This post has proved absolutely fascinating....
Reading all the replies to this post has proved most enlightening... and entertaining. Here are a few more points to ponder before you finish your own RV and do the initial flights... ESPECIALLY IF IT IS A TAIL-DRAGGER!. My pilot skills were rusty after spending 7 days/week building my 14. I dreamed of doing transition training with Mike Seager, but that couldn't happen for me.
My 88 year old mom lives with me, and she has severe dementia. It was not possible for me to be gone for several days in order to travel and fly with Mike. I had to find another option. It seems like everybody in the Van's world talks about transition training, and I sought to find transition training that would work for me. I started the search on Vans website, but that proved less than helpful. Of the few "transition" pilots on Vans website, most were not tail-wheel trainers. And of the few that were, trying to fit their schedules with my requirements was basically worthless.
So I decided to try and find some real tail-wheel training that would perhaps get me into the air safely in my RV-14, even if that training was not in a tail-wheel RV. I started asking everybody I could think of if they knew where I could get tail-wheel current. I say current because I had some tail-wheel time, but it wasn't very recent. I originally got signed off in tail-draggers in a Stearman. I also have some time in T-6's, a BT-13 and YMF-5 and UPF-7 Wacos. But it's been quite a while.
Before I continue, I should mention that I had never flown in any RV, except an RV-12 I built, but that's not even in the same league as an RV-14. I had never actually seen an RV-14 in person until I had my 14 almost completed. And I never flew a 14 until my plane did it's maiden flight.
Eventually I found somebody who knew somebody who had an RV. He thought it was an RV-8, but wasn't sure, but he would probably know somebody who could help me. Then that person knew somebody who he thought "might" know somebody who could train me in a tailwheel RV. That lead me to Bill Gill, who lives in Lees Summit, MO. I met with Bill and he showed me the RV-7 that he had not only built, but had given over 2,000 hours of transition training in, thanks to a LODA from the FAA. Bill is also an A&P and has helped several people build their RV's, and also with their Phase 1 flights. Bill is the person who enlightened me to the Additional Pilot Program.
Ah... that moment of enlightenment completely changed my thinking about getting my RV-14 into the air.
If you don't know about the Additional Pilot Program you are completely missing the boat. Instead of trying to get some "transition" training before your first flight, you do that first flight (or in my case the entire Phase 1 flights) with someone who is not only extremely qualified in tailwheels, but specifically in tail-wheel RV's! AND a CFI too. AND an A&P... AND an RV builder too!
So flying my first flights with Bill Gill was MY solution, to not only getting current flying, but doing the Phase 1 flying also. Then I met Ron Reser, who was a retired 757 Captain and has been teaching people to fly in J-3 Cubs for over 40 years. Ron has almost as many type-ratings as I have fingers and toes (and I still have all my original fingers and toes), and has flown almost everything that fly's and has a tailwheel. He has a type rating in a DC-3, that's a multi-engine tailwheel... if you're not familiar with a DC-3. And... before I forget it, Ron also has a type rating in a B-17... yea... the four-engine tail-dragger! Ron is the most accomplished tailwheel CFI I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. And the best teacher I have ever trained with.
So instead of getting some transition training, and then doing my RV-14's first flight by myself, I chose to do the Phase 1 flying with the most accomplished pilots I could find for my RV tail-dragger. Both Bill and Ron are "Qualified Pilots" under the Additional Pilot program. And they both have experience doing Phase 1 flight testing.
I don't know how much total flight time Bill has, because I never asked. All I cared about was he had a couple thousand hours training in his RV-7. During the first flight of N58TV the "flight crew" had 10,000 hours of flight time (did I forget to mention that even though I was somewhat rusty, ok, really rusty, I have almost 7,500 hours of flight time), and maybe a lot more. Before each flight we had a plan of what we wanted to accomplish. Before and after each flight we checked the plane over. Bill was experienced with Phase 1, having done the Phase 1 not only in his own RV-7, but also with flying Phase 1 with other RV builders too. So I was not only flying with an experienced Phase 1 flight test pilot, I was also getting current tail-wheel training too, all at the same time.
Bill flew with me for two days, and then I flew the rest of Phase 1 with Ron. When Ron and I were sitting in N58TV, the flight-crew of N58TV had OVER 30,000 hours of flight time! Every flight started with a plan, and we flew until that plan was accomplished.
During the entire Phase 1 there was only one minor squawk, a small burr on the tail-wheel mechanism, which took about one hour to fix. The most meticulous aircraft mechanic I have ever met, and also the builder of eight planes (I think it is eight anyway) kept careful watch over the plane every day, making sure that everything was in perfect condition.
I think about all the RV builders looking for some transition training before doing the first flight in their tail-wheel RV. Then I think about how I did not only the first flight, but the entire Phase 1. My question to every RV builder is why would any RV tail-dragger builder choose to do their Phase 1 any other way than how I did it.
And the question that nobody has asked, is WHY does Van's not find people like Bill Gill & Ron Reser, who are "Qualified Pilots" under the Additional Pilot Program for Van's tail-wheel aircraft, and make the names and contact info available to to all Van's builders. Its totally beyond my comprehension why anybody would not take advantage of the FAA's Additional Pilot Program.
I know of pilots who two years after their first flight, have flown less than 20 hours. I decided to not only do 40+ hours in several days, but do it with the most qualified tail-wheel RV pilots I could find. I call Bill & Ron the RV Phase 1 guru's, and thank them for not only their time, but their extreme experience and teaching skills.
Dan Baker
RV-14 N58TV