It seemed to take forever to accumulate the 25 hours of air time stuck in the 25 mile radius of Stettler (as dictated by my flight restrictions). Right around the first week of July, I satisfied these requirements and submitted my paperwork to Transport Canada. It took two weeks for the Edmonton office of Transport Canada to process the paperwork and now I can legally carry a passenger and travel just about anywhere I choose.

My first passenger was my wife Judy, who has been a great supporter of the project since we first drove down to Oregon to pick up the wing and tail section kits eight years ago. Judy helped buck all the tough rivets on the wings and fuselage. She was always willing to crawl into the tail section of the RV to hold the bucking bar and get her teeth rattled by my rivet gun!

Judy’s first flight in the RV9A

We left Stettler on Sunday morning and did a nice wide circle tour of the area. The air was more or less stable and we had a great flight. The workload around the ranch is easing a little as we get caught up and now we can start making day trips to visit friends in other parts of the province.