[pvalovich]

I do periodic slow speed / stall training in my -8A. My plane stalls clean at 52 KTS and dirty at 49KTS. Wings level 1-g stalls are preceeded by a significant unmistakable "bump" and then a quick short nose drop and very slight roll to the let. Extremely benign if the stick is released.

Accelerated stalls are characterized by the same "bump" but greater roll rate until stick release.

Got me to wondering - did I luck out in construction and all the control system errors I made cancel out - or do all RVs stall this way?

Any posters have wilder post-stall rides?

 

[ChiefPilot]

That doesn't sound terribly different than my -6A, except I have no sharp bump prior to the event. Accelerated stalls are tamer than 1G stalls.

 

[lostpilot28]

Mine doesn't have a sharp bump, and stalls straight ahead. No rolling tendency at all.

 

[DougJ]

Very little RV experience here, but with the 7 I flew and in my 6 stalls are straight ahead if the ball is centered.

When I did my RV transition with Mike Seager back in May we did some power off 1g stalls clean and at full flaps, power on climbing and climbing with a turn, and then some accelerated stalls at approx 2g.

I fly a transport category aircraft and we do approaches to the stall only, so it had been years since I had actually stalled an airplane other than a Cherokee in the week or so prior to visiting Mike. I found the RV-7 stall to be very benign; it gave us a nice little buffet and then broke crisply. More crisp or "abrupt" than the Cherokee, but very easy to handle.

When I got my RV-6 I did a few power off stalls before landing it for the first time, while I was in Alabama. After I got it home to California I went out and ran through a full stall series. Again, it was very easy to handle, just like the -7 was. I progressed to some accelerated stalls in higher g turns at bank angles of 70 to 90 degrees and again it was very well behaved. In a steep bank with full power and at higher g the buffet is slightly more pronounced. Of course the turn rate decreases then stops at the stall and a slight relaxation of back pressure has and the airplane is flying again. It has no tendency to roll off. The rudder is very effective and so long as your trim is good the airplane stalls straight, if you're not perfect and it does begin to roll off at the stall some rudder pressure corrects it immediately.

I did some slow flight and stalls a couple of days ago, with overly-relaxed feet it rolled off left slightly at the stall each time. A bit of right rudder pressure and it went straight. I also stalled it several times with fully crossed controls as in a slip, and held it there up to full aft stick deflection. Although busy, it was easily controllable here as well; both aileron and rudder remained effective.

I'd like to hear from someone with more RV experience to see how typical these stall characteristics are, you would assume there would be quite a lot of variation between individual aircraft. In my so far extremely limited exposure to RV's I haven't seen that yet.

Doug

 

[humptybump]

My RV-8 stall is "just some mush" - no bump, no buffet, no shake. The wing will drop based on where the ball is.

 

[60av8tor]

My RV-8 stall is "just some mush" - no bump, no buffet, no shake. The wing will drop based on where the ball is.

Same here with my 7A - nothing but the mush, and no wing drop if in trim; extremely benign and only buffets with accelerated stall.

 

[Ironflight]

I've flown them all, and while I haven't stalled ALL of them, I have stalled most - and they are all pretty benign. You get a little less warning pre-stall than in a Cessna or Piper, but I have had no bad experiences stalling any of the RV's.

Paul

 

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

I don't recall much of a bump. My 7A stalls are 51/48. The only tendency to roll that I could tell is attributable to MY tendency when pulling back on the stick to pull it to the left. I don't even know I'm doing it. But I'm doing it.

Also, at this time of the year...it's very difficult to get the darned thing to "break" in a stall.

ChiefPilot (Brad) and I went out a few weeks ago to calibrate the Dynon AOA. It would mush like a son of a gun on one stall sequence, but wouldn't break.

 

[BillL]

<snip? . . . stalls are straight ahead if the ball is centered. <snip>
Doug

Only to offer comments from a no time RV pilot, and coming from long line of Cessna stalls, the 7 it will break to the left pretty quickly by Cessna standards, but Mike Seager pointed out the ball was not centered. Heavy (to me) right rudder and after that - bump - stall - straight ahead.

I suppose compared to Extra, Pitts etc, it is more benign. Out of my range.

Wish I was flying rather than typing. Back to building.