flies. Literally! |
It was in 1986 at an EAA fly in at Martin State Airport in Baltimore, Md. It was time to fulfill the dream of building my own airplane, so I was actively looking around. Glasairs and VariEzes were all the rage then, but I had reservations about the composites. Along the rows of homebuilts I saw an RV-3 built by Luther Peale (gone west many years ago). An hour of questions to Luther and I was hooked. My empennage kit arrived within a month and I was out of the starting gate.
Who would have ever thought that 30 years hence I'd be spending my retirement years working (working?) for the company that has meant so much to all of us in the VAF family. |
When I was 14, a copy of Jane's Pocket Book of Home-Built Aircraft found its way into my hands. On page 241, between the Turner T-40 and the Volmer VJ-22 Sportsman was a picture and write up of the Van's RV-3. The aesthetics of it grabbed me right away. I thought it was a beautiful aircraft. It planted a seed that is finally starting to bloom into my RV-8.
|
Probably Oshkosh
I remember a flight demonstration team of RV3s at Oshkosh in the early,, middle,,, 1980s. Back then I lived on a sail boat in The BVI, and later in French St Martin.
No place to build.. When I turned 50, I moved to Dallas and was able to start building a RV6. These sure are fun airplanes. |
Pat Hatch hooked me
About 1991 or so, my day job was in the maintenance hanger for Piedmont Airlines in Winston-Salem, and next door to us was RJ Reynolds Hangar...In that Hangar was Pat Hatch's -4, and eventually Jim Star's -4, and Tom ****'s -6. After Pat gave me a ride in his -4, I was hooked. I started my build in 1993, and have been a devoted RV owner ever since.. Thanks Pat!!
|
Early 80's
Came to the US in the late 70's and learnt to fly and wanted to build a plane, got a copy of the original VHS tape showing Van flying the RV-3 and decided that was the plane. Finally started building in 2003.
Still have the VHS tape somewhere (but no player):D:D |
![]() great thread. :) back in 1999 i was looking for my next plane in stuart florida. there were these few rv6s there at the time. the one i bought is on the left front and its sister ship is behind it. the first time i saw my rv to be, the builder was head down, feet sticking out of the cockpit while he was stuffing insulation on the firewall and getting ready for a test pilot to do the first flight. i bought it and that was the beginning of a great relationship with my plane and other rv owners. |
I was working toward my multi-engine ticket at Sierra Academy in Oakland in 1993. Their BE-76 Duchesses felt like a rocketship after the C-152s I had been training in. One day, we took off with an RV-6 behind us. As I climbed out through 1000', the -6 joins up on our wing in obvious slow flight config. He looks us over, waves, drops the nose a bit, and is gone. My instructor and I look at each other and both say, "I want one of those!".
Up to that point, I had been considering a Ron Sands plans-built Fokker Triplane to go along with an R/C model I was building using the plans as reference. But a few weeks later I had my info kit and -6A plans and never looked back. |
Quote:
I met Dave in 1996 when I was looking for a hangar for my Aeronca L3. Dave looked me up and down and said; "follow me". We went around the corner to his large hangar.... "You can put it right here"... between a couple RV4's. I was into antiques and had zero interest in those little aluminum airplanes. Dave had built well over a dozen, including a retract, before the Fed's changed the rules. My first ride in an RV came shortly after and I switched from trying to find an antique project to buying a tail kit from Van's in North Plains. Ken Scott gave me that ride. His hangar was back and next to ours. Over the years, my hangar mates would include Scott McDaniel, Scott Risen, and several others. You might say I had a lot of encouragement. |
For me it was 1993 an RV4 at Bulverde airpark (1T8) while getting my private. The owner was doing some repairs and needed an extra set of hands. I even drilled out and shot my first rivet that day (in that order).
|
2008 Beach Party
I was still a student pilot in April 2008 when my instructor invited me to fly up to a fly-in BBQ on the beach at Flathead Lake. After arriving and making a landing on the sand in our humble 172, a great looking plane made a very loud, very high-speed low pass down the makeshift runway, then back came around to land. Someone said "What was that?" Someone else said "I think it was an RV-10." It was love at first sight for me. That RV-10 was acquired a short time later by our own Pierre Smith. Later that year when I started looking into building a plane, the RV-10 came right to the top of the list and never left.
