Bill Dicus
Well Known Member
N9669D (our Anniversary) finally got its Airworthiness Certificate 11/14/14 after 13 years of sporadic building and a lot of help from this site and other folks. Waited about three weeks for suitable weather with light winds and good ceiling/viz, temp. about 20 degrees. Acceleration on takeoff awesome and lifted off in about 5 seconds after throttle open. Initial climb 2500 fpm and still good rate at 140-150mph ias. Visibility superb and first landing was a greaser. CHT's low on #'s 1 and 2, addressed before 2nd flight with small air dams up front. Now all is good and CHT spread 10-14 degrees. Just need to get the Lycon IO-360 exp M1B (10:1 comp) broken in. Ken at Vans says I'll like the RV-8 even better after a few years, but that's going to be difficult! Garmin 430W, SL30, GMA340 and GTX330,TruTrak Pictorial turn and bank, round Alt, AS, VSI, g-meter, AFS and Dynon AOA's, Whelan strobes and LED leg, taxi lights. Tosten grips with electric elevator and aileron trim (ident, Transmit, freq switch and AP CWS on stick also). Special thanks to Tom Stearman, Steve Raddatz, Randy Carson, Doug Woofter, Russ Kotlarek, Mike Schreiber, Dennis Millsap, Mike Saeger, Jeff Point and especially my wife Jane, who put up with having her car in the driveway for 11 cold and snowy Wisconsin winters. What a ride!