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When did you first see / hear of an RV?

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great thread. :) back in 1999 i was looking for my next plane in stuart florida. there were these few rv6s there at the time. the one i bought is on the left front and its sister ship is behind it. the first time i saw my rv to be, the builder was head down, feet sticking out of the cockpit while he was stuffing insulation on the firewall and getting ready for a test pilot to do the first flight. i bought it and that was the beginning of a great relationship with my plane and other rv owners.
 
I was working toward my multi-engine ticket at Sierra Academy in Oakland in 1993. Their BE-76 Duchesses felt like a rocketship after the C-152s I had been training in. One day, we took off with an RV-6 behind us. As I climbed out through 1000', the -6 joins up on our wing in obvious slow flight config. He looks us over, waves, drops the nose a bit, and is gone. My instructor and I look at each other and both say, "I want one of those!".

Up to that point, I had been considering a Ron Sands plans-built Fokker Triplane to go along with an R/C model I was building using the plans as reference. But a few weeks later I had my info kit and -6A plans and never looked back.
 
Met Bob Larcel at Hillsboro Oregon airport 1983 while flying for Hillsboro Helicoptors and teaching in fixed in wing......A man on the other side of the airport named Dave gave me a ride in his white yellow, orange and red RV-4. I had a tail kit for a 4 next month, but didn't start building until we moved to Southern Calif, flew in 1992.

If I had to guess, that man named "Dave" was Dave Lewis.
I met Dave in 1996 when I was looking for a hangar for my Aeronca L3. Dave looked me up and down and said; "follow me". We went around the corner to his large hangar.... "You can put it right here"... between a couple RV4's. I was into antiques and had zero interest in those little aluminum airplanes. Dave had built well over a dozen, including a retract, before the Fed's changed the rules. My first ride in an RV came shortly after and I switched from trying to find an antique project to buying a tail kit from Van's in North Plains.
Ken Scott gave me that ride. His hangar was back and next to ours. Over the years, my hangar mates would include Scott McDaniel, Scott Risen, and several others. You might say I had a lot of encouragement.
 
For me it was 1993 an RV4 at Bulverde airpark (1T8) while getting my private. The owner was doing some repairs and needed an extra set of hands. I even drilled out and shot my first rivet that day (in that order).
 
2008 Beach Party

I was still a student pilot in April 2008 when my instructor invited me to fly up to a fly-in BBQ on the beach at Flathead Lake. After arriving and making a landing on the sand in our humble 172, a great looking plane made a very loud, very high-speed low pass down the makeshift runway, then back came around to land. Someone said "What was that?" Someone else said "I think it was an RV-10." It was love at first sight for me. That RV-10 was acquired a short time later by our own Pierre Smith. Later that year when I started looking into building a plane, the RV-10 came right to the top of the list and never left.

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I can't even remember whose airplane it was anymore, but it was an RV6 parked outside the sport class hangars at the Reno air races, I think that would have been either '99 or 2000. I spent so much time looking at the airplane that the owner finally came out to talk to me, probably thought I was going to try to steal his instruments or something. That got me started...
 
I went to Oshkosh in 1987 and saw the RV-4 and thought it was awesome. I went home and ordered the info package complete with the VHS tape. Life gets in the way and finally received my -8 tail kit in 1996.
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December 2003

It was mid-December 2003, just after the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first powered flight. It was too cold and dismal outside to fly my Citabria, and I was bored.
Building a plane had always been a dream, but only that. I was 45 and figured, if I'm going to do it, I better do it now. But what plane? It didn't take long before I was
looking at VansAircraft.com. The RV was exactly what I was looking for, a project I could finish, great reviews, total performance, good-looking. I ordered the infopack/video
the same day. I was so excited! Within two months I had the preview plans, tools and emp kit. I started building and never looked back. A little over five years later,
in spring of 2009, I was flying my own RV. It has been everything I thought it would be and more. Changed my life, really. One of the best things I ever did.
 
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It was 1981 when, unfortunately, a USAF pilot from the nearby airbase suffered a wing failure in an RV-3 during a low pass over the local airport. :(
 
Glenn Whittley

I went to the Camarillo Airshow in 1992 in hopes to see a Glasair 2. The
factory representative wouldn't give me the time of day. I had been interested in building and in early 1993 I was walking around looking
in hangars at Cable Airport. Glenn Whittley was kind enough to
show me the RV-6 he had just finished building (he also had an RV-4).
He then offered me a ride. Wow. I ordered the kit the following week.
I built the tail for my -6 in his hangar under his watchful eye.
 
