First flight.

[desertdave]

Awesome news Steve. I wish I was around to get some video and toast the newest member of our growing Kitfox airport family. Hopefully next week we can get some action shots.

[Dorsal]

Congratulations on both the flight and the beautiful ship!

[N213RV]

Congratulations Steve!! Beautiful bird!!

[jiott]

Thanks for the pics Steve and congrats. Sounds like you had an absolutely "Normal" Kitfox maiden flight: no serious issues, slightly heavy left wing, low oil temperatures, tons of fun & satisfaction. Also, thanks for taking such good care of us all as an administrator of this great forum.

[DesertFox4]

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Pattern work at Deer Valley Airport Phoenix. 8 to 10 aircraft in the pattern with me at any one time today. That was just on the North runway. Pretty day means lots of traffic. The Kitfox performed flawlessly but had a hard time getting oil temps above 130 first two touch and goes.
Landed then covered almost entire oil cooler with tape and finally got to 170. May tape off some of radiator to get above 180 degrees. Should have zero issues flying in Arizona 100 degree temps with these cowlings.
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Forgot my GoPro so a a quick photo in Deer Valley traffic pattern. Couldn’t take many photos. The ads-b in was almost overwhelming. Had to concentrate on just the guy in front of me and forget the other 8 plus aircraft setting off “traffic” alarms.

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Topped off both tanks for the very first time. Everything working great so time to bug out of this crazy airspace and head out for the western edge of my assigned test area. One hour flight west of Phoenix at 118 mph cruise setting. True airspeed showed 124 mph at 4,500 feet. Nice 63 degree day. Visibility out of Phoenix, unlimited. Need another degree dialed into the Ivo prop for a little better easy cruise setting. Saw 130 mph at 5,700 rpm for just a short 30 second sprint.
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60 miles west of Phoenix. Looking South towards Mexico.

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Made it out to Indian Hills Airpark 110 miles West of Phoenix. Uneventful but incredibly rewarding flight.
My brother resides out here in the winter. Great flying.
Will stay 4 or 5 days and get some serious testing done.
The MGL panel performed perfectly. Quite a glass panel. Will work on customizing it later. The Kitfox needs just a very slight left wing heavy adjustment but really would have hardly noticed it if not for perfectly glass smooth air today.
All for now.
Keep building guys.👍

[DesertFox4]

Congrats Ralph on the house. Quite a project. Nice to have another place to stay and hangar space too. Can’t beat that. Enjoy your home. Now get that Kitfox airborne soon.😀

[efwd]

I briefly scanned the Doc. If I am reading it correctly, we are looking at the qualification of an acceptable Additional Pilot on page 12. It suggests that a pilot who would qaulify for selection to fly along for the initial flights in phase one would need 500 hours flight time in similar make of aircraft. Less than that, the FAA feels that they would not have the experience to adequately evaluate the new aircraft. I am not sure that this is a regulation but an observation on their part for what characteristics the additional pilot would have to impact the safety of such flights in phase one. It definetly does not say that the builder who wants to test his own aircraft would need 500hrs. I had the minimum required qualification when I flew mine. Maybe that was a bad idea but...

[Cherrybark]

A belated congratulations Steve. I always enjoy in-flight photos. As meticulous as your building went, it's not surprising you are enjoying perfect performance. Lovely plane inside and out.

[rv9ralph]

Steve ... Congratulations! Glad to hear it performs as good as it looks.

I look forward to seeing Tangerine if you make it back up to Idaho.

Ralph

[Clark in AZ]

That's great Steve! Congratulations, I know that was a long time coming. Can't wait for some video!

Clark