[NDrv8r]

My DAR was in the vicinity and inspected N829LB on Thursday Night Jun 30 2011. The inspection went off without a hitch.

My thanks to DAR Trent Teets of Cassleton, ND. He worked me into his very busy schedule of fixing broke spray planes.

I flew it for the first time this morning July 2nd. It was a beautiful morning in Bismarck. calm winds and cool. I had freshly honed cylinders so I had to run the engine hard. I climbed out and orbited the airport at 5000 feet. The only squawks were a slightly heavy right wing and oil temp running a bit high at around 235 degrees.

Landing was nice owing to the transition training with Jan Bussell of Okechobe FL.


It's a sweet flying airplane

 

[Zero4Zulu]

Way to go Larry! Quite an accomplishment.

Steve.

 

[Mark Burns]

Congratulations!

Slow build, that's right!
It was all worth it wasn't it?

It gets even better

Mark

 

[N9331v]

Congrats

Way to go ! How long was the first flight? How many years did you spend building?

 

[DeltaRomeo]

Congratulations Larry!!!!! Wishing you a happy phase I.

br,
dr

 

[rv8guy]

just awesome

welcome to the other side of RV life!

 

[scrollF4]

Well done, Larry! Congratulations.

 

[Vlad]

All the best to you Larry! Happy Phase One!

 

[humptybump]

Looks like you've built a beautiful craft! Congratulations and enjoy it !

 

[NDrv8r]

RV7A build

thanks for all the kind comments guys.
I started in Nov 2009 with the emp. It took 2 weeks to finish that and then I could not get any more kits till march of 2010. In the mean time, I split the Ebay IO360-A1B6 and found a cracked crank. I think I would go with a new engine next time around although I still have only about $17k in the engine. One issue I am having is high oil temp. at high power settings it creeps up there around 235. I have newly honed cylinders, so it needs to be run hard to seat the rings. I understand the temps may go down after break in, but the chts are real nice around 300. I'm thinking I need to check out the veratherm and then consider my oil cooler install is not optimal.
I'll post pics and more data as that progresses.

I worked on some of the baffling since I could not get any other kits. Big mistake! Do NOT work on any of the front ramps till the cowl is in place! the baffling was and still is a major pita.

I finished it Jun 30 2011. Frankly I lost track of man hours, but I am guessing around 1750.

Initially I considered the quick build, but the lead time was way out there. I did all of the riviting myself other than what I could not reach. Wound up with a couple of rivet gun dings doing so, but I could only devote a bit of time here and there and arranging for help during those times would have stretched out the build a lot longer.



The Skyview is just outstanding!
I just set up the AOA this morning.