We are a couple of pilots with a passion for flying that decided to start building an RV-7. We talked extensively about buying vs. building and settled on wanting to know everything that went into the airplane. Surely there will be mistakes, but we’ll know where they are instead of trying to find them in a pre-buy. When it came to deciding what we wanted to build, we decided we wanted both acrobatic capability and fast cross-country. The best homebuilt to fill that role was the RV-7.
During Airventure 2019 we spent the week pricing out what the build we wanted would actually cost, how long it would likely take, and whether we agreed on the the basic design decisions. After doing all the math and negotiating we purchased the RV-7 quick-build kit in Dec 2019, giving ourselves time to decided if we really wanted to take on such a big project.
Paul
I wanted to be a pilot from a young age, but my eyesight disqualified me from flying for the military. Instead I pursued aviation as an engineer and spent 12 years working as a flight test engineer.
Once I met Kacy, she goaded me into finally getting my private pilots license. I dedicated all my free time from March to June in 2018 towards getting my PPL and tailwheel endorsement (J3 cub). In July that year I bought a 1955 Cessna 170 and flew it from California to Oshkosh before taking it home to Florida.
Since then I’ve added on my high performance and complex endorsements. Hoping to finish off my instrument and commercial ratings before the RV kit arrives.
Kacy
I’ve been around aviation my whole life, hanging around the local airports, working at an FBO in high school, and attending all but 4 Airventures in my lifetime. I studied aerospace engineering and I’ve managed to make flight testing my profession and flying my hobby.
I earned my Private Pilot Cert in 2008 and finally added an Instrument Rating in 2019. I’ve been lucky enough to fly a variety of aircraft with a bias towards experimentals, including RVs and canards.
For all my love of flying I never planned on building an airplane. Paul’s goaded me into believing it’s something we can pull off and I’m excited for the adventure.
