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My RV-10's First Flight

Kyle Boatright

Well Known Member
Made the first flight of the RV-10 this evening in boiling summer heat. The highest CHT got up to 437 on initial climb, but after I accelerated to 130 knots, it came down below 400. All 6 cylinders stayed there for the remainder of the flight, with #'s 4 and 6 being ~395 and the others up to 40F less. Oil temperatures, oil pressures, etc. were all happy.

The airplane flew straight and true with no aerodynamic squawks at all. One thing I was happy about (given that it was over 90F at the time of the flight), was the performance of the vents in the overhead console. They really blow a lot of fresh air, which was very welcome. Despite not having flown a "trike" more than about 3 hours in the last 20 years and only having 4-5 hours of fuel injected or constant speed time <ever>, I didn't manage to mismanage either system, so that was a good thing. The landing came off well, with the nosewheel right on the centerline with touchdown pretty much where I'd planned.

I'd expected to do the first flight yesterday, but found that the starter ring gear was rubbing on an inside corner of the upper air inlet/ramp, so I cut the offending material off and glassed in a recess before work this morning. It was hot enough here that the epoxy had hardened by lunchtime when I re-cowled the airplane.

It has been a couple of years since I flew a -10, and I remembered it being heavy on the controls compared to the -6. Yep, mine's heavy on the controls compared to the -6 too. Different missions, but wow, the 2 seater requires a lot less "oomph" to make it do what you want.

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Congrats, Kyle! Great feeling, I'm sure! Best of luck with the engine break-in and flight testing.
 
Congrats Kyle! Yesterday was hotter than blazes, so really good job on the baffle seals, etc. for those CHT's.
 
Congratulations

Big congratulations Kyle, a great accomplishment.
The -10 is a fantastic airplane especially if you have use for all the seats.
Enjoy.
 
Congratulations on your first flight. I like your paint scheme and judging from the inside pic, you built it light. You will get great performance and literally fall in love with the plane as you explore the capabilities the RV-10 offers.
 
Awesome Kyle. Your gonna love that plane. After four years of flying ours I’m still impressed on what the 10 can do. Enjoy!
 
Nice Kyle. I have never flown in a 10 and a little afraid to. I know it would cost me a bunch of money! Like others have said, I like your paint scheme. It looks fast just sitting there! Have fun.
 
Congratulations!

Looks great Kyle. Also looks like you still have a bit of work left going on the panel. Gotta love the post-first flight punch list. Good job man.
 
Looks great Kyle. Also looks like you still have a bit of work left going on the panel. Gotta love the post-first flight punch list. Good job man.

There’s a blank plate I left uninstalled. The hole is sized for a G5. My budget is sized for a piece of 0.040. ;-)
 
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It has been a couple of years since I flew a -10, and I remembered it being heavy on the controls compared to the -6. Yep, mine's heavy on the controls compared to the -6 too. Different missions, but wow, the 2 seater requires a lot less "oomph" to make it do what you want.

congrats you'll love it jsut the same. I too was surprised at the Mack truck feel compared to the 6. To be fair, I think it is the 6 being so good and not the 10 being so bad. To this day, I still take up the 6 for fun flights, so think twice before selling it. That said, the 10 simply cannot be beat for cross country work. I can easilly go 5 hours without a break or need to get out; Simply not possible in the 6. I am making Chicago to Dallas non-stop unless the winds are really bad. IFR is night and day better with the 10.

Larry
 
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Congratulations Kyle, yesterday was a hot day, did you make first flight out of VPC? I need. A first ride in a RV10!!!!! Let me know.
 
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Congradulations Kyle, yesterday was a hot day, did you make first flight out of VPC? I need. A first ride in a RV10!!!!! Let me know.

Yep. It was genuinely hot yesterday and I did fly it out of VPC. Right now the weather is being uncooperative for flight 2. 95 degrees, rain blowing sideways, thunder & lightning. Plus hail. It’s pretty loud in the hangar at the moment. ;-)
 
Congrats, Kyle! nice looking bird. I've had mine flying almost 2 years but this weekend to KCRE was the first flight in paint.

I miss the light touch of the 6A controls a bit, except when I don't. "George" and I have no complaints about the stability it offers. Just need to address a heavy right wing once and for all. And cut. And buff. And pinstripe.
 
Look forward to seeing her at OSH. Hope you can fly off the phase one in time.:p

I'm working on it. I put another hour on it this morning. But I continued to have a whiff of fuel on landing, so I went a step further in tracking it down than I did last night. In a 100F hangar this afternoon, I pulled the tunnel covers and the SCAT tube inside the tunnel, turned on the fuel pump and opened the recirculation valve in the fuel injection and voilà! Drip, drip, drip from the hardest to access fitting in the airplane.

Much sweating and straining later and all was well and the airplane was leak-free and re-assembled.

Next flight - tomorrow morning.
 
A month later and it has 41.X hours and the bugs are worked out. Had a couple of squawks along the way, but none were horrible. The one I chased the most was a defective mic jack that had an intermittent short that activated the PTT. I fiddled with that and its wiring for the entire month. I replaced the jack tonight and the problem disappeared.

Oh, and during the month, we took a week and did Zion, the Grand Canyon, and Vegas, so I put 40 hours on the RV-10 (and at least that much wrench and inspection time into it) in about 3-3.5 weeks.

Tomorrow, it gets its first bath. It is filthy. Dust, dirt, greasy handprints, painter's tape (to protect things), etc.

Barring anything unexpected, I'll have it at Oshkosh in a week.
 
Hopefully, Friday. I’ll be watching Saturday and Sunday’s chaos from a folding chair. ;-)

We’re flying up Friday as well. We’re volunteering with the welcome wagon Sat and Sun morning, but we’ll see you at some point over the weekend, and if not then at the RV social for sure.
 
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