Long time ago....

I was living in Yarmouth NS, and had been out of flying for about ten years. I had just started again, flying spam cans and some old cubs. I was in a second hand clothing store with my wife and trying to find something to do. There was a used magazine bin in the store and a Private Pilot magazine was on the top with the photo of a cool looking aircraft on the cover. The title of the piece was "build this aircraft". The piece was about Van and the 4 prototype. I bought the magazine, about a year later I bought the Plans #1118, and then the tail kit. We had a young family, little money, and it took me 11 years to build YTQ. She is 19 years old this year. I didn't actually see a 4 until after I had bought the tail kit. There were not many RV's in eastern Canada in the mid 80's. I still have the magazine

Joe
 
How RV?

At least 15-20 years ago a friend from church named Eric Stearman (related to the Stearman) told me about a cousin of his who would be interested in flying in my Pitts. The cousin had built a plane called an RV-4, which I was really not familiar with. Eventually Tom Stearman flew his RV to Timmerman field in Milwaukee. We flew in my Pitts S-2A and in his airplane. I was extremely impressed with the RV-4, which had a hopped up 180 Lycoming. It would indicate 180 mph on a summer afternoon at about 4000 feet. The flight characteristics were very pleasant. We did some limited acro. This experience was life-changing and eventually led to the building of our RV-8. Tom was a fighter pilot in the USAF, also an aeronautical engineer and a wonderful pilot. His RV was unpainted because it was too much fun to fly. He didn't want to take time off for painting. He's still flying the RV. I wonder if it was ever painted?
 
My wife took me to the Oregon Airshow in 2013 and there was an entire squadron of RVs doing some coordinated fly-bys. Later, after they landed, they taxied right in front of where I was standing and I knew right away that I had to have one! When I went to the Van's website I seriously looked at the RV-14 and decided to take a tour of the factory. I fell in love! Now, however, my wife has changed my mind and we are getting an RV-10! (Next week, actually!)
 
I spotted my first RV4 parked next to a work shop while returning from a training mission at 500 agl flying for the Idaho National Guard in 1985. Several weeks later I test flew that RV4 for the newly minted pilot/builder and was hooked. By the time I landed I knew an RV4 was in my future. I started kit 1150 in Oct of 86 and flew in June of 89. Our RV4 was the first completed in Colorado and was instrumental in piquing the interest of quite a few future RV builders.

While doing my oral on the B767/757, the check captain became interested in seeing my build pictures and hearing about the flying qualities of the RV4?. It was the easiest transition I ever had :)

Coming up on 27 years of the most fun you can have with your clothes on and she?s still flying strong.

Cheers, Hans
 
In high school a friend told me that I should build an airplane! A stupid idea that I could just not shake. Finally I decided that if I was going to build an airplane I should know how to fly. I got my license in 1983, bought a Citabria to fly until I was in a work/business position to be able to build. I had seen a RV4 but it was a rough specimen and it kind of turned me off. Then....I had the opportunity to see and go for a ride in Rick West's magnificent RV4. This was around 1992? 100 feet down the runway I was hooked. I can l clearly remember thinking "how am I going to be able to rivet all these rivets. Also I was dreading the thought of drilling all those hose (non-prepunched era). To that time all my metal drilling was in farm steel with a drill press or a hand drill. Drilling aluminium almost drills itself in comparison. Simply put the drill in the right place and a neat hole appears.
Shortly after that ride I purchased a RV4 kit that had some tail work done and the wing spar completed with ribs roughly cut to size. 17 months later I flew it for the first time spring 1995. I thought that it would be the last plane that I would ever own. Three years later I finished my first rocket....
 
Oshkosh 1988....

A good friend (Richard Dewitt) who had been researching what his next project would be (he currently owned a Kitfox he had built and that I had flown in some), told me to check out the RV's.

Actually my main goal was to look at an airplane called the Protech PT-2 (I know, I know...it's a very good thing that I never got very far with that)
I arrived at the show late in the day and while walking around to get the lay of the land (first time there), I came across a little blue low wing tri-gear airplane that said RV-6A on it. It was its public debut and seeing it change the path of my life (literally).

