Why not an RV-14?

[KC10Chief]

Wow! Thanks for all of the replies! I'm going to order a set of the RV-14 plans as well. Building either one would not be a problem for me. I have tons of maintenance and flying experience. Lots of sheet metal experience as well. Still, the idea of being able to put my plane together in a year or two vs. 5 or more years, is also appealing. I haven't been to any EAA meetings or anything like that. I just haven't had time until recently. I was stationed in Alaska for almost five years. I flew GA up there several times a week. I moved to Oklahoma in 2013 and haven't flown any GA since. I was flying for the Air Force more than I cared to do. HA! I just retired from the Air Force a month ago. I was deployed twice in the last year and traveling pretty regularly in between those times and then just flying local sorties the rest of the time. Then I retired and suddenly have all of this time! I was very fortunate to be offered an excellent job with Boeing the day after I retired and it's great! I didn't have to move, I get paid a lot more and only have to work 40 hours a week! I'll be looking into going to some EAA meeting real soon and looking into contacting some local RV builders!

I probably wouldn't do much aerobatics in my RV. Loops, rolls and that's about it. It may sound silly to be thinking this far ahead but I'd really love to fly around the world someday. I think that the flying would be the easiest part of a trip like that. All of the bureaucracy would be the worst part. If not around the world, then at least fly in to Europe or Iceland someday.

[rmartingt]

For me the biggest factor was money. A -7 is pushing me financially, especially now with a toddler and my wife's medical stuff; the - 14 was simply out of the picture. I'd helped my dad build a -6 and have a fair amount of time in it so the -7 was a known quantity.

[coffeeguy]

Originally Posted by KC10Chief

Wow! Thanks for all of the replies! I'm going to order a set of the RV-14 plans as well. Building either one would not be a problem for me. I have tons of maintenance and flying experience. Lots of sheet metal experience as well. ...

You may not need to order the plans, just take a look at Van's web site and download the pdfs. http://vansaircraft.com/public/service-rv14.htm. They are the updates to the plans and I'm not sure if every section is there, but it should give you a very good feel for the detail.

[BobTurner]

If you?re serious about intercontinental trips, the -14 has more interior room, more load carrying ability, for an internal gas tank.
BTW, thank you for your service.

[rightrudder]

I'm a little biased because I've flown my -9A for about 200 amazing hours, but when I sat in the demo RV-14 at Oshkosh, it just looked/felt too bulky. And some of the cabin width gain is offset by the canopy linkage that intrudes on elbow room. (This may be the same for 7/9 tip-ups; I'm not sure.) I HAD to have a slider canopy, so that ruled out the 14 entirely.

Everyone has a different take on how much room is enough, but at 6'3" and 195 lb., I'm plenty comfortable in the -9 (which is essentially a -7 fuselage as far as dimensions go). Flew to Osh with a friend an inch taller and 50 lb. heavier and I never felt cramped.

Another nice thing about the 7/9 fuselage is its lack of a prominent center tunnel. On a long cross country, it's nice to be able to stretch and extend your right leg all the way to the heater vents! I made sure to route throttle/mixture cables up nice and high so I wouldn't snag them with the tips of my big shoes (Thanks, Bruce Hill...routed mine just like yours. )

[alcladrv]

Originally Posted by KC10Chief

I'm going to order a set of the RV-14 plans as well. Building either one would not be a problem for me. I have tons of maintenance and flying experience. Lots of sheet metal experience as well. Still, the idea of being able to put my plane together in a year or two vs. 5 or more years, is also appealing. .

Congrats on your decision to build a -14. I'm sure it will meet your needs.

The build time is more a function of the priority the project has in your life than the characteristics of the kit. The comparative build time for each plane that you mention is too individualized to be accurate.

Realizing that the quick build kit option would really move my project along, I ordered one for my -7A. I built per plans with very few exceptions, installed VFR instrumentation, left it unpainted and flew it 21 months after starting the empennage kit. During the last month after getting my pink slip, I was not building as I prepped for a new job and completed RV transition training.

It has been an ongoing project as I upgraded to IFR instrumentation, improved the interior and got it painted in the 12 years since the first flight.

Originally Posted by BobTurner

If you’re serious about intercontinental trips, the -14 has more interior room, more load carrying ability, for an internal gas tank.

Extra gas would be nice, but both planes have a 100 lbs. baggage weight capacity.


Good luck on your build. Just do something on it everyday to move it along.

[rvbuilder2002]

Originally Posted by alcladrv

Extra gas would be nice, but both planes have a 100 lbs. baggage weight capacity.

A better description would be both have the same baggage area weight limit but both don't have the same full fuel payload available.

Depending on finished empty weight (assuming the recommended gross weights are heeded) the typical RV-14 with a gross weight of 2050 lbs has more full fuel payload available than a typical RV-7 with a gross weight of 1800.

It is entirely possible for a couple of bigger sized occupants to add enough to the payload weight of an RV-7 to make using all of the 100 lb baggage allowance not possible regardless of where the C.G. position ends up. With an RV-14 that is much less likely.

[BCP Boys]

Originally Posted by Captain Avgas

If you're contemplating the A model I'd buy the RV14A just to get the more robust nose gear. The RV7A nosegear has proven to be very fragile.

The only issue with with the "nosegear" in the both the 7A and 14A is that it's in the wrong place ... Someone done missed up and moved it

[drainge]

Originally Posted by rightrudder

Another nice thing about the 7/9 fuselage is its lack of a prominent center tunnel. On a long cross country, it's nice to be able to stretch and extend your right leg all the way to the heater vents! I made sure to route throttle/mixture cables up nice and high so I wouldn't snag them with the tips of my big shoes (Thanks, Bruce Hill...routed mine just like yours. )

This is, for me, the most important point to make.

I'm 6'5" and 185lbs and I long assumed that the 14 would be a more comfortable fit, but when I sat in the demo plane at Oshkosh this summer I discovered that although there was more shoulder room (which would have been nice for the flight over to Osh with my 6'2" 215lb buddy), the center tunnel actually reduces leg room. On long cross country flights being able to stretch my legs out is an absolute must. I'm not sure if there's an easy mod to fix this issue, but that would be my first question before placing my order.