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First to Fly N144VA

jswareiv

Well Known Member
The past couple of days I have been getting some training in N144VA with Mike Seager in Oregon. I understand I am the first to fly it, outside of Van's personnel. It was quite a treat. It jumps off the runway with the IO-360. It's a really stable plane with very tame stall characteristics. A couple of times we did a go around and I think that plane will fly from a dead stop, it never floated back to the runway, full power and we were off and going. If anyone is considering going out there to fly with Mike, I highly recommend it. He won't beat you up too bad for mistakes, but sometimes I heard, "I have to say, that was really a bad landing". I went for the 5 hours since I have about 300 in a RV-7, but it has been 8 years and I should have gone for the 10 hours. I surely would have come away a much better pilot. Thanks Mike.
 
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Training

Sounds like time/money well-spent. I can't wait to finish up.

A few questions if you have time. Did Mike say that 3-point was the preferred landing attitude? Did you get to do much crosswind work? Did you put any weight in the back to see how it would affect handling?

Thanks, James
 
Veronia

Sounds like time/money well-spent. I can't wait to finish up.

A few questions if you have time. Did Mike say that 3-point was the preferred landing attitude? Did you get to do much crosswind work? Did you put any weight in the back to see how it would affect handling?

Thanks, James

Yes, Mike definitely prefers the 3 point landing. Of all the landings, we only did one wheel landing, which was actually my best landing. Most of my prior tailwheel landings were wheel landings, which is a totally different attitude. It was hard getting used to nose up, stalling the plane right above the runway.

No crosswind, but the weather was absolutely beautiful, I got lucky. Not a cloud in the sky and winds less than 5 MPH. We did have one challenging landing on his grass strip between, over and around some trees, actually the landing was fine, the approach was a little interesting. You have two flights per day, of 2 hours each. A little of the 2 hours is spent in "ground school", but majority is flying. No weight in the back seat. I would definitely recommend the 10 hours because Mike is such a great pilot, there was lots more I could have learned, not just about the 14, but flying in general. He's been doing it for 27 years and has somewhere between 20,000 - 30,000 hours (I believe those numbers are correct). If you go, there is a bed & breakfast there, Julie is the contact and Mike recommended her. It's a few miles from the airport and very reasonable. Got to go by the mothership and meet everyone face to face and get a tour. All in all, it was a ton of fun.
 
Thanks!

Stoney, appreciate the details. I'm sure that getting to fly the 14 tail dragger (vs maybe a -7) will be a huge help in transition and the insurance company will like that as well :D. I'm looking forward to reading about your first flight.
 
7 vs 14

Stoney,

Maybe it's hard to make a comparison since your -7 time was quite a while back, but I'm curious if you came away with any specific impressions of how the -14 differs?
 
RV-14 Flight

Stoney,

Maybe it's hard to make a comparison since your -7 time was quite a while back, but I'm curious if you came away with any specific impressions of how the -14 differs?

Obviously it is more stable, but not as nimble as the -7, which those two go together. The other part I really liked was the visibility is WAY better and it's roomy and comfortable to fly. It was really hard to stall and gentle in the recovery. I wouldn't call it automatic, but really quick to recover with almost no effort. You better be ready with full power on takeoff, it jumped off the runway with the IO-360. I can't wait to see what my IO-390 (~235HP) does.

I was struggling with how the attitude looked during landing (not a design flaw, a pilot flaw). My tendency was to keep the nose down, but in a 3 point you flare, so my mind had to flip what I was used to. My insurance requires the 5 hours or a signoff, which I got both. I bought it for cross country flights so I think it's a great fit. All in all, I came away from the flight excited to finish and not regretting the decision to build the 14 one bit. I also feel that my training with Mike has given me enough confidence to be the PIC on the first flight, which after 2 1/2 years was something I have really been looking forward to. Hope that helps.
 
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