Van RV-4 performance

[quadraspleen]

I'm sure I saw a post from a RW Van owner. Does anyone here have any experience of flying one? Can you really throw it around like that?That's one crazy aeroplane..I've been doing stall turns inside steep valleys and recovering..Flying inverted down a sloping cliff face and barreling out at the end..And Immelmans for heavens sake! You can build this plane, too right? Like in your garage?Any info from RL pilots greatly appreciated!bestjake

[Gibbage]

RV-4? Need an edit? A member of the Flight team owns (build it himself) and fly's an RV-7. There are many MANY pilots on the Flight team and I would tend to think that it would be rather close when something is that close to your heart. Many people in the beta also owned and flew RV's and confirmed that for the most part, they were "spot on". I think some of the things your talking about are outside of the normal flight envelope for real world testing, and may be simplified on the side of being easy then on the side of being real due to the target audience. There is also some things you CANT test in real life.When I was building the Evektor SportStar, I did about 3 hours of real world testing in a SportStar myself. Some of the questions Bernt had for our testing we had to skip due to safety concerns ;) As it was, doing power-off high angle stalls in a very loaded LSA was on the edge of my comfort level!!! Doing some of the things you said in real life to make sure they are simulated accurately seems like suicide ;)P.S. The Vans, when built properly, is fully acrobatic.

[quadraspleen]

oops..too many late nights playing Flight :)Thanks for the info Kevin..I am having a whole heap of fun flying it, and yes, I have had a few squeeky bum momentsbestjake

[Guest Rickenbacker]

Kinda wish it WAS an RV-4, though. I do love the -6A, but I like planes where you sit in the middle and the little wheel is at the back, better!

[Juicehead]

I'm sure I saw a post from a RW Van owner. Does anyone here have any experience of flying one? Can you really throw it around like that?That's one crazy aeroplane..I've been doing stall turns inside steep valleys and recovering..Flying inverted down a sloping cliff face and barreling out at the end..And Immelmans for heavens sake! You can build this plane, too right? Like in your garage?Any info from RL pilots greatly appreciated!bestjake

yes, you can build the plane. If you got to the Van's website, they have a few different models available. Depending on if you get the fast-build option or not, it would take you around a year and a fair amount of $$$ to complete. It is unfortunate that avaition has priced itself out of reach from most of the general masses. I am still paying student loans plus a mortgage, no plane for me for a while!On another note, when I was in high school/college, my father and I built the RV-6. I received my tailwheel training in it at 19 yrs old and he set me loose in it thereafter. Ahhh, 19 and a high performance aircraft, There is no one I would not buzz... haha! I really do miss that plane!As far a aerobatics, it will performance all basic aerobatics with ease. I am not sure I would try to snap roll it though as that is a pretty violent maneuver. I remember the first time I snap rolled a Cristen Eagle, surprised the hell out of me.

Kinda wish it WAS an RV-4, though. I do love the -6A, but I like planes where you sit in the middle and the little wheel is at the back, better!

Me too. Vans doesn't even produce the RV-6/6A kit any longer!

[deltatango]

 

Evektor SportStar

'Building' for Flight you mean?I've flown both the RV4 and RV7/A. It depends on which engine you choose as to performance, but suffice to say, they usually out perform your average Cessna 172. We were flying in my friend's RV4 along the coast at about 500ft. He said now give it full throttle and climb at an angle to keep it from going near VNE (velocity never to exceed). WHOA. Up we went at about 2500FPM, all the way up to about 3000ft. It also does loops at about 1/2 throttle, without loosing any height. Mad. His dad flew fighters and he said its performance reminded him of a jet trainer aircraft.The RV7/A, I didn't get to do any aeros in. I helped finish building it and the owner took me for a fly and let me fly for a while. Beautiful aircraft!The difference in the sim (in any sim for that matter) is that you don't get any seat of the pants feel. No vibrations when you do the engine run-ups. no bumps that lift you up and down, etc. They feel a bit to smooth. The head bob thing does help a bit though.If you're after more performance(!), you can go for the Harmon Rocket conversion for the RV4. 400hp/1800lbs max takeoff weight. Compare that to your average backyard C172S @ 180hp/2550lbs :crazy:

[Gibbage]

SportStar for fsx. Read my sig.