RV-7 N890GF

This past weekend, three weeks after my short but eventful maiden flight, I successfully flew my second and third flights! After finding the root cause of the engine troubles (debris in the fuel nozzles), I performed some ground runs, progressively working my way back up to full power, and performed some high-speed taxi testing. Everything was looking great!

Second Flight

On the afternoon of Friday 2/20/2026, I took off in N890GF for a 30 minute flight around the airfield.

I climbed out around 105kts, up to 3500ft or so, and orbited the field for half an hour checking all the engine instruments and flight controls.

The airplane behaved wonderfully. It flew hands off straight and level. I did notice that the ball on my Dynon Skyview HDX Slip Indicator does indicate slightly to the left, I’ll need to check the ADAHRS mounting to make sure its straight, otherwise I can add a small shim to level it.

I settled in at 3500 ft and monitored the engine temps, while maintaining high power (around 85% for engine break-in). With an outside air temp (OAT) of around 44F my cylinder head temps (CHTs) stabilized between 350F and 360F. Oil temp also settled in around 175F which is a bit lower than the normal 180-200F range specified for the engine break-in. This isn’t a problem, it just means that I need to monitor oil consumption to ensure a proper break-in.

The plane still does not have wheel-pants or gear leg fairings, so its a bit more draggy than it will be, but I was seeing a cruise true airspeed around 160KTAS at 13GPH (gallons per hour). We’ll see how things end up once I get the fairings on the gear and wheels.

On the last orbit of the flight I decided to test the autopilot a little and had the plane hold level and used the heading bug to steer the plane. Everything worked as expected. I’ll be doing some further longer duration autopilot tests in the coming weeks.

Third Flight

On Sunday afternoon, a couple days later I went to the airport and did a thorough preflight and gave the engine a once over. During my inspection I noticed a jam nut that had backed off the prop governor cable. I retorqued that and marked it with putty.

After completing my pre-flight I hopped in the plane for another short 30 minute flight.

This time the OAT was much warmer and I was seeing a bit warmer CHTs and Oil temps than the second flight. CHTs were mid 370s and the Oil Temp sat right at 185 while cruising at 155KTAS.

I did a more thorough Autopilot test, and tested the climb and altitude capture capabilities as well as track hold. Still more to come as I do my airspeed calibration runs next.

The RV Grin is definitely a real thing