Spoiled Rotten

[PaulvS]

Cessnock is the town and airport. ARO = Airport Reporting Officer.

[NinerBikes]

I split a $130 /hr 172 rental with a friend today... I strictly have experience in the friends 1320 # gross rated RV-12. Local airport is 1040 ft elev, most days, the grossed out RV-12 is a 6 second count before the mains are off the tarmac.

The 172 felt grossly lethargic on take off.

It also scared the p o o p out of me with how steep the landing descent is, compared to landing the RV-12. Add flaps on a 172, and it drops like a brick.

I was terrified, seriously. Obviously a 172 is safe, and takes a good hard landing, so many flight schools use them. A few schools use RV-12's, so the stoutness of the landing gear must be getting better in design on the 912 iS?

[RV10Man]

I have a 150, 172, Sling 2, my brother has an RV9A, and I'm building an RV9A. Each airplane has it's mission, and they do them very well.

[rv7boy]

I look forward to flying my RV-7 but until then I am content to maintain my proficiency in my 172. I admit I appreciate the comment made by a popular aviation video blogger regarding his 172. Compared to a faster plane he gets to log more time when he flies the 172!

[664781]

Apparently turning crosswind (at 500AGL) inside the aerodrome boundary is frowned upon...



Yep, I can get in 3 touch and go's before the Chinese trainers do 1....LOL

[KRviator]

Originally Posted by 664781

Yep, I can get in 3 touch and go's before the Chinese trainers do 1....LOL

Same here, it's a great tool to get a lot of practice in a very short time.

Here's some circuits out Mudgee way. 11 landings in around 37 minutes, with a climb to 1000AGL. My Dynon altitude alert is set at 500', so full power, hold the nose wheel off, climb at Vy and roll into a 30* climbing turn when the computer says "Approaching altitude". You can just see the end of the runway near the wagon-wheel-shaped garden in the lower left. Though it would seem I need to work on my track-keeping after liftoff...

[sibriggs]

I did a BFR with a friend in a C-150 with a tired O-200 last summer.

After the ground portion, I said lets go up to 4 or 5K and do some air work. He looked at me like I was going to rate him poorly. I couldn't understand why.

Then we took off and were climbing at between 100-150 fpm. It finally dawned on me that was normal performance.

I looked at him and said, yup, I understand now. Let's only go up to 2 or 3k to do the air-work so we can finish before dark. :-)

Not at all like my 9.

[newt]

I took off in a Scheibe SF-25c Motorfalke after flying my RV-6 for a year.

Climbing out over the upwind fence, I genuinely thought there was something wrong with it and I might end up decking it into a field. It took a few moments for me to run through the procedures and options before I thought, "Oh hang on, no wait, this is normal."

- mark

[Finley Atherton]

I often fly in the monthly competition in our local Aeroclub 172. I actually enjoy the short flights as the 172 sort of feels like a comfortable old armchair.

One issue is that I am always chasing the trim on the 172. I believe this is because I am used to the light elevator control forces (trimmed) on my RV and even trimmed the 172 feels heavy. One competition included stalls and I almost felt like I needed to put one foot on the panel so I could pull back with enough force to stall the **** thing.

Fin.
9A

[JSOliveira]

My last 3 Flight Reviews have been in my RV9a. Can't you find instructors who will do that for you?
They were with 3 different instructors, all of whom jumped at the chance to see how the RV9a perfoms.

Originally Posted by Robert M

While in the midst of helping my wife get some "Pinch Hitter" training at a local airport, I let MY BFR lapse. So, I set up an appointment with one of the local flight school instructors to renew. Went through the usual "ground school" chat and headed for the C-172. Again, the usual pre-flight. Taxied out, rolled onto the runway and started the takeoff roll. Oh my gosh, was I dragging the fuel truck? Was the engine not delivering full power? I was concerned we weren't gonna be able to even rotate the nose wheel before running out of runway.

AND......during the initial ground roll, I told the instructor; "in my RV, we'd be off the ground by now". And when I got the 55kts to rotate the nose wheel, I told him; "in the RV, we'd be above pattern altitude by now". Then there was the, (what felt like), endless climb to the maneuvering altitude of 3,000 ft. Jeez, I don't remember it taking that long back when I rented 172's.

Please understand, I wasn't trying to brag although it sure sounded that way. No..... it was more like I was complaining. I have been so spoiled with how quickly the RV-9 can get up on the mains, rotate for takeoff and climb to altitude. Spoiled Rotten!

In retrospect, I can see more clearly that things happen SO much faster in the RV and a greater need for due diligence is required for all aspects of operation.

Robert