First flight

 Incredibly, I started this build at my home on beautiful Badin Lake west of Charlotte, NC in October of 2011.  This bird flew the nest at my home airport in Longmont, CO on May 12th 2026, so I'm hereby claiming the record for the longest build time for an RV-12: 14.5 years.  Time flies.

First flights of aircraft licensed in the experimental category have historically had a comparatively high accident rate, and it's easy to see why.  In addition to physically flying the airplane, a solo pilot is keeping a sharp eye on the engine instruments (oil temp, oil pressure, fuel pressure. left and right cylinder head temps, left and right exhaust gas temps) and on the flight instruments.  After all, this airplane has never been in this situation before, pitched up at this angle at full power for this long.  Did I do all the wiring correctly?  Did I crimp all the fittings on wire ends well?  Did I adequately tighten all the fittings on oil, gasoline and water (yes water) lines?  It's a mental load which can distract from most important task: flying the airplane.

A few years ago the FAA actually did a wise thing by instituting the "additional pilot" program, whereby a second, qualified pilot with experience in that make and model airplane can accompany the builder pilot on the first flight, sharing the work load.  From what I've read, the first-flight fatal accident rate is now zero since the program was started.  My fearless friend and CFI Bill Snodgrass accompanied me.  Bill has over 1600 hours in RV-12s and is intimately familiar with how they should look, feel, sound and smell.  I had planned to fly his RV-12 several times in the days leading up to the first flight in mine, but ended up not having flown at all for four months prior to the first flight.  The rust on my piloting skills was evident.  I had flown his plane for 20 or so hours in the previous year, so I was not completely uncalibrated to the RV-12, but I should have flown just prior to my first flight.

The pic above shows the airplane before the flight.  I know it's considered bad luck to photograph a flight before departure.  I figured if I made a smoking hole in the ground the NTSB could look at this pic and see that all the pieces were there.

The actual flight went well, no heavy wing, all instruments showing what I expeccted.  Rather than start on the first flight-test card, we decided to shoot four landings to a full stop, then pull the top cowl to look for leaks (none found).

Here's the after pic with the requisite RV grin.  It's been two days now and I think I'm still smiling.

I had planned to start the formal flight test yesterday but the wind didn't cooperate.  Phase I flight test will be entirely task based rather than time based as was typical in the past.

The Spousal Unit (my beautiful and talented wife, Karen) had given me strict instructions to not tell her when the first flight was going to occur in order to minimize her worry.  This was hard to accomplish without outright lying.  The day of the flight it went like this.  Her: "You're not going to fly today are you?"  Me: "Actually, I'm thinking about flying tomorrow."  That wasn't a lie.  I was, indeed, thinking about flying tomorrow but planning to fly today, also.

Off topic: Weird Colorado weather

We've had a dry year here on the Front Range, with snow totals and mountain snow pack about 1/3 of normal.  However, a few days ago (May 6th) we had eleven inches of snow over a two-day period which then melted entirely within 24 hours.  Snow in May seems strange to this southern boy.