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First Flight N77PB

Sparky

Well Known Member
After 10 years of building, my RV-7 flew for the first time on Saturday, April 16th!

N77PB received an airworthiness certificate last Saturday, April 9th, after a DAR inspection by Vern Darley. Vern is a very professional DAR inspector and did a very thorough inspection. He did point out a couple of very minor items, but overall the inspection went very well with no significant findings. Thanks, Vern!

For the first flight I had always intended to get an experienced RV pilot to perform the first flight. I'm a fairly low time pilot with a recent tailwheel endorsement, and just don't feel entirely comfortable jumping into an unfamiliar and unproven aircraft. So I searched for a qualified test pilot and found who I consider one of the best. I had originally approached Kent Gorton, to obtain RV transition training in his RV-6. One thing led to another, and I asked him to perform the first flight, and he agreed.

Kent did a fantastic job on the first flight! As you can hear in the video, it was quite windy here in Newnan, GA on Saturday with about 20 knot winds and a left crosswind component of about 14 knots. He performed a very professional first flight per flight test plan and absolutely greased the landing!

The A/C flew perfectly for 42 minutes with no issues. She flew hands off, wings level, with no aileron trim required, and performed very close to published specifications. I downloaded the flight data from the Advanced Flight Systems AF-4500 EFIS/EMS system and all engine temps and other parameters were well within limits. The AeroSport Power IO-360-B1B engine and Hartzell composite constant speed prop and all avionics were basically flawless.

Here are some pictures and videos:

IMG_5539_zpsc4275had.jpg


IMG_5529_zps1ha3q6gv.jpg


IMG_5532_zpsluqwx0ce.jpg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7TkHgDaTmM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtdTXrUaE1s

Thanks to everyone who has helped over the years, but especially to my wife, Becky, who was always supportive and positive, and helped me drive a significant number of rivets!

I really am looking forward to my first flight! Coming soon...
 
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Congratulations, Paul - I love the prop, please post how you like it as you get into Phase I. I will be a few months (hopefully) behind you with about the same build time.

Thanks for the kick in the pants!!
 
Congrats on the build Paul, and first flight by Kent. It is a fine looking airplane and you will certainly enjoy flying it.
 
Nice !

Congrats Paul. Look forward to seeing your plane and meeting you soon at one of the local fly-ins / breakfasts. Best of luck to you and safe flying :)
 
Wow! Congrats. One of life's biggest accomplishments/milestones for sure. There's more to come. Nice touch with the alum paint (?) on the fibreglass parts.

What's the third comm antenna for, VHF tracker perhaps?

Bevan
 
Paint

Beautiful, congrats! I also love the silver fiberglass, could you give any more info on the paint job? Thanks!

Chris

Actually, the paint is not nearly as nice as it looks in the pictures. I'm going to have the entire A/C professionally painted later, after I fly it awhile, so I just wanted to seal up the fiberglass a little and get rid of the pink cowl for now. So to get the aircraft in the air sooner rather than later I just painted the fiberglass parts with rattle can Rustoleum Professional primer and "aluminum" color top coat. I did seal the inside of the cowl with an epoxy coat and skim coated the exterior of all the fiberglass parts with several coats of epoxy to get rid of as many pinholes as I could. I hate fiberglass.

I know the rattle can paint makes it more difficult for the professional painters later, so please be gentle with the flames:)

All fiberglass parts on the A/C are removable.

I haven't decided yet on a final paint scheme, but I am leaning toward silver with red, blue, and black accents.
 
Wow! Congrats. One of life's biggest accomplishments/milestones for sure. There's more to come. Nice touch with the alum paint (?) on the fibreglass parts.

What's the third comm antenna for, VHF tracker perhaps?

Bevan

Thanks!

Yes the third comm antenna is for the APRS tracker.
 
Congratulations, Paul - I love the prop, please post how you like it as you get into Phase I. I will be a few months (hopefully) behind you with about the same build time.

Thanks for the kick in the pants!!

Bill,

One of Kent's first comments when he stopped grinning after the flight was, "I really like that prop!"

I'll keep you posted.
 
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Congratulations Paul..
I just received the construction plans to build an RV7A.
Didn't know you were building one. I see Gerry has an RV6.
Yours looks great. :)

-tim payne
 
Congratulations Paul..
I just received the construction plans to build an RV7A.
Didn't know you were building one. I see Gerry has an RV6.
Yours looks great. :)

-tim payne

Tim, Welcome to the Van's and VAF community!

What a ride! You will enjoy your build. There are a lot of ups and downs, but it's all worth it!

Your background in avionics and at the airlines will really help. If you need any assistance or advice, please contact me.
 
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