What the heck is this RV-8A Twin Engine

[Ironflight]

Originally Posted by Bob Martin

Is that Dogwood Airpark in Fredericksburg VA?

Yes it is.

[Bob Kuykendall]

Originally Posted by 1001001

Wow, you're not kidding, as far forward as those nacelles appear to be.

Looks can be deceptive. As I recall, the Twinkie uses an extended-hub prop to accommodate the long pointy cowling; the engine itself is pretty far back.

I agree with Steve Smith that the vertical tail area might be a bit on the small side for engine-out operations, but I think it is going to be a ripping fast airplane.

[scsmith]

Originally Posted by rvbuilder2002

Nope.

The RV-8A has a different fuselage for the portion that is fwd of the wing spar center section.

Oh I see now, there is still an F-802 bulkhead that is shaped kind of like one face of the gear tower, but the box is not there. Is that right?

In addition to the likely too small a rudder, a friend reminded me that there are large unsteady forces from the nacelles into the wings. They need to be very torsionally stiff to prevent whirl flutter. Assuming the fuel tank has been moved outboard, the forward connection between the fuselage and wing would need a lot of beefing up. Some pretty serious engineering needed to keep this airplane safe.
For those worried about the nose wheel, remember that the c.g. needs to end up in the same place with respect to the wing, so the nose wheel loads should stay about the same (except for the increase in gross weight). It may take some ballast in the back to get the c.g. right -- probably a huge battery mounted fairly far aft.

[longline]

appears to be modified. Hard to tell from the picture(s), but there could be a lot of added structure hidden there. Kind of reminds me of the Winged Derringer.

A lot of innovative thinking displayed here.

[Mark Albery]

Originally Posted by Weasel

Tandem seat twin......that unique

What about the Phillip's Speedtwin.
There were plans to put it into production, but that seems to have gone quiet.

[N733JJ]

Originally Posted by scsmith

For those worried about the nose wheel, remember that the c.g. needs to end up in the same place with respect to the wing, so the nose wheel loads should stay about the same (except for the increase in gross weight). It may take some ballast in the back to get the c.g. right -- probably a huge battery mounted fairly far aft.

True, but. With two engines, hopefully some structural strengthening, this plane is significantly ficantly heavier and therefore will have more weight on the nose as well.

[sblack]

If that nose gear does collapse it will be very expensive!

[greghughespdx]

Looks like the engines are not counter-rotating? And that small (for a twin) tail...

[KRviator]

Anybody brave enough to post it on The Mothership's FB page?!? Probably give Van a bloody heart attack!

[jimgreen]

Are there other twins without nose wheel steering? Seems you would be pretty vulnerable at low speeds with a power loss.