By STAN KASPRZYK

FlightLog Archive

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Aircraft Flown

Flying the RV-9A - Nov 2025

I have really enjoyed flying many of the Van's Aircraft designs, including the RV-6, RV-7, RV-8, RV-10, RV-12 and RV-14. Having never flown the RV-9 series, I was intrigued when I saw an article in the May 2025 EAA Sport Aviation magazine about an RV-9A built and flying here in the Puget Sound area. I contacted the owner, Steve, and found out he was flying out of nearby Paine Field, and wouldn't mind showing me his RV-9A. I mentioned to Steve that I enjoyed flying RVs, and also teaching formation flying. Steve mentioned that he was looking to get some good air-to-air photos of his bird, so we coordinated to try to fly a formation photo shoot when our pilot schedules, compatible aircraft availability and weather allowed.

Steve mentioned that his friend Mike owned an RV-14 that would be compatible with the RV-9A, so we set up a formation flight on a rare November day with a forecast break in the weather. I met Steve at his hangar at Paine Field, and checked out his gorgeous workmanship, paint job and avionics suite in his RV-9A. I'd recently been flying Sling TSi's, a Bristell and RV-12s that also had dual large G3X displays, Garmin 650xi navigators and a Garmin autopilot, so I felt right at home in the cockpit. When Mike arrived with his RV-14 from Frontier Airpark, I briefed him on the formation plan, and briefed his right-seater Dennis on the operation of my Canon R6 and my new anti-reflection hood to take crisp in-flight photos of the RV-9A.

Steve and I took off in trail in the RV-9A from runway 16R, with Mike leading and initially climbing away from us with the 210-HP IO-390 in his RV-14, so I used cut off geometry in the turn to close with our IO-320, then had Mike set up a 110-knot climb speed for us to rejoin. I rejoined straight ahead to close formation as we climbed toward the Cascade foothills and Mt. Pilchuck. I felt right at home with the very smooth flight controls, and easily set up in close fingertip on Mike's right side as we climbed to 6000 feet. As briefed, Mike flew three shallow-banked 360s for in-flight photos of the RV-9A between Mt. Pilchuck and Three Fingers mountain, while Steve took iPhone photos of Mike's RV-14 as I hung in close. We hit a bit of turbulence over the mountains, but I had enough control to easily stay in tight. After Dennis noted that he'd successfully taken a ton of shots, I flew in loose formation in the descent back to Paine Field. I had briefed Mike to request an overhead pattern with Paine tower, since they were quite familiar with formation flying from the numerous warbirds based at Paine, so we flew up initial, pitched out and landed on 16R, debriefed and viewed a few quick iPhone photos. The RV-9A, like all RV-series aircraft is a joy to fly, with smooth, responsive flight controls, great visibility, sticks vs yokes and impressive cockpit avionics. Thanks for the RV-9A flying opportunity, Steve, I'll gladly fly her anytime!

The close formation flying and great weather provided a perfect opportunity for excellent photos, both from the Canon and the iPhone Pros. Steve was so pleased with the photos, he updated the main image on the Aircraft For Sale website with one of the images from our photo shoot. He's actually selling his gorgeous RV-9A, with a plan to fly an RV-14 as he builds an RV-15, once the RV-9A is sold.