Welcome to my builders log for a Van's Aircraft RV-7. In case you didn't know, the RV-7 is a 200+ MPH side-by-side seating taildragger kit airplane. This website documents every step in the building process. The kit ships in 4 stages - Empennage (tail), Wings, Fuselage and Finishing. This keeps you from having to plop down a lot of money from the getgo. The quality of the kit is top notch, and the satisfaction from the building process is unbeatable only by the community of other RV builders/flyers. If you decide to start one of these, you will never have the feeling of having no one to go to if you have problems. That is what really sold me on the project.

So how did I get into all of this? Well, it was a simple decision based off of me being a) a pilot, b) bored and c) needing a hobby. My college buddy emailed me a link to a builders log and that was it. Before I knew it I was taking a builders class to see if this was really for me, then off buying airplane parts.

There are a couple of major decisions that you have to make with this plane - 1 or 2 person? side-by-side or tandem seating? Taildragger (conventional) or tricycle landing gear? How big of an Engine? Constant Speed / Fixed Pitch prop? composite, wood or metal prop? Avionics? The list goes on and on. It may seem like a lot of major decisions, but you in the end you make a airplane that is absolutely uniquely yours, and you will know it inside and out.