You are so lucky living so near to the Apls. I love those altiports, and Corier is my fav. The Savannah is so good for that sort of stuff and is so responsive that it is hard to get things wrong. I flew over from the UK with a couple of flexis, so we were pretty slow at 70mph. A nice easy cruising speed at 10 litres per hour. I guess the North of England is a pretty good part of the world to fly too, with the lake District, Snowdonia, Pennines and lots of coast line on our doorstep to explore.
I love the Savannah. It is like a real traditional aeroplane with all that aluminium and rivets. It is so easy to fly but a bit more power would be nice and a good safety reserve, particularly near mountains. With our eco-prop, the Jab only revs to 2800rpm, and that is not the full 85hp. More revs on a different prop would give more power and more fuel consumption. The Jab has done 500 hours in 4 years now and has been pretty faultless apart from the tendancy to overheat on long climbs ( eg for crossing the channel, and circumnavigating Mount Blanc, or climbing up to Alp dHuez) . I understand that Camitt, the subcontractor for Jabiru who make the engine have gone bust. So there will be no more Jab 2200 engines
You are very brave starting to build a Savannah. It looks a lot of work, but a very nicely made kit. Hope you get it flying soon. Ideally, you need to be able to have access to a completed one to look over from time to time. Big help