Kier & Andrea's RV-7A Project

Andrea and I are building a Van's Aircraft RV-7A kit airplane!  This aircraft is mostly aluminum construction and will accept 150 to 200 horsepower engines. Here is a link to the kit manufacturer's website.

This is what it will look like (with the exception of the paint) when it's done.

The estimated completion date was 2007 then got extended to 2010 but will most likely be flying in 2013. 

FAQ:  If it takes so long to build an airplane why don't you just buy one?

Basically it's because of cost and performance.  I considered buying an airplane before I started looking into homebuilt aircraft.  What I quickly found is I couldn't afford I wanted and what I could afford I didn't want.  Here is what I want in an airplane:

• Relatively low cost of ownership.  I'll have a repairman's certificate which entitles me to conduct my own inspections and maintenance.  My somewhat loose interpretation of this is that the FAA suspects that the person who built the airplane knows his/her way around it and the person flying it will probably conduct thorough inspections.  This is a huge cost of ownership savings.
• Aerobatic capabilities.  I'm not going for competition aerobatics here but, more like "gentleman's aerobatics".  Immelmans, loops, rolls, cuban eights, brief inverted flight and hammerheads are fun!  I've read a builder's observation that you don't even need to put the nose down to obtain the entry speed needed for these maneuvers.
• Performance.  A 200mph cruise and ~ 800+ statute mile range make it a "get there" airplane.  Here are some numbers from Van's on the subject.  I'd expect the kit manufacturer to inflate the performance numbers but, I've heard from numerous builders that have completed their aircraft that the numbers are right on or even on the low side.

Miscellaneous notes:

I very much enjoy being in the process of building and learning about everything from aeronautical engineering to metallurgy, avionics to fluid dynamics.  The building instructions are usually clear but from time to time a question invariably arises.  I've never felt as though I was on my own.  I could call Van's of course but to illustrate, try this: Type "RV-7A" into a www.google.com search and see how many builders' websites pop up.  And that just this specific Van's airplane type. The same search on groups.yahoo.com will yield an active group with over 1600 members who are more than willing to share their experience.  I've come to find that people love to share their building experience for the greater good.  Here is another list of builders' websites.

As of 24 March 2007 there have been at least 5040 finished Van's kits.  In 2006 more than 1.3 aircraft were completed each day.

The early portion of the project was being completed in the living room.  I've built the empennage, finished the wings and was working on the fuselage in a convenient climate controlled environment.  It's been moved to the garage so I can get toughened up for the day it'll be an unairconditioned hangar.  Actually, Andrea wanted to remodel the downstairs so out I went!  It will eventually make its way to Deer Valley airport (DVT) on a flatbed tow truck with the wings removed. 

Another thing is that the finished parts look so cool!   At least I think so.  It turns out to be a great conversational piece at parties.   I only wish I didn't have to wait so long to get to play with them.

As some builders will attest, you can't look at the project early on with a completed airplane in mind.  Building an airplane is a daunting task and for me it's easier to look at it as completed parts that look cool.  Check out The "Shop".

FAQ:  How are you going to get the thing out of your living room?

A majority of the old pictures show it in the living room.  I removed the windows, offered up beer to a few guys and out it went.

I need to document the airplane construction for the FAA inspector so that he/she can see that I was the builder.  They'll want to be sure of this to see I didn't hire someone to build our airplane.  That would undermine the intent of issuing  a Repairman's Certificate allowing me to conduct our inspections.  Good enough!  I'd do it anyway.  And what better place to document this than on a website.  I've found other builders' websites to be very useful along with news groups.

Construction 101 of RV-7A building