First flight: the 4th RV-7 in Norway (and our second build) is flying!

Hi gang.

Just wanted to tell you that on February 25th, I took my new -7, LN-AKC, named "Kermit", into the wild blue yonders for the very first time!
It was the second -7 my building crew and me have completed, and the first flight was as exciting this time as when I did the first flight on LN-BAW, "Wilco" in 2008.

The plane flew straight as an arrow, all instruments where well within their limits and the Lyc ran like a swiss clock.

Unfortunately, only two of my five (!) man building crew could be present, but we had the RV-grins all the same!

Here just before start-up:






A couple of friends of mine flew chase with their RV-4, and had a chance to snap off a few pics: first a check for leaks and loose items:




Then a wiew from the side:






The AFS 4500 was working great:





And so was the 3400:





After an hour of circling around the airport, it was time to land (It was indeed a great landing... hehe...) and taxi in:






And the RV-grin was in place....





Then it was time to say a BIG THANK YOU to the guys who have worked with me year after year....







A look at the panel: (right seat is pilot seat)







A little couriosity at the end: here's a pic from when I received the QB kit quite a few years ago:



I remember the building crew and me said to eachother when we watched the fuse hanging in the air: "just wait until the NEXT time the fuse is in the air! It won't be needing no crane at THAT time for sure!

.. and on February 25th, that statement proved to be true....

Congratulations Alf and the rest of the team! Good luck with the flight testing.

Where is all the snow?

Great panel and elegant paint scheme! Waiting for ice landing report

Kermit?

Congratulations, Alf....beautiful artwork. Airbrushed?

Best,

Very nice! Congrats!

Brilliant! Very nice airplane, congratulations!

Congrats ! Enjoy the first testing phase of YOUR airplane

Lots of fun

It never gets old

Congratulations Alf,
You plane looks nice and I like the frog....Kermit....

Jack

Gratulerer

Gratulerer! Du har jobbet veldig hardt. Nyt flyr flyet!

Thanks...

.... for the nice comments guys! And some where even in Norwegian! Veldig bra folkens!

Pierre: yes, some of the Kermit-figure is airbrush, some is painted on using vinyl stripping.
Here's the artists homepage: http://www.mclakkering.no/

Unfortunately, the text is only in Norwegian, but there's a series of pics showing how the painting where made.

Vlad: so far, this winter in Norway have had temps mostly around freezing, so the lakes has way too thin ice for landings here in the SE ...
As it looks right now, the necessary cold weather won't happen either, because Spring is just around the corner here.
Looks like the ice landings will have to be postponed for about 10-11 months...

Congratulations!

Just curious; what's the reason that you choose to fly the plane from the right?

Very nice Alf! Congrats!

Cheers,
Bob

Gagarin:
Reason for the right seat as pilot seat is that I started my flying career as a fighter-jock in the Norwegian AF (F-5A/B, RF-5A, F-16A/B) and before that two years of pilot training in USAF (T-37 + T-38)

During these years (11 total), I got used to having the stick in the right and throttle on the left.
BTW: before all this, I flew sailpalnes for a few years, and as you know you fly those planes with the stick in the right hand.

When I started to fly GA-planes after leaving the AF, I flew a few years in a Saab Safir, a Swedish built aerobatic plane.

That plane had control-sticks and could be flown from both seats.
I tried both and found that it was much easier for me to continue to have the stick on the right hand and the throttle on the left.

Allthough I flew the 737 from both seats, it was no doubt in my mind that I wanted the stick on the right hand in my own RV. (I built the plane that way I wanted it... hehe...)

Just for fun; here's a pic of the Safir. It's a real veteran, built in the 50's I think?
A real beauty, eh?






Here's the instrument panel. A good ol' fashioned one:





Anyway; there you have the reason for the right seat choice.

Nicely done!

It's looks like you and your crew built another excellent aircraft, Alf! Great job. Congratulations!

The Saab is beautiful! In the past also used in the Netherlands for training at the "Rijksluchtvaartschool - RLS" (airline pilot training).

Air-to-air pics

A couple of days ago, a couple of friends took some air-to-air shots of "Kermit" and me. They turned out pretty good so here they are (just in case someone needs a motivational reason to keep pounding them rivets... hehe...)
























Here's the photo-ship flown by the proud owner: a beautiful Lancair:



This pic is taken a couple of years ago by the same photographer who took the pics of my -7 above.


David: yes, a RV-8 sure has the throttle and sticks where I want them, but the -8 puts the wifey where I do NOT want her: behind me.... she likes to do the flying when we are out on our trips, she prefers side-by-side seating and she also enjoys the great view from the tipup -7, so the choice beetween 7 and 8 was easy really... besides: I'd HATE to have a female on my six all the time. I would be waiting for the dreaded "guns-guns-guns call" THAT would be soooooo embarrasing... LOL ... much better to have her at 9 o' clock... hehe...

Alf,
Congratulations on your first of many flights and adventures. Continue to send photos of your travel around Europe. One day I would like to fly my plane over and do the grand tour.

Good luck with the rest of Phase 1.
Bernie