Saturday August 30, 2025
First Flight

This morning I woke up really early to try and make a first flight with calm winds and cool temps. I took off out of KFNL at about 0618. The engine advanced to full power smoothly and the plane lifted off very quickly. The prop did not exceed 2700 RPM. I was at 1500 AGL very quickly and throttled back to about 75% engine power (24" and 2500 RPM) for engine break in.

I spent the next hour orbiting over the airport at 1500 AGL, which gave me a density altitude of about 7500', which is below the 8000' limit for Lycoming engine break in. It does have a pronounced heavy right wing, but it is easy to correct.

CHTs maxed out at about 360F and my oil temp was just over 200F. Overall it flew like a dream, nice light stick pressures and great climb performance.

I tested the autopilot and it flew the plane very nicely.

It is surreal to have finally flown this plane after 19 years of construction. A big grin was plastered on my face. I made a really nice, smooth three point landing to end the flight.

I removed the engine cowl after the flight and carefully looked everything over. I did not find any leaks. The engine oil was at about 7 quarts of oil both before and after the flight.

I will fly it tomorrow as if I am still breaking it in, but with the low CHTs and oil consumption, I'm starting to think the engine is fairly broken in already.

I will not attempt to fix the heavy wing until I put on the gear leg fairings and wheel pants and see how it flies with those.

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