By Dave and Ellen Setser, EAA Lifetime 334330 and 1232638
This piece originally ran in the August 2023 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
I’ve been obsessed with aviation since I was about 5 years old. I started taking flying lessons during my senior year of high school and passed my private checkride a year later. But the idea of building my own airplane didn’t really take root until the Air Force assigned me to Edwards Air Force Base in 1991. I joined EAA Chapter 1000 as it was just forming at Edwards, and it seemed like everyone in the chapter had a project underway. But the airplane that caught my eye was the RV, and a couple of years later I was the proud owner of an RV-6A tail kit. But my Air Force duties, evening classes, and other pursuits kept the project on the back burner, and I eventually shelved it.
Fast-forward to 2002. I was out of the Air Force, in Boston, and had just met my wife-to-be, Ellen, when the building bug struck again with full force. I was hesitant to mention my affliction to Ellen, not knowing how she’d respond. But she was really supportive, and we soon had an RV-7 tail kit and a workshop in the basement. Ellen has always been a full partner in the project, learning to rivet like a pro. Someone who agrees to marry you after you start building an airplane is definitely a keeper!
We started building in a small basement in our rental house in suburban Boston and then moved to a large one-car garage when we bought a house just down the street. That’s where we built the wings and fuselage. We were perpetually short on storage space; the wings and tail were stored in our den for a couple of years. Once the big parts came together, we moved to hangar space at the Nashua, New Hampshire, airport. Building was a slow process, around 16 years more or less. We moved several times in that period as my career progressed, often having demanding travel schedules. Family activities — soccer games, skating practice, band concerts — took priority over building. It’s probably true that engineers make for slow airplane builders because we tend to overanalyze everything, and I’m absolutely guilty of that.
The RV received its airworthiness certificate from Designated Airworthiness Representative Jon Ross on May 2, 2020. Soon after the inspection, the FAA issued an airworthiness directive on the crankshaft in our engine, so it came off the airplane and went back to the shop for a new crankshaft — not what you want for a newly certificated airplane. But the engine came back quickly, and we had our successful first flight on October 18, 2020. We experienced only a few small discrepancies, and there were many RV grins around the hangar. I’m a former Air Force, FAA, and now consultant flight test engineer, and I found the EAA Flight Test Manual and cards to be an outstanding resource for flight-testing our airplane.
About the airplane itself, it’s pretty much a stock RV-7 with minimal mods to accommodate avionics mounting. The engine is a 180-hp Superior IO-360 built and customized by Tim Hess at Unlimited Aero Engines, driving a Hartzell blended-airfoil prop. Avionics and instruments are almost all Garmin — a single-screen G3X Touch PFD/MFD and autopilot, G5 standby flight instrument, GTN 650 GPS/nav/comm, GTX 45R transponder/ADS-B, and GMA 245 audio panel. We also have an Advanced Flight Systems AOA Pro angle-of-attack system. Since we’re planning on a lot of long-distance travel, we installed comfortable Classic Aero Aviator seats.
Big thanks go to Jon Ross and Bob DiMeo, my technical counselors/flight advisors, for their patient help and advice, and also to Van’s for an outstanding kit and excellent technical support. Thanks also to Tim Hess at Unlimited Aero Engines for building a superb engine. Thanks as well to Mike Henning, Burt Wadas, Mark Masse, Rich Mileika, Steve Briggs, Dave Rogers, John Sannizzaro, and everyone in the New Hampshire/Massachusetts RV community for their constant help, encouragement, and advice.
Last and most importantly, thanks to my life and building partner, Ellen, and our daughter, Whitney, for being always available to rivet or hold a part, putting up with aluminum shavings in the carpet, not complaining when the air compressor kicked on in the middle of the night, and most importantly, keeping me focused on what’s important. Ellen talked me off the “quitting” ledge more than once. Another inspiration was remembering a paraphrased quote by Winston Churchill — “Never, never, never give up!” That quote was on stickers and fridge magnets all over the shop and house.
As far as advice for other builders, I would say just get started, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes along the way. Building and flying your own airplane is an experience like no other; it’s worth every drop of blood, sweat, and tears — and never, never, never give up!