Do all RV's fly about the same?

[flyinhood]

Another note is VFR handling vs IFR panel. I teach alot of Garmin GTN / G3x stuff and getting you comfortable with your plane and your panel will do wonders when you enter the goo.

[rv3flier]

I bought an RV-3A in 2002 and had it delivered from Virginia to Washington at my 1700' one way airstrip. I took 3 hours of transition training from Mike Seager in an RV6 with TO's and LNDG's at home before flying my RV-3A (I had no other RV experience but had about 57 hours of tail dragger time 34 years prior). After flying the RV-3A for 10 years, I bought a RV-12. I had 1 hour of dual before flying it back from Oklahoma. There are differences, of course, but there are enough similarities to make for easy transitions --- but it's still important to get a feel for each airplane's characteristics with a qualified instructor.

[gasman]

Originally Posted by Ironflight

Writing as one who has flown every model of RV (except the -5, and that might happen), I?d say that no, they don't all fly alike...but yes, they are all honest airplanes that aren?t out to get you. If you can fly one model, you have the capability to fly them all - but a good checkout in your first few is a great idea.

Taildraggers fly like taildraggers, nose-draggers fly like nose-draggers (just keep the weight off that nose gear!).

The differences you?ll notice are mostly in response rate for given control deflections, and the control forces themselves. Mike Seager has proven that if you can check out in a side by side two-seater, you can easily step in a tandem without a problem.

With good fundamentals, all RV?s are in reach.

Oh...the -1 was the least responsive of the line, but then...it was where Van did his learning. Thankfully, he got everything right on his very next next one, the -3!

Paul

Van used the same math on the three, that was used to create the great pyramid.......
https://www.ancient.eu/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza/

It was the base feel for the next 11 models. And what all other kit manufactures would like to achieve.

Thanks Van.

[rightrudder]

I transitioned in a -7A to prepare for flying my -9A. The 9's stall behavior is definitely more benign, and it will float for days on final, especially if you have a FP prop and a high idle speed!

The -9 can be a real chop-and-drop plane...I find myself pulling out throttle (a lot of throttle) pretty early on base and final to get the right sink rate. I had my co-pilot to Osh (also a 1300-hour CFI) do a few landings en route and while he didn't completely overshoot the runway, he was surprised how far he had to pull the black knob back!