The flawless first flight of RV6 N556RV occurred on a cold 
, clear Dec. 7, 2006 from the Marysville, KS MYZ airport. It was hard to believe I had finally finished and was now actually flying this wonderful airplane. My wife Jane took the photos. Although the take off occurred much quicker than she (or I) expected she got this picture of the take off.
The next photo is a good view of the plane shortly after my first flight.
See the photo that follows to see the RV.
The temperature had only warmed up to +20F, but that didn't affect the RV GRIN.
I started the project in Nov. of 1995 while living and working in Chandler, AZ. After retirement we sold our home and I moved the project to a hangar in Marysville, KS, which is near where I was raised and still have many family connections. We moved into a (ground-bound RV) 5th wheel trailer so my work time on the hangar and plane was limited to the nicer weather (spring and fall months) when we were around Marysville. The hangar needed many repairs so that was part of my project completion time. We also traveled to and spent one summer in Alaska so now I'm thinking of the possibility of going there again but this time in the flying RV.
The kit was a slow build started before anything was pre-punched except for the wing skins. The engine is and ECI O-360 titan kit engine that I assembled and painted. The prop is a Hartzell C/S blended tip airfoil. I decided to use a dual Lightspeed electronic ignition system after selecting the ECI engine.
I wanted to paint the airplane before final assembly and decided to try it myself. I fabricated a temporary paint room, rigged up a fresh air respirator system, fixtures to rotate the fuselage and wings, fixtures to hold other parts, and successfully painted the pieces. I also built the RMI engine monitor and encoder from kits so I think I easily surpassed the 50% rule.
I only got to fly it twice - about one hour each before we left Kansas for the winter. Were now in Texas where the winter temperatures are much milder. This time I left an airplane behind unlike other years when I left a project. I'm looking forward to spring when I'll get back to finish the phase I test flights.
, clear Dec. 7, 2006 from the Marysville, KS MYZ airport. It was hard to believe I had finally finished and was now actually flying this wonderful airplane. My wife Jane took the photos. Although the take off occurred much quicker than she (or I) expected she got this picture of the take off.
The next photo is a good view of the plane shortly after my first flight.
See the photo that follows to see the RV
.
The temperature had only warmed up to +20F, but that didn't affect the RV GRIN.
I started the project in Nov. of 1995 while living and working in Chandler, AZ. After retirement we sold our home and I moved the project to a hangar in Marysville, KS, which is near where I was raised and still have many family connections. We moved into a (ground-bound RV) 5th wheel trailer so my work time on the hangar and plane was limited to the nicer weather (spring and fall months) when we were around Marysville. The hangar needed many repairs so that was part of my project completion time. We also traveled to and spent one summer in Alaska so now I'm thinking of the possibility of going there again but this time in the flying RV.
The kit was a slow build started before anything was pre-punched except for the wing skins. The engine is and ECI O-360 titan kit engine that I assembled and painted. The prop is a Hartzell C/S blended tip airfoil. I decided to use a dual Lightspeed electronic ignition system after selecting the ECI engine.
I wanted to paint the airplane before final assembly and decided to try it myself. I fabricated a temporary paint room, rigged up a fresh air respirator system, fixtures to rotate the fuselage and wings, fixtures to hold other parts, and successfully painted the pieces. I also built the RMI engine monitor and encoder from kits so I think I easily surpassed the 50% rule.
I only got to fly it twice - about one hour each before we left Kansas for the winter. Were now in Texas where the winter temperatures are much milder. This time I left an airplane behind unlike other years when I left a project. I'm looking forward to spring when I'll get back to finish the phase I test flights.