After getting home we got info from Van's regarding builders in our local area (only RV-4's, the RV-6 was still very new) and ended up getting a back seat ride in an RV-4 finished in the mid 80's by Glen Allison of Tucson. A couple months later I got a demo flight in that same blue with Van at the Copperstate Fly-in. The rest is history (a lot of it actually...)
 
First RV

Great thread. I first heard of an RV when reading Kitplanes magazine in 1992. I was sitting in an FBO lounge waiting for my sailplane instructor and picked up the magazine. I hadn't heard of homebuilts and could not believe the government would "let" an average person build an airplane. An RV was featured prominently in the magazine. I first saw a RV in the flesh at Hawthorne airport in So Cal a year later. A pretty red and white RV4. I remember talking with the builder about the magnitude of the project and he said matter-of-factly, "It all goes together." For some reason that really resonated with me and made me believe I could do it. A visit to Vans and a flight in the RV4 demonstrator with Ken Scott had me buying a kit in '94.
 
I was in A&P school in Clearwater Fl. in 2000 when I started recieving Kitplanes in the mail - probably because I was on RC magazines mailing lists. Since I loved building RC planes from scratch and I was learning all the A&P stuff, it just seemed natural to build my own plane. I never seriously thought about getting a pilot's license until I met some classmates who were working on theirs.
The first plane I fell in love with was a Velocity but it wasn't long before I noticed that most of chatter in the mag was about RVs. After some due dilligence on my part I ordered the RV9 preview plans, had a demo flight in ole Blue (N666..:eek:) at SNF and ordered the tail kit as soon as I earned my A&P in 2001.
N659DB had her first flight on July 1, 2006 and this year I will make my tenth consecutive flight to SNF! 954 hours and counting...
 
I guess I'm a relative newbie.

Although I was well aware of experimentals and scratch & kit built planes, I'd never actually seen one up close. I had seen pictures of a few that either clearly did not meet my needs (open cockpit one-seaters), or looked to me like a really good way to test a parachute.

When I finally started flight training for real in 2011, I was hanging out on the POA message board. I heard about RVs and learned a little about them, but not much. I saw an RV-8 parked on the ramp one day -- I was impressed. Still, the thought of building really hadn't occurred to me.

Then I started doing some flight plans for potential cross-country trips that I figured we'd want to take. It quickly became obvious that renting, or even taking a club plane, would be really slow and really expensive (172, Cherokee). Or a little less slow and REALLY expensive (182, Arrow). I started looking for a plane to buy, but anything in my price range was really going to be a 100- 1to 110-knot airplane, on a good day, and don't spare the avgas. And the maintenance! Frightful, and a total crapshoot. I started thinking about building. I looked at a lot of options, and narrowed it down to the RV-7 or RV-9. I had very tentative plans to start building in a couple of years or so... and a partially completed 7A came up for sale, a deal I couldn't pass up. So, I went from "never heard of Van's" to "bucking rivets on an RV-7" in about a year or so. And there's been a lot of water under the bridge since.
 
RV4

1982 at 2J9 Quincy, Florida. Seth Matthews gave me a ride in an unpainted RV4 that he had just finished. It knocked my socks off and I wished for one until 2006, at which time I ordered a RV8 just for the extra room and pre-punched kit.
 
I was talking to a guy who had just built a Varieze and questioned him on popular kit planes that I might consider. Without hesitation he mentioned the RV. I thought it odd that he wasn't trying to sell me on his own creation, but I fully understand now.
 
First one I ever saw was a -4

Early 2000s I flew my C-140 to another airport for lunch. Taxied over to the ramp and there was this fast looking thing right next to where I parked. As I was looking it over the owner, Roger Moore, came out and the next thing I knew we started blasting around the sky in an RV-4 at 160! Coming from a C-140 that was way cool. Was so excited I never did eat lunch. Flew home and found out how much an RV cost.

Sold the 140 the next month and yes- the next airplane in my hangar was an RV-3 (couldn't afford a 2 seater yet). Most expensive plane ride I've ever been on but worth every penny.......
 
Just had gotten back into flying after 15 years and I was on the ramp preflighting a rental 1960 something Cherokee 140 and Jim Cone came ripping over the airport and banked into a hard turn to base. I decided right then I want one! Bought the quickbuild within a year.
 