![]() |
I can't even remember whose airplane it was anymore, but it was an RV6 parked outside the sport class hangars at the Reno air races, I think that would have been either '99 or 2000. I spent so much time looking at the airplane that the owner finally came out to talk to me, probably thought I was going to try to steal his instruments or something. That got me started...
|
I went to Oshkosh in 1987 and saw the RV-4 and thought it was awesome. I went home and ordered the info package complete with the VHS tape. Life gets in the way and finally received my -8 tail kit in 1996.
![]() |
December 2003
It was mid-December 2003, just after the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first powered flight. It was too cold and dismal outside to fly my Citabria, and I was bored.
Building a plane had always been a dream, but only that. I was 45 and figured, if I'm going to do it, I better do it now. But what plane? It didn't take long before I was looking at VansAircraft.com. The RV was exactly what I was looking for, a project I could finish, great reviews, total performance, good-looking. I ordered the infopack/video the same day. I was so excited! Within two months I had the preview plans, tools and emp kit. I started building and never looked back. A little over five years later, in spring of 2009, I was flying my own RV. It has been everything I thought it would be and more. Changed my life, really. One of the best things I ever did. |
Re: When did you first see / hear of an RV?
It was 1981 when, unfortunately, a USAF pilot from the nearby airbase suffered a wing failure in an RV-3 during a low pass over the local airport. :(
|
Glenn Whittley
I went to the Camarillo Airshow in 1992 in hopes to see a Glasair 2. The
factory representative wouldn't give me the time of day. I had been interested in building and in early 1993 I was walking around looking in hangars at Cable Airport. Glenn Whittley was kind enough to show me the RV-6 he had just finished building (he also had an RV-4). He then offered me a ride. Wow. I ordered the kit the following week. I built the tail for my -6 in his hangar under his watchful eye. |
Long time ago....
I was living in Yarmouth NS, and had been out of flying for about ten years. I had just started again, flying spam cans and some old cubs. I was in a second hand clothing store with my wife and trying to find something to do. There was a used magazine bin in the store and a Private Pilot magazine was on the top with the photo of a cool looking aircraft on the cover. The title of the piece was "build this aircraft". The piece was about Van and the 4 prototype. I bought the magazine, about a year later I bought the Plans #1118, and then the tail kit. We had a young family, little money, and it took me 11 years to build YTQ. She is 19 years old this year. I didn't actually see a 4 until after I had bought the tail kit. There were not many RV's in eastern Canada in the mid 80's. I still have the magazine
Joe |
How RV?
At least 15-20 years ago a friend from church named Eric Stearman (related to the Stearman) told me about a cousin of his who would be interested in flying in my Pitts. The cousin had built a plane called an RV-4, which I was really not familiar with. Eventually Tom Stearman flew his RV to Timmerman field in Milwaukee. We flew in my Pitts S-2A and in his airplane. I was extremely impressed with the RV-4, which had a hopped up 180 Lycoming. It would indicate 180 mph on a summer afternoon at about 4000 feet. The flight characteristics were very pleasant. We did some limited acro. This experience was life-changing and eventually led to the building of our RV-8. Tom was a fighter pilot in the USAF, also an aeronautical engineer and a wonderful pilot. His RV was unpainted because it was too much fun to fly. He didn't want to take time off for painting. He's still flying the RV. I wonder if it was ever painted?
|
My wife took me to the Oregon Airshow in 2013 and there was an entire squadron of RVs doing some coordinated fly-bys. Later, after they landed, they taxied right in front of where I was standing and I knew right away that I had to have one! When I went to the Van's website I seriously looked at the RV-14 and decided to take a tour of the factory. I fell in love! Now, however, my wife has changed my mind and we are getting an RV-10! (Next week, actually!)
|
Quote:
|
I spotted my first RV4 parked next to a work shop while returning from a training mission at 500 agl flying for the Idaho National Guard in 1985. Several weeks later I test flew that RV4 for the newly minted pilot/builder and was hooked. By the time I landed I knew an RV4 was in my future. I started kit 1150 in Oct of 86 and flew in June of 89. Our RV4 was the first completed in Colorado and was instrumental in piquing the interest of quite a few future RV builders.
