Yabadaba DO!
 

Somehow managed to get the RV smile to grow.

Been taking some aerobatic lessons. My instructor has a Citabria, after the spin training took place, decided it was time to try some simple maneuvers in the RV.

Boy, what a difference!! Loops are easier, aileron rolls are faster (don't blink), hammerhead vertical is incredible.

Every loop had a slight bump at the bottom.

Seems natural to look at the ground/horizon when passing through the vertical, just feels good; a peaceful zen moment.

The best part is the view, don't have to look through a bunch of structure to see through the top, like the Citabria.

Bought the Vans Construction plans and manual on-line as a download before buying my RV. Remembered reading somewhere in the manual about aerobatic entry speeds.

After a search found them on the second to last page of the manual in the flight testing section. Perfect!

Best part is now after more practice, plan to do a vertical roll, the grin began growing the second the manual showed the entry speed.

Read the part where the RV isn't so easy to spin. Probably will stay away from doing them until more tolerance built up to the G forces.

Wondering why the manual said they are difficult to enter and that most RV pilots do the vertical maneuvers.

Any advice on doing spins?

Don't plan to take the instructor up, would be over the weight limit of 1375lbs. Meaning will be learning them by myself in the RV.

The landing afterwards was an example of the grin getting in the way of the landing.

Winds 30 deg from centerline 15ktsgust27.

Had to do a go around: bounced, added power, flew down the runway, tried again, flared way to high, ASI was at 60mph 4 ft above runway, RV felt like it was "floating", did not like that at all, decided to do go around at that point, wheel landing on second try was rather smooth (had to get my head pointed in the right direction).

Sobering lesson at the airport was a good reminder to keep, mind on task.

Best regards,
Mike Bauer

That's awesome. My rv 8 loves spins, the world goes around very quickly. Ive never heard of them being hard to spin, but I also dont know alot of RV owners personally.

I just hold the nose slightly above the horizon with the power off, then when I get the buffet I step on the rudder (either way) and pull back. It goes right into a spin, and even wants to stay there with the stick pulled back. Rudder opposite the spin and release the stick pressure and it recovers very quickly

My only caution with acro in the rv is it picks up speed VERY fast, you can easily get up to or past redline if you arent careful on the downhill.

I've spun the 3,4 and 6 and found no unusual problems. Not familiar with the others and their spin characteristics.

Here's my -4 some years back. It's a cake walk !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzfHGVb_DwA

Cheers, Hans

Good flying. Liked the reverse view in the spins.

Great video thanks for sharing.

Mike

Thank you.

Mike