First Ride!

Well I can now officially say I've had a ride in an RV-7! I headed out to the airport on Friday morning to meet Richard for a ride in his RV-6A (the -6 is the predecessor to the -7. Van's made a few improvements and replaced the -6 with the -7). Unfortunately, as we completely the pre-takeoff runup, we discovered that Richard's airplane had an issue with one of his magnetos. So we were unable to fly that day. Lucky for me, one of the other guys that owns an RV, Fred, was at the airport that day, so he offered me a ride in his -7! It was incredible.

The first thing about the airplane that I noticed was how short the wings are. I'm used to flying Cessnas which have much longer wings. I wasn't sure how we were going to fly with such small wings! But fly we did. Fred took off and departed the pattern and then let me take the controls. I couldn't believe how easy the plane was to fly. It is super light on the controls. You could easily fly holding the stick with two fingers. And it is FAST. We climbed like a bat out of hell. It's just so much different compared to what I am used to flying. After I flew around for a few minutes, we came back to the pattern and did a low pass over the runway. Fred then took the controls again and landed... I couldn't believe how little of the runway we used to land. It really is an awesome, awesome airplane. The ride definitely solidified my decision to build!

Richard's RV-6A

Fred's RV-7

The cockpit of Fred's RV-7

After milling around and talking to a older gentleman on the field that is building an RV-4, Fred got ready to go formation flying with another guy, Ernie, in his Mooney. Fred asked if I wanted to join him for another flight and I wasn't about to turn that down! I have never flown formation before and it was pretty exciting to be that close to another airplane. It's definitely something I'd like to get into, especially because so many RV guys fly formation together. I just need to get my airplane built first!

Flying in the RV-7 off the wing of Ernie's Mooney

And after the formation flight, another guy I've met in the last few days, Tony, asked if I wanted to go fly to Auburn, California, for a quick lunch. Tony was flying with Ernie during the formation flight. Anyway, I've rented airplanes out of Auburn and it's an awesome little airport with a good restaurant on the field. We made the quick flight up and back in Tony's Grumman Yankee.

I'm really pumped that I've met so many guys at the airport in the last few days. I didn't realize there was an EAA chapter in Lincoln until talking with Scott, who is building an -8 in his garage. He let me know about the chapter and I met a lot of great guys at that first meeting. I know they will be a great source of knowledge and experience as I work my way through my build. 

Overall, an awesome day at the airport and one I won't soon forget!