While doing my oral on the B767/757, the check captain became interested in seeing my build pictures and hearing about the flying qualities of the RV4?. It was the easiest transition I ever had :-) Coming up on 27 years of the most fun you can have with your clothes on and she?s still flying strong. Cheers, Hans |
In high school a friend told me that I should build an airplane! A stupid idea that I could just not shake. Finally I decided that if I was going to build an airplane I should know how to fly. I got my license in 1983, bought a Citabria to fly until I was in a work/business position to be able to build. I had seen a RV4 but it was a rough specimen and it kind of turned me off. Then....I had the opportunity to see and go for a ride in Rick West's magnificent RV4. This was around 1992? 100 feet down the runway I was hooked. I can l clearly remember thinking "how am I going to be able to rivet all these rivets. Also I was dreading the thought of drilling all those hose (non-prepunched era). To that time all my metal drilling was in farm steel with a drill press or a hand drill. Drilling aluminium almost drills itself in comparison. Simply put the drill in the right place and a neat hole appears.
Shortly after that ride I purchased a RV4 kit that had some tail work done and the wing spar completed with ribs roughly cut to size. 17 months later I flew it for the first time spring 1995. I thought that it would be the last plane that I would ever own. Three years later I finished my first rocket.... |
Oshkosh 1988....
A good friend (Richard Dewitt) who had been researching what his next project would be (he currently owned a Kitfox he had built and that I had flown in some), told me to check out the RV's.
Actually my main goal was to look at an airplane called the Protech PT-2 (I know, I know...it's a very good thing that I never got very far with that) I arrived at the show late in the day and while walking around to get the lay of the land (first time there), I came across a little blue low wing tri-gear airplane that said RV-6A on it. It was its public debut and seeing it change the path of my life (literally). After getting home we got info from Van's regarding builders in our local area (only RV-4's, the RV-6 was still very new) and ended up getting a back seat ride in an RV-4 finished in the mid 80's by Glen Allison of Tucson. A couple months later I got a demo flight in that same blue with Van at the Copperstate Fly-in. The rest is history (a lot of it actually...) |
First RV
Great thread. I first heard of an RV when reading Kitplanes magazine in 1992. I was sitting in an FBO lounge waiting for my sailplane instructor and picked up the magazine. I hadn't heard of homebuilts and could not believe the government would "let" an average person build an airplane. An RV was featured prominently in the magazine. I first saw a RV in the flesh at Hawthorne airport in So Cal a year later. A pretty red and white RV4. I remember talking with the builder about the magnitude of the project and he said matter-of-factly, "It all goes together." For some reason that really resonated with me and made me believe I could do it. A visit to Vans and a flight in the RV4 demonstrator with Ken Scott had me buying a kit in '94.
|
I was in A&P school in Clearwater Fl. in 2000 when I started recieving Kitplanes in the mail - probably because I was on RC magazines mailing lists. Since I loved building RC planes from scratch and I was learning all the A&P stuff, it just seemed natural to build my own plane. I never seriously thought about getting a pilot's license until I met some classmates who were working on theirs.
The first plane I fell in love with was a Velocity but it wasn't long before I noticed that most of chatter in the mag was about RVs. After some due dilligence on my part I ordered the RV9 preview plans, had a demo flight in ole Blue (N666..:eek:) at SNF and ordered the tail kit as soon as I earned my A&P in 2001. N659DB had her first flight on July 1, 2006 and this year I will make my tenth consecutive flight to SNF! 954 hours and counting... |
I guess I'm a relative newbie.
Although I was well aware of experimentals and scratch & kit built planes, I'd never actually seen one up close. I had seen pictures of a few that either clearly did not meet my needs (open cockpit one-seaters), or looked to me like a really good way to test a parachute. When I finally started flight training for real in 2011, I was hanging out on the POA message board. I heard about RVs and learned a little about them, but not much. I saw an RV-8 parked on the ramp one day -- I was impressed. Still, the thought of building really hadn't occurred to me. Then I started doing some flight plans for potential cross-country trips that I figured we'd want to take. It quickly became obvious that renting, or even taking a club plane, would be really slow and really expensive (172, Cherokee). Or a little less slow and REALLY expensive (182, Arrow). I started looking for a plane to buy, but anything in my price range was really going to be a 100- 1to 110-knot airplane, on a good day, and don't spare the avgas. And the maintenance! Frightful, and a total crapshoot. I started thinking about building. I looked at a lot of options, and narrowed it down to the RV-7 or RV-9. I had very tentative plans to start building in a couple of years or so... and a partially completed 7A came up for sale, a deal I couldn't pass up. So, I went from "never heard of Van's" to "bucking rivets on an RV-7" in about a year or so. And there's been a lot of water under the bridge since. |
RV4
1982 at 2J9 Quincy, Florida. Seth Matthews gave me a ride in an unpainted RV4 that he had just finished. It knocked my socks off and I wished for one until 2006, at which time I ordered a RV8 just for the extra room and pre-punched kit.
