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First Flight N713JL

jmjula

Well Known Member
It only took 13 years, but my slow build RV-7A finally made it into the sky on 10/12/15! Roy Thoma flew chase in his RV-7A, and my wife flying with him snapped the picture in the link below. The flight went perfect except for a heart thumping BANG that turned out to be the GoPro falling onto the baggage floor :(

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Here is a link to my first flight video edit, including camera fall...and yes I forgot to latch the back up canopy latch and my checklist has been updated accordingly ;)

https://www.facebook.com/jmjula/videos/10207861747770058/
 
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Congrats. Glad to see you stuck with it longer than it took me. Pretty awesome feeling to finally fly the fruits of the long build journey. Enjoy the flying.
 
James, BIG TIME CONGRATS. Stay safe and keep us posted on your phase 1.
ps I know the feeling you have.. I had a looong 14 1/2 years building but worth every second now.
 
Congratulations

Well i bought my empenage kit in 2000 and the QB fuse in on the floor with wings built and expected to be complete 2016.

Life, funding and comittments eh?

Congratulations and here is hoping i meet you when flying mine.

Dave
 
Yeah, life gets in the way if you let it. Since starting the project, I've added two more kids to the family, got divorced and re-married, taught another 800 hrs of dual while maintaining a full time job, and climbed/hiked ~50 mountains (some with many repeats). The plane was the lower priority, but I never quit, and boy did I want to at times. Building is just like climbing a mountain, one step at a time and when it gets tough you want to quit, but you just have to keep putting one foot forward. When you make it to the top/first flight, it is soooo worth it, and the journey isn't over yet :)
 
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Nice video, i don't think I've seen a calmer guy on his first flight! Most people you can tell are very nervous! You acted like it was just another day! Nice work!
Congrats to you
 
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