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EAA Chapter 1298 Brooksville Florida Member

Tom Longo Brooksville, FL -- RV9A -- N137JM -- Tech Advisor

Started build May 30, 2009 and finished first part of August 2010. The kit was one of the earlier kits that were not CNC cut and pre-drilled so it took me close to 1100 hours. I built a temporary paint booth and painted completed wings, fuselage, struts etc. then trailered to EAA hangar for final assembly. Built aluminum panel and covered with carbon fiber. Wired and tested completed panel on kitchen counter before installing. Dynon 7’’ display, Dynon transponder, Dynon ADSB traffic in and out with Weather, Flightline 760 com, steam gauges for engine monitoring.
My Sister made my seats with matching colors to my paint scheme. First flight was Sept 18, 2010 as it took over a month for inspector to show up. My first flight was at dawn, sun just coming up at KBKV with Lynn Postel on a handheld radio as there was no tower at that time. The flight went well with no problems to speak of.
I flew the Zenith 701 for three more years, then on November 15th 2013 I flew the 701 up to Evergreen, Alabama and traded it to Jim Martin for the RV9 that he built. I flew up with my friend John Ducey (who was my flight instructor and taught me how to fly). It took us over four hours in the rain to get there in the 701 and just under two hours to fly back in the RV9. We had to file IFR for return trip as the weather deteriorated, so I got my first actual IFR time logged in on the flight back.
RV9A panel: Newly updated, dual GRT Horizon EX 7’’ displays, GRT EIS 4000 engine monitor, GRT ADSB traffic & weather in and out, TruTrack DigiFlight II autopilot, PS Engineering PM7000B audio panel, Garmin SL30 Nav/Com, Garmin SL40 Com, Garmin GTX 330 Transponder, AFS Sport AOA, Guardian CO2 detector, TruTrack ADI and Garmin AERA 660 GPS. RV9A power: Lycoming 0360 engine and Catto Prop.