I joined EAA back in 1983. In the January 1983 Sport Aviation magazine there was an article about a guy who built an RV-3 "Candy Apple Red". At the time, I was more interested in the Rutan stuff and thought it would be cool to carve something out of foam and fiberglass. Boy, I'm glad I didn't go down that route!
I did however note that there were some benefits to all aluminum traditional aircraft structures, and over the years saw more and more articles about Van's RV's. The introduction of the RV-9 and the use of the Roncz airfoils had me intrigued. John Roncz was quite the aerodynamicist and did lots of work with Rutan. My first real encounter with an RV was a flight in Bill Cary's RV-9A about a year before I pulled the trigger on building my own.
 
friends don't let friends fly plastic airplanes

One of my patients (who races his RV-8) found out I was considering buying a fiberglass Tango 2. Before he left the office, he wrote down ?vansairforce.net? and encouraged me to look at an RV-7A.

He told me ?friends don?t let friends fly plastic airplanes.? I bought my kit the following year.
 
Intro to RV's by a "pro"

Back in the 80's took a ride in the factory Glassair III. Fast forward to 2004. I had an opportunity to meet Lyle Heffel in DBQ at his shop where he was working on his 4th or 5th. Then off to the airport for a ride in his award winning 8. This performed as well or better than the GIII at half the cost, I was hooked. Ordered my 7 tail kit a few months later.
 
Back in the 80's took a ride in the factory Glassair III. Fast forward to 2004. I had an opportunity to meet Lyle Heffel in DBQ at his shop where he was working on his 4th or 5th. Then off to the airport for a ride in his award winning 8. This performed as well or better than the GIII at half the cost, I was hooked. Ordered my 7 tail kit a few months later.

Apparently the GlassAir pilot neglected to raise the landing gear!
 
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The first time I heard of an RV was in 2000 when an RV-3 crashed on my old school oval. :eek:

After that, I looked into them and decided the KR-2 held more appeal until I actually bought one and discovered I didn't quite fit well enough for long flights. So a decade later I bought the kit for a -9 - still without trying a -9 on for size either.
 
The first time I ever heard of the RVs was when I was in sixth grade in 1989. Dad brought home a copy of Kitplanes and I had taken it to read at school since I was generally bored out of my little mind. That issue had a picture of two RV-4s flying in close formation. I decided I wanted to build one right then.

Around 2001 when I first saw an RV-8 I decided that might be a little better since I wasn't sure my shop skills were up to the task and the RV-8 kit seemed more advanced. Unfortunately, life and career got in the way. which put any dreams of having an airplane on hold.

Around 2008 I was back on my feet, but now had two kids so I seriously considering buying a used Piper or Cessna. Fortunately I got a chance to ride in a very nice RV-8a. That pretty much erased all doubts of what I wanted.

The finish kit for my -8 is supposed to arrive in early March. I expect to be flying about 30 years after dad brought home that magazine.
 
Browning Aerial Service

It's funny what jogs your memory. Early to mid 80?s I was standing in Brownings lobby at the old Austin airport and up taxiied this little hotrod of an airplane. Must have been a 4. Several of us wandered out to have a look and I rememberd we all remarked on what a hand full it probably was both in the air and on the ground.

Boy was that a wrong impression based purely on appearance.
 
Sport Aviation in late 2007 or early 2008. The cover was the Rotec powered Pietenpol. Very nice plane, I have seen it several times now at OSH. Originally based on that article I was inspired to build a Pietenpol. I had a friend who built one in the early 90s, I got to see his plans the day he got them in mail, I got a ride in the plane once he finished it. I remember thinking how odd it was to see someone so excited about building a plane, but I wasn't even 20 yet.

That same issue had an article about a lady who built and flew an RV7. She was based and lived at Hicks airfield in Ft. Worth. If you saw the article, the interior of the hanger was very nice and I spent lots of time reading the property owners association newsletters for Hicks Airfield. Unique situation there in this through the fence world we live to be able to live on an airport that is not a residential airpark.

I then started spending time on the Van's site. I was and probably still am a P-51 junkie, but I will never be able to afford one unless I wind the lottery. But in looking at the RV8, I could see that it would look nice in warbird paint. I had no tools, skills or real plan to make any progress, and I ordered a tool box kit and airfoil kit, and they sat for 5 years.......

Right at a year ago I began tooling up and bought my tail kit. I took the VS down to Jay Pratt and we mostly built it in a day. I love that my plane sort of "began its life" on Hicks Airfield since the article in Sport Aviation had inspired it. The project has been dormant for a number of months for a lot of reasons/excuses. Warmer weather is ahead though and I may return to setting rivets.......
 
