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I flew my RV-7A for the first time N47PM

Pmerems

Well Known Member
Advertiser
I wanted to share my joy with all of you.

Pauls-first-flight-022411%20web.jpg

Yesterday I flew my RV-7A for the first time. It was not the first flight of the airplane. A good friend and RV-7A driver had started the testing while I got more current transition training with him in his RV-7A. But it was time for me to step up and fly my plane by myself.

I am a very low time pilot with about 120 hours of flying in the early 80's and a 25 year hiatus from flying. Passed a BFR in late 2009 but did no solo flying nor any additional flying (thought my RV would be finished sooner). Then in October 2010 I transitioned trained with Mike Seager for about 7 hrs. But it took longer to get my RV-7A ready for flight and my flying skills weren't up to acceptable standards so I needed more training. So after several additional transition flights and lots of radio practice it was time for me to fly.

So on a very calm Friday morning I got my courage up and took to the sky. I had a lot of anxiety for days leading up the to the flight. My wife is a worrier and that didn't help. But on Friday morning I got to the airport and worked on the plane a bit and got ready. I wouldn't say I was calm but most of the anxiety was gone it was going to be whatever it was to be.

I wanted everything to go perfectly. But it didn't. I was challenged but I was successful.

I had better engine starts then this one, I had to wait during run up for 12 F-16's which had returned from a flight and were taxing across the runway I was using. This delayed me about 10 minutes. I was on the ground with the engine running for at least 15 minutes when all I wanted to do was get off the ground and relieve some of my nerves.

The takeoff was good but not great, drifted to the left a bit with no crosswind. I have done this before so it was no surprise but I need to improve this. Once airborne everything was fine. I stayed on departure and got traffic advisories as I practiced turns just outside the controlled airspace. The engine is still in the break-in period and I need to maintain a high power setting so I was flying 24" 2400 rpm. Got bumpy as I crossed near some open pit mines and slowed a bit. But basically level flight and practiced turns. After about an hour it was time to come back in.

This is what I worried about the most. I don't want to hurt myself or my plane. The tower set me up for a runway I haven't used before so I prepared for the the challenge. What I have learned during the transition training is that power management is the most import part of preparing to land. If you are on the right speeds and power setting then everything usually works out well and landing is easy. However if you are too fast and too much power it can be very challenging. So as I prepared to land and was just about ready to turn on final the tower asked me to do a left 360 for some reason (really don't know). I complied and when I came out of my turn I wasn't in the ideal position to turn final. I was fast but at proper altitude. I thought about aborting because the setup wasn't exactly right but decided to try. So I did all the right things and landed smoothly. I don't believe I even trimmed during landing because I didn't have time. My only regret was that I didn't hold the nose up after touchdown like I wanted to. No, the nose didn't impact the runway on landing but I wanted to keep it up until it dropped on its own. So that was a disappointment.

All in all it was a good first flight. I need to improve things a bit but that is for another day.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. I hope this encourages others. Keep building and don't stop, it will be worth all the effort.

:D I claim two F-16 destroyed and one damaged (not bad for my first sortie)
 
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Paul thanks for your story and congratulations! You did very well on this flight. Best wishes and thousands of trouble-free hours to you! Papa Mike looks great polished do you want to keep her this way?
 
Congratulations!

Keep us posted on your transition back to flying. I also am about 20+ years since my last time piloting. I'm sure I'll have just as many nerves when it comes time to fly my airplane.
 
Paul,

Same story here on the time out of flying but you will
get right back into it. Be safe and enjoy.

I bet the F-16 Drivers were also saying "I wish I could
put this boy to bed and jump in with that guy".

Got to love these planes.:D
 
Great work Paul ! :)

I also have no PIC time in the last 10+ years. I was down at my old flying school last week to talk about BFR. I asked about how much a 172 ( caugh ) is to rent, he was happy to say only $280 hr + gst. :eek: No wonder I couldnt build AND fly.
 
Way to go!!!

Way to go Paul. You'll gain confidence with each flight. Do as much as you can before it starts to get hot.

Keep us posted.
 
Paul

Congratulations. Sounds like you're on the right track and with more practice it'll all come back to you.

Thanks again for selling one of the best tools I've brought.

Peter
 
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