Two years after its arrival and more than 2,000 hours of work later, G-OVII (Go-7) takes her maiden voyage.
I tend to keep in the background for this RV building stuff, however, getting involved in seeing the test flights has compelled me to tell you just how incredible this weekend has been. I am very lucky to live with a very talented man who has completed an awesome task. I don't know many people who could do what Tim has done and who could consistently keep up the momentum to do what he's done for the last couple of years. This is how the test panned out from my perspective:
This weekend, after watching Tim work tirelessly for two years, he had the memorable pleasure of seeing all of his work come to fruition as first, on Saturday, he got to witness his test pilot, Bob lift off in his RV7 and then, on Sunday, he got to take to the beautiful blue skies himself.
Having witnessed Tim working in the garage, come rain or come shine, sometimes snatching a few minutes back in the house to warm up because his hands have been too cold to pick up his frozen tools, I and my parents, sister and nephew had the absolute joy and honour of seeing Tim take off for the very first time in the aeroplane that he had dreamt for years of building and that he had completed purely from his own efforts. I can only recall a couple of times previous to this that I have ever felt as proud as I did on this day.
We watched as he taxied down the runway and completed checks and then took to the skies like a rocket to have his very first flight. I looked around and each one of us was looking skywards, mouths open, tears running down our cheeks and overwhelmed with the emotion of witnessing one of Tim's most memorable days of his life.
The day before, Tim had been joined by fellow RV builder, David and his wife Lesley who had dashed from London to be with him while he witnessed his first flight. I spoke to David who just as excited as Tim and I think, keener than ever to get his own RV airborne now!
We still have a way to go and there is still more to do to ensure that Bob is ready to give it the rubber stamp, however, this was a weekend that none of us will forget in a hurry, a one off with a one off guy!

A break. As I have worked between two and three hours every night for almost two years on the RV. I have loved every minute of it - honest, even when I had the odd problem or when Miles rejected all my split-pins. Jo has even said she would like me to build another aeroplane as I don't moan about not being able to go flying when the weather is bad. I just go out to the garage and work away. She is great hey - I am a lucky man to have her.