I know when it finally sank in.....

I had seen several RV's during my primary flight training, and had discussed a few of the models with my instructor, but wasn't too aware of the experimental world or what it really meant and had to offer. The summer of 2012, after completing my private and working on the instrument ticket, I found myself staring at a gorgeous Super Decalthon at the Auburn, CA airshow. A little sleuthing and several attempts at reaching the owner finally paid off. The next month I was in the front seat for my first tailwheel and aerobatic lesson. I loved the arrangement of the stick and throttle, sitting on the centerline of the airplane, and how much I felt a part of the plane. The second lesson that next weekend in September found me instead in the backseat of my instructor's Harmon Rocket II headed for Stead to aid in the purchase of a friends RV-3. I had learned more about experimentals and RV's in the meantime, and even recognized that he had an F1 slider canopy as opposed to the more common flop over. That first takeoff, the effortless cruise (aileron rolls included) to Reno, all 20 minutes of it, had me hooked. Then the nose went down, the throttle went forward, and being that the pylons were still up from the previous weeks festivities, around them we went, 190KTS and 50' AGL. Up until that point I was Mr. 6500' straight and level in the 152, keeping my turns standard rate and my nose clean.....I remember thinking, "now this was the flying I have been dreaming about!"

After a few more certificate and rating rides, some dabbling with Ag airplanes, etc. I made the decision to leave my career in the fire service and pursue aviation full time. That has seen us to Hawaii and now the PNW where, very appropriately, we live about 5 miles from the birthplace of all RV's in North Plains, OR. Given that the life of a freight dog doesn't leave much free time during normal human hrs, a well built airplane to purchase and fly is in the immediate future. The little lady doesn't mind the back seat, it just has to be comfy and have proper climate control (I'm all about custom seats with heaters too after a few winters spent traversing the Cascades @ 18k' covered in ice), as well as ride the bumps and be able to do some rolls along the way. The choice after years of diliberation and the repeated pestering of many of the icons in this industry keeps bringing me back to.....you guessed it, a Rocket! A well built, nice flying -4 would be amazing and a little easier on the pocketbook, but the higher wing loading (yes she knows what that means), bigger tanks, baggage space and power reserve of the Rocket continues to win out over anything else in the similar price range, mostly given that there isn't anything comparable, certified or otherwise. Hoping to be at the stick of my personal fighter jet this summer!
 
1983 or '84. I used to tow gliders Issaquah Skyport (no longer in existence). One of the pilots there had an RV-3. I thought it was THE best looking home-built airplane...PERIOD.

Although my favorite RV is the 8, I have a 7 because I need to be able to pack a model airplane in the back and still be able to have my wife along.

So happy all Van's aircraft keep the same beautiful lines.
 
Really takes you back. I've known since I was in high school (1969 or so) that I wanted to build an airplane, but the dream then was a Volksplane since Popular Mechanics had some articles on building your own plane. I loved the Long-EZ as well but I was never good with composites so that seemed more distant.

Never had the time or money to learn to fly so my dream was on the shelf for 30+ years. For my 50th b'day my wife gave me a discovery flight at the local flight school, which really got me dreaming. I finished my ticket and wondered what on earth I would do to fly - just seemed like an impossibility. Even used planes were so expensive. Over the years I'd buy a kitplanes every few years and have to put it down because I just didn't see how I could ever do it and I didn't want to think about it too much if I couldn't do it.

I started really looking again and found out about Van's. I'd never seen one, but based on the rave reviews it seemed like something I could do since I'd done metal work of various kinds in the past. Went to KOSH in '09 to see one in person and get a demo ride in the RV-9A. I was the first in line on Monday morning. Took my ride with Scott. I was in love before we cleared the threshold on 36. I was stunned at the performance. I told him it handled the way I'd always thought planes would fly when I thought about it. He said he got that a lot. I was still grinning when I flew home a few days later.

I realized after I got home I wasn't getting any younger and if I didn't do it I'd regret it the rest of my life. Started my kit in early 2011 and I hope to finish this year. A friend that just finished his in Oct gave me a ride yesterday. I feel the same way about it now I did then. Just love it.

One other note - better than that is all the wonderful folks I've met as a result of starting on this journey. It's been a blast.
 
KitPlanes

KitPlanes completion section, 1989, it was Pat Hatches and another persons RV-4 that caught my eye. I started building shortly after that.
 
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