Benny Butler called me up yesterday to see if I was interested in taking a ride in his RV-7.  I have ridden in an RV-10 at Oshkosh last year.  This was a great ride and really got my blood pumping to begin my build.

Benny's plane is well done and features an Eggenfellner Subaru engine with an electric constant speed (sort of) prop.

Once we got up, Benny let me take the controls for a stall, and some turns.  All in all, I got about .6 hours of time just getting a feel for the airplane.  Benny should be commended for building a really nice plane.  He has lots of good advice regarding a build, and did a nice job designing his panel.

Some of the things I noted

• Electric prop, but he chose not to install a prop governor. 
• Subaru Engine is extremely smooth.  I didn't have my ANR headset so the sound was even more different than I am used to.
• Airplane is extremely easy to fly.  Stick forces are light, but with good feedback.
• Fast
• Stalls are easy, with good warning before full stall
• Dynon EFIS is extremely easy to fly with

I can't thank Benny enough, he is a great ambassador for the airplane and has built a nice example.  We are both eager to get my wife to take a ride in the airplane.  I would like her to be comfortable with the decision to build this airplane.

As an aside, a friend of Benny's has an L-29 in a hanger near his.  We took the opportunity to go in and take a look.  Nice airplane.  The owner is expecting to get checked out in the aircraft this summer.  I am looking forward to seeing it fly.  The picture to the left is not the actual airplane, but an example of what they look like.