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Spinning an RV-7

brogers

Member
Over the years I heard many opinions on spinning the RV-7. I conducted spins as part of the phase 1 flight testing (13 years ago) and occasionally through the years, but had never really explored this area in depth with the RV...... Until now. Having been an aerobatic instructor in the past, I had the desire to get proficient with spins again and try different recovery techniques to see how they worked in this airplane. I recorded some of my more recent flights to document the findings.

The first video is up and away working on flat spins. The spin starts with the typical with the power off stall, left rudder, right aileron, then add power once the spin is developed. The intent of splitting out the inputs and segments was to better quantify each ones affect on the aircraft. I purposely de-flattened the spin separately from spin recovery by first reducing power and centering the aileron and recovering with rudder and elevator after the spin steepened back up. That video can be found here.

https://vimeo.com/435352214

The second video was taken in an aerobatic box that had the appropriate waivers, observers, and utilizes a more aggressive recovery technique than the typical PARE. This was practiced many times at altitude to obtain consistent results prior to flying it in the box. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.

Spin entry was initiated off of the back side of a humpty. Power was left at 24 squared and opposite aileron was added at the beginning of the spin entry. There were a total of 11 rotations, so the flat spin was fully developed prior to recovery. The power remained at 24 squared for the recovery and the recovery took about 3/4 of a rotation. Arresting the autorotation took ~ 260 ft and recovery from the dive took ~550 ft (total of 810 ft for recovery) with a moderate 2.5 to 3G pull. Descent rate during the spin stabilized at 5270 ft/min. That video can be found here.

https://vimeo.com/440092517

As usual, the typical caveats apply.
This is not instruction..... Just actual data to help us learn more about our specific aircrafts capability. Enjoy.

DO NOT TRY THIS WITHOUT PROPER INSTRUCTION FROM A QUALIFIED CFI.

Bill Rogers
 
A tad low on that recovery?

The ground under waivered airspace is just as hard as that outside of waivered airspace but observers would be helpful to locate the smoking hole.
 
I agree with Ron, what's the point? Power on flat spin recovery is standard stuff in acro planes, and the RV responds like any other. I've flown many a flight in that particular box, mostly good memories. :)
 
Spin recovery

I agree with each of you that the recovery from the second video was too low and I have rectified that behavior since then based on other mentoring. I do appreciate the feedback though as that breeds the appropriate safety culture.

When I researched spins in the -7, there were widely varying opinions on how well behaved it was and how much altitude recovery takes. My point was really just to quantify the aircraft capability in an area where I hadn't seen that done before. I figured if I was looking for the data and couldn't find it, there are others that may be looking for the same. I could be wrong about that though.

Bill
 
Great Attitude

I agree with each of you that the recovery from the second video was too low and I have rectified that behavior since then based on other mentoring. I do appreciate the feedback though as that breeds the appropriate safety culture.

nothing to add, but I very much appreciate this response. I wish all pilots have the same attitude when "called out" for unsafe activity!
 
Take not thine altitude in vain, lest the ground shall arise and smite thee.....

Also - pity the poor airframe, that is harsh handling IMHO.

Having built 5 RV's, I have seen the hardware that holds the empennage on.

A dedicated aerobatic aeroplane is designed, built and inspected to do that. As Van himself says, these are not necessarily competition aerobatic machines, they are good all round sporting aeroplanes (I paraphrase).

But..... each to their own ;)
 
Having built 5 RV's, I have seen the hardware that holds the empennage on.

A dedicated aerobatic aeroplane is designed, built and inspected to do that. As Van himself says, these are not necessarily competition aerobatic machines, they are good all round sporting aeroplanes (I paraphrase).

But..... each to their own ;)

Are we now concerned about RV tails coming apart from doing SPINS? :confused:
 
Are we now concerned about RV tails coming apart from doing SPINS? :confused:
I have logged thousands of spins in my RV8 and find no adverse structural defects other than HS spar cracks corrected by recommended service bulletin. (Note: Spar cracks have been found on RVs that have never been exposed to aerobatics.) I DO check the torque on all empenage attachment bolts at every condition inspection.
 
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