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First Flight

clam

Well Known Member
Chalk up another one for the Van's RV-8 fleet ... I successfully completed my first flight today in N605TT. I had a beautiful morning with winds about 6-8kts right down the runway out at KFYE. The flight was about 35 minutes from start up to shut down. The airplane is very well balanced and flew hands off. The power developed by the Titan IOX-360 and Whirlwind 200RV prop was impressive even at a reduced power setting. The GRT HXr looked great on the panel and the radios were 5x5. Still can't believe I wired this all up myself and the boxes even speak to each other nicely!

I found a few items to tend to, most notably oil temperature a little higher than I would like, but I had a baffle seal blow backwards so that fix may help. Cylinder head temps shot up quickly on departure to 385 deg but after adding about 30 kts with a shallower climb, they cooled just a bit and remained stable.

I have to give much thanks to my wife for her patience and understanding of my long days and nights at the hangar. I need to also say thanks to Mark Dickens (RV-8 KFYE) for his invaluable assistance and helping hands, to Dwight Smith (RV-4 KFYE) for his expertly experienced second set of eyes on the plane, and to Bruce Bohannon for getting me trained up for RV-8 ops.

And, thanks to Van's Aircraft for a great airplane and to Van's Air Force for the wealth of knowledge, advice and Q&A.

Here's a screenshot pulled from the GoPro video. Some quality was lost with the web hosting process.

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Jeff built a very nice plane and not surprisingly it flew hands off on his first flight. Other than the oil temps, which I think are due to the rear baffle issue he mentioned, there really was nothing to correct when he got back. He nailed his first landing like the pro he is. Congratulations Jeff!
 
The big day finally arrives

Congratulations Jeff. It?s a great accomplishment.
Fly safe my fellow RV?er. :)
 
Congratulations!

Congratulations Jeff. Look forward to seeing you and your -8 on the breakfast circuit.
 
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