"Nearly six years since receiving the empennage kit , everything was ready. My RV-6A had been inspected several months before. The FAA screw up in the paper work had been fixed and the insurance for the first flight had been acquired. Tom Berge suffered through about four hours with me in the right seat in Guy Benson's -6A. The final preparation was an additional hour and a half on May 5th. It wasn't until the next Saturday that the weather looked good. In the morning I took the C-172 out for a few cycles around our field (Lino Airpark). As the final preparation, Rita and I went to five o'clock mass.

6:30 pm ---The plane was ready, I was ready, the weather was good and my ground crew (my wife Rita and a neighbor) were as anxious as I was. I taxied to the west end of runway 9, completed my checklist and started the ground roll. At 60 kts, a little back pressure and I was off the ground and quickly picking up speed. I climbed out at 1000 fpm to 3000 ft, leveled off and turned to the north to be over the local sod farms. I flew around for about 20 minutes making shallow turns, climbs and descents. Then in preparation for landing, I flew a simulated pattern parallel to our field to help me decide whether to land at Lino or at Anoka County. I decided to land at Lino and could have easily stopped at mid-field but decided to go to the end before turning around.

By the time I got back to the hanger several more of our neighbors were out watching. Luckily it was one of my best ever landings! Problems: only a little aileron trim required to compensate for the empty right seat, no EGT indication (wires were reversed). all temps and pressures in the green. All-in-all a good flight and a great airplane!"