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  #11  
Old 04-04-2012, 11:21 PM
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dkol dkol is offline
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Richmond, Ky
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I have about 200 hours on my -4. I worked up progressively with ballast and found that 225 in the back is a comfortable limit. I have a friend who is 6'3" and 225 in the back a few weeks ago. We flew for about an hour and he was surprised by how comfortable he actually was. Must have looked comical though with us piling out because I'm 6'2".

I don't 3-point with a passenger. I practiced with with Ballast and find that doing a wheel landing just works a lot better for me. I keep the speed up to between 65 and 70kts because the tail will drop a lot faster.

As stated many times on here. Each aircraft is different so use ballast and work your way up incrementally. Keep in mind the baggage as well. My 225lb limit is with absolutely nothing in the back.
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  #12  
Old 04-05-2012, 12:27 AM
131RB 131RB is offline
 
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I agree with both Kevin and Russ. I had a little over 1150hrs in my 4. One of the tricks I used when carrying someone into a normal strip was to carry an extra 10mph in the pattern and wheel land the airplane. It will wheel land very nicely even with a passenger. You didnt mention what kind of speed you were carrying on final. I would be carefull about getting to slow at low altitude when ridding on the aft edge of the CG.
Ryan
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  #13  
Old 04-05-2012, 02:34 AM
tturner tturner is online now
 
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Location: Fayetteville, GA
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I have about 300 hours in my RV-4 with the short gear. It is a 320 with a wood prop, 965 empty weight. Solo 3 point or wheel landings are fine. With a passenger I only do wheel landings. I have carried a 215 lb passenger which with full fuel put my CG at 76.2 and GW at 1557 lbs.
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  #14  
Old 04-05-2012, 05:10 AM
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Capflyer Capflyer is offline
 
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I normally do three point landings (short gear), just easier for me with or without a passenger plus I like the lower airspeed on touchdown (5kt difference). Wheel landings are easier solo. When solo I need full up trim from the time I pull the power on my downwind turn to base but when I have a passenger I don't need to touch the trim at all. I have flown it with passenger and baggage the last two years to OSH with 1" aft the CG limit in landing weight (fuel burned off), couldn't tell the difference and it required no additional up-trim. The heaviness of my elevator is pretty consistent in any weight and CG on landing.
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  #15  
Old 04-05-2012, 06:53 AM
humptybump humptybump is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: USA
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I'm a buyer not a builder and have been nervous about taking a passenger because of the expectation that "its a different aircraft".

I'd like to do the equivalent of Phase 1 CG testing.

What do people recommend for "ballast" ?
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  #16  
Old 04-05-2012, 07:03 AM
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Ironflight Ironflight is offline
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Location: Dayton, NV
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Quote:
Originally Posted by humptybump View Post

What do people recommend for "ballast" ?
Lead shot is probably the best way to do it if you have access to a couple hundred pounds in little bags. I have also used 50 lb bags of sac-crete, but it is dusty (and the dust can be corrosive). In a pinch, buy a few cases of oil - you can put a few in the baggage compartment of an -8 and get more moment way back there than putting weight in the seat.

Paul
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  #17  
Old 04-05-2012, 08:15 AM
bkthomps bkthomps is offline
 
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Location: Destin
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keep in mind as you burn fuel, the situation gets worse.....you may not be able to take this 220# passenger on a 3hr flight where you land with 1hr of fuel left.....be sure to consider this when you put a heavy person back there
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  #18  
Old 04-05-2012, 09:34 AM
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Russ McCutcheon Russ McCutcheon is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Vancouver, WA USA
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Thumbs up 1200+ hours now.

First I am curious whatever came of the original poster Pat Long, it looks like he has never responded back to let us know how he is doing with his RV-4. So Pat if your still hear how are you doing?

Randy said in post #8 that changing elevators changed the pitch feel of his -4, I would just bet that it’s not the skin thickness that made the difference but rather the radius of the trailing edge of the elevator and how flat the skin is ahead or the trailing edge, this is one place that can vary widely from one RV to another giving different pilots of what seems to be the same airframe very different results. I believe a sharper radius will result in the aircraft being heavier in pitch wile a wider trailing edge will make it lighter in pitch, a concave skin ahead of the trailing edge will make it heavier and convex will be lighter.

If wheel landings work for some pilots wile carrying a passenger then stick to what works, no argument here, not trying to change anyone’s mind. Mechanically speaking wheel landings should be harder with the CG aft, the further aft the CG is the more the airplane wants to pitch up when the wheels touch the ground. If all three wheels touch the ground at the same time or the tail wheel touches just ahead of the mains then the airplane can’t pitch up and tends to then stay on the ground. For me it’s a three point every time with a passenger
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  #19  
Old 04-05-2012, 09:55 AM
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Russ McCutcheon Russ McCutcheon is offline
 
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Default One more thing.

Depending on your prop, mine is a constant speed, (fixed pitch may not be so much of an issue) carrying just a little power to touch down slows down the process of deceleration in the flair giving a little more time to get it on just right before it stops flying.
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  #20  
Old 04-05-2012, 09:57 AM
chrisbryanolsen chrisbryanolsen is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Albuquerque
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ironflight View Post
Lead shot is probably the best way to do it if you have access to a couple hundred pounds in little bags. I have also used 50 lb bags of sac-crete, but it is dusty (and the dust can be corrosive). In a pinch, buy a few cases of oil - you can put a few in the baggage compartment of an -8 and get more moment way back there than putting weight in the seat.

Paul
I was thinking of using a plastic can filled with water to try this out.
Take the seat bottom out in back and strap it down.
Anybody see a problem with that ?

Thanks
Chris Olsen
RV-4 @ KAEG
N2ZK
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