|
I was talking to a guy who had just built a Varieze and questioned him on popular kit planes that I might consider. Without hesitation he mentioned the RV. I thought it odd that he wasn't trying to sell me on his own creation, but I fully understand now.
|
First one I ever saw was a -4
Early 2000s I flew my C-140 to another airport for lunch. Taxied over to the ramp and there was this fast looking thing right next to where I parked. As I was looking it over the owner, Roger Moore, came out and the next thing I knew we started blasting around the sky in an RV-4 at 160! Coming from a C-140 that was way cool. Was so excited I never did eat lunch. Flew home and found out how much an RV cost.
Sold the 140 the next month and yes- the next airplane in my hangar was an RV-3 (couldn't afford a 2 seater yet). Most expensive plane ride I've ever been on but worth every penny....... |
Just had gotten back into flying after 15 years and I was on the ramp preflighting a rental 1960 something Cherokee 140 and Jim Cone came ripping over the airport and banked into a hard turn to base. I decided right then I want one! Bought the quickbuild within a year.
|
I joined EAA back in 1983. In the January 1983 Sport Aviation magazine there was an article about a guy who built an RV-3 "Candy Apple Red". At the time, I was more interested in the Rutan stuff and thought it would be cool to carve something out of foam and fiberglass. Boy, I'm glad I didn't go down that route!
I did however note that there were some benefits to all aluminum traditional aircraft structures, and over the years saw more and more articles about Van's RV's. The introduction of the RV-9 and the use of the Roncz airfoils had me intrigued. John Roncz was quite the aerodynamicist and did lots of work with Rutan. My first real encounter with an RV was a flight in Bill Cary's RV-9A about a year before I pulled the trigger on building my own. |
friends don't let friends fly plastic airplanes
One of my patients (who races his RV-8) found out I was considering buying a fiberglass Tango 2. Before he left the office, he wrote down ?vansairforce.net? and encouraged me to look at an RV-7A.
He told me ?friends don?t let friends fly plastic airplanes.? I bought my kit the following year. |
Intro to RV's by a "pro"
Back in the 80's took a ride in the factory Glassair III. Fast forward to 2004. I had an opportunity to meet Lyle Heffel in DBQ at his shop where he was working on his 4th or 5th. Then off to the airport for a ride in his award winning 8. This performed as well or better than the GIII at half the cost, I was hooked. Ordered my 7 tail kit a few months later.
|
Quote:
|
The first time I heard of an RV was in 2000 when an RV-3 crashed on my old school oval. :eek:
After that, I looked into them and decided the KR-2 held more appeal until I actually bought one and discovered I didn't quite fit well enough for long flights. So a decade later I bought the kit for a -9 - still without trying a -9 on for size either. |
The first time I ever heard of the RVs was when I was in sixth grade in 1989. Dad brought home a copy of Kitplanes and I had taken it to read at school since I was generally bored out of my little mind. That issue had a picture of two RV-4s flying in close formation. I decided I wanted to build one right then.
Around 2001 when I first saw an RV-8 I decided that might be a little better since I wasn't sure my shop skills were up to the task and the RV-8 kit seemed more advanced. Unfortunately, life and career got in the way. which put any dreams of having an airplane on hold. Around 2008 I was back on my feet, but now had two kids so I seriously considering buying a used Piper or Cessna. Fortunately I got a chance to ride in a very nice RV-8a. That pretty much erased all doubts of what I wanted. The finish kit for my -8 is supposed to arrive in early March. I expect to be flying about 30 years after dad brought home that magazine. |
| All times are GMT -6. The time now is 01:08 AM. |