OK after only one very, very, VERY short year of construction, this thing is ready to go! The whole job was just done SO fast! I wish that I had not been so busy with X-Plane 10, so I would have had more time to BUILD this thing, rather than letting the pro's at RDD do so much of the work! The bottom line is that this project was WAY TOO EASY. With RDD guiding you through each step, and the airplane being so (ah-hem) 'Evolved', the build process is, quite frankly, EASY.

Here, we WEIGH the plane. The answer: 2,406 pounds. 850 horsepower. As much space inside as a small SUV with room for four plus LOTS of baggage. Weight is 2,406 pounds... less than a Honda Fit.

Final clean-up. On the wing, Dave McRae gets ready to take this plane on it's first flight. (His shop, RDD, built the plane,)

OK the picture is not great but there it is! First flight.

And the celebratory lunch!

Vince Gagnon at left, owner of Aerotek Aviation and manager of the Engine/Prop/Cowl combination that should make this the fastest Evo yet.

Then Tim Ong, designer of the Evolution, AND the special low-drag cowl that he and Vince built for my airplane.

Then me of course, then Dave McRae, owner of RDD (the shop that built the plane) and first-flight test pilot.

Then Marc Ausman of Vertical Power. Vertical Power makes cutting-edge avionics for homebuilts... but nobody has published anything about Vertical Power making anything for the Evolution!! What is HE doing there!??!

And the crew that built the plane! (RDD of Redmond, OR)

And there is no time to rest! Sure we flew the airplane with a basic G-1000 instrument panel, but now it is time to make that panel PERFECT! This is the layout! What is that RED button in the top center/right? And what is that unlabeled display in the CENTER of the panel?? It does NOT look like the Moritz system that the Evo is SUPPOSED to have...