Hi Peter,

Thanks for your comment. I’m flying my RV-7 for over a year now and have not had any bad experience regarding maneuvers.
I have (deliberately) stalled the plane many times in several configurations and power settings and found no issues with handling.
Like all RV’s the stall is very docile and it just dips the nose and carry’s on.
I had a discussion with Ryan (from Van’s) on this topic (with respect to airworthiness, which is stringent here in the Netherlands)
and the only doubt that we have at this point is what happens in a (flat) spin.
Although the (total) weight is less, the mass is moved more towards the edges of the spin.
However I do NOT have a aerobatic rating, which is on my checklist for 2023.
As soon as I have my rating I will throw PH-MNX in a spin, make a video on it so we can see what happens.
With respect to the 9 or 15, I don’t see any issues, as these are not aerobatic planes. Also I think the rudder on the 9 and 15 are bigger.
More rudder will recover spins more easily.

Conclusion normal flight maneuvers are NO issue, aerobatics you’ll have to check in later when I will cover these.

Cheers,

Marcel

I’ve watched the progress of your RV-7 for years and have greatly enjoyed the journey.

I’m looking at building either the RV-15 when they start producing a kit, or the RV-9. I’m looking for a touring aircraft so the 15 is looking very good.

I’m not a fan of the old Lycomings. Nothing against them, just think there should be a better option than a 70 year old design.

Which brings me to my reason for reaching out to you. It seems the UL Power is rapidly growing in popularity, and I’d like to use the 520 in the RV-15 or the 160hp 390 in an RV-9. I know you corrected the CG by shifting the lighter UL 520 about 200mm further forward. However, I’ve read some forums where people suggest that moving the engine forward may affect handing characteristics, like stall recovery, even with the CG correct.

Are you able to tell me if you had any discussions with anyone, maybe even UL Power, about the affects on handing characteristics and the outcome of those discussions? Is that something I should discuss with UL Power?

Cheers and thanks again for the great RV-7 journey 🙂👍
Peter

Om te beginnen dank dat je al jou ervaringen deelt via youtube!!!!

Mijn naam is Rob Ronner, ben zelf bezig met het uitzoeken van een geschikt bouw pakket. Volgende week gaan we met de familie naar Italië om daar de Tucano R te gaan bekijken.

Omdat ik liever een ul-power of een lycoming dan een rotax zou willen gebruiken ben ik erg benieuwd naar jou ervaringen.

RV maakt alles pas voor lycoming, wat als je daar van af wijkt? Ben je het wiel op nieuw aan het uitvinden?

Ik ben in contact met de fabriek voor het Tucano bouw pakket en er bestaat de mogelijkheid om deze ook uit te rusten met een ul520.

Mocht de tucano niks worden denk ik dat het ook een RV gaat worden 🙂

Maar goed, eerst maar eens de fabriek in Italië bekijken.

Maar nogmaals, ik kom heel graag met je in contact en ben erg benieuwd hoe makkelijk of hoe moeilijk jou proces was met het pas maken van de ul-power voir de RV en vervolgens de prop erbij te vinden.

Hier mijn mail adres

rob.ronner@gmail.com

nogmaals dank voor het delen van al jou ervaringen op youtube, ik hoop echt iets van je te horen!!!

met hartelijke groet, Rob

Hi Milo,
Yes even worse are the Touch and Go’s. As soon I try to lift the tail, it ‘violently’ swings to the left. I really need to get a grip on that.
Landings go pretty good, mostly a small hop and it feels easy (until now I only did three point landings).

I understand that it yis surprising to build a tail-dragger. When I started building I wasn’t even doing flight training yet. But I figured it would take a while before the build is finished. The main reason is that I just think a tail-dragger looks better. If Van’s would have a retractable, I would have chosen that one. Once flying, a plane with wheels ‘sticking out’ is ugly (in my eyes). Conventional landing gear is the next best thing.
I’m not planning on building more than 1 plane (I love doing it, but there is also work and family). So it’s all or nothing. Also I like challenges and people in my local EAA chapter said it is dangerous to fly a tail-dragger, which is one of the best incentives to me.

All is all I find the RV-7 really easy to land and handle on the ground. I admit I carefully select the fly-days on cross wind component. So I’m planning to fly to a field with multiple runways, so I can try different crosswind angles.

Thanks for your feedback.

Absolutely beautiful paint job! Stunning!!!

It looked like your takeoff was a bit shaky — it looked like you were unfamiliar with the pitch sensitivity of your plane… but overall, excellent!

I’m surprised that a low-time pilot would choose to build a tail-dragger. Personally, I would have gone with the tricycle gear version, leaving the ground-handling quirks of the conventional landing gear until you had a few hundred hours of flying experience.

As for the ‘left-leaning’ tendencies, that is all a matter of aerodynamic trim refinements which can only be known after the first flight.

Enjoy your new RV! The ‘RV Grin’ you showed says it all!

Hi Mike,

I use a simple (and cheap) actioncam Eken H9. It distorts at the edge, but correcting it with software afterwards is not making it better.
I tried normal speed and changing it, but it takes a lot of time and huge SD cards. My strategy is calculating how much frames I need and recording at time lapse.
Turns out that 2 seconds is perfect form my “working days” of 3 to 6 hours. This results in 5000 to 10.000 frames.
I copy them to my PC (I run Linux) and use several scripts (using ffmpeg) to convert the JPG’s to an MP4.
If you are interested I can share the scripts.
This results in very limited time spent in making video’s. I also like the real time vlog types better than the time lapse, but my goal is to record the build and not provide a video manual.
Sometimes I use real time, but every time it takes a lot of time to post produce.
Cheers,
Marcel

Hoi,

Ik heb hier en daar (online) gezocht en kwam uit op de volgende middelen:
– tools: https://planetools.com/products/the-gold-standard-of-rv-tool-kits
hier zitten ook de Scotch Brite pads in om het aluminium te scuffen.
– Ontvetter: https://www.nonpaintstore.nl/nl/kristal-aqua-degreaser-3-000.html
te gebruiken na scuffen (voor primen)
– Wash primer: https://www.nonpaintstore.nl/nl/sikkens-washprimer-1k-cf.html
ook te verkrijgen in spuitbus (handig voor kleine stukjes) https://www.nonpaintstore.nl/nl/sikkens-washprimer-1k-cf-in-spray-can-400-ml.html
– Verdunner: https://www.nonpaintstore.nl/nl/sikkens-reducer.html
– tank sealant: https://shop.vansaircraft.com/cgi-bin/shop.cgi?ident=1573330929-112-270&browse=misc&product=proseal
gewoon van Van’s besteld bij de wing kit.
tip: ik gebruik lege kit dispensers om zelf te vullen met tank sealant. Dat werkt veel beter dan met een lolly pop stick.
https://www.gyzs.nl/den-braven-koker-leeg-voor-kitpistool-e-310-pe.html
Groet,
Marcel