On the first of august 2010 at 18.40 my Vans Rv-7 G-FIXX took to the air on her maiden flight in the capable hands of Flight Lieutenant David Harvey. It’s the culmination of 6yrs and around 2000 hrs of work. After a minor tweak of the aileron trailing edges to cure a very slight left wing low condition in the cruise, she now flies beautifully. An enormous amount of thanks must go to my long suffering wife Heather for allowing me to spend all that time and money out in the workshop with my other woman! Thanks also to my inspector Ernie Horsfall who never once gave me any wrong or bad information and has stuck with me from the very beginning of this project. Also a massive thanks to Dave Harvey who had no hesitation in carrying out the test flying, and he did it with the utmost professionalism. Thanks also to the LAA, especially the Engineering department who were a delight to deal with from start to finish. We have now flown off all the test hours (7hrs 40 and 15 landings) and sent in the paperwork for her permit to fly. Only adjustments were aileron trailing edge crimp to correct a very minor heavy left wing and fine pitch stop adjustment to bring the rpm down a tad at WOT. Thank you Vans for a trully awesome kit.
Flt lt Dave Harvey (Harvs) takes my beloved Rv off for her first flight
