I'm happy to report that on Tax Day, April 15, N425KW took to the skies for the first time from Benton, KS (1K1).
The weather forecast looked great so my wife and I took the day off work. I finished the last hour of transition training and immediately hopped in my 9A for the real deal.
Takeoff roll:
Immediately upon leaving the runway I noticed a heavy left wing, not uncommon in RVs I've come to understand. Full right aileron trim took care of the issue for this flight. Researching solutions now.
The only other squawk was high CHTs on #1 and #2 cylinders. This is a used engine so it is not due to normal break-in effects. I've since removed the air dams in front of the cylinders and closed off the inboard side of the inlet ramps on the top cowl. I'm looking forward to the next flight to note the effects.
About 20 minutes of controllability checks and slow flight, and it was time to land:
And of course the obligatory grin:
I finally understand the RV grin. For those of you who are still looking forward to your first flights in your RV, just be prepared for a numb face from smiling so much!
I want to publicly thank my wonderful wife Heather, whose unending support made my dream possible. Thank you for putting up with "airplane parts in every room of the house" for so long. I promise to clean up now. And to take you on lots of really cool trips!
I also want to thank my friend Steve for generously providing me hangar space and a helping hand whenever it was needed, and Doyle who taught me to fly RVs in his 7A. I couldn't have done this without either of you guys.
IT FLIES!!!!
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