J

Jim Wright

Well Known Member
I recently purchased a very nice RV-8A. (Don't have enough years left to build one). Our Alaskan air park (AK00) has a fine gravel, 2500 foot runway and we use gravel roads for taxi access to the runway. I would like to bring the 8A up here to fly during the summer months however I am concered about prop damage from the gravel. Also flap and HS damage as well. I have 11 inches of prop clearance.
I'm sure that a number of you have operated RV's off of gravel strips and I would greatly appreciate your comments and suggestions.
Many thanks,
Jim Wright
 
Two weeks after painting my wheel pants, I landed on an asphalt runway that was lined with gravel. I was going pretty slow when I turned off the runway but later noticed that a rock had gotten inside the wheel pant and bounced around between the tire and the fiberglass. I had several places where the glass was cracked and some of the gel coat had popped loose. I wasn't very happy.

I haven't had much prop damage but do have some dings on the leading edge of the HS. If you'll be flying an -8A, I think you would have more prop damage and less HS damage.

Karl
Now in Sandpoint, ID :)
 
I'd hesitate to do any of that with a A model RV. Risk of flipping it over seems pretty high on gravel.
 
Flipping an A model on gravel is not an issue if the surface is firm. However I would be concerned about prop, flap and wheel pant damage. Some of it can be minimized by not conducting run ups on the gravel, applying power very slowly, keeping the nose up as soon and as long as possible and not using a lot of flaps on landing. Damage to the prop is the biggest concern since it is an expensive componet and can lead to catastrophic failure. The prop on my RV6 has no chips after 700hrs while the pop on my 7A shows a lot of small hits after 300hrs. If you are going to operate an A model on gravel on a permanet basis, be prepared for high prop maintenace cost and the need for frequent refinishing of the nose wheel pant.

Martin Sutter
building and flying RV's since 1988
 
Jim,

Not trying to beat a dead horse here, but be careful with the nosewheel on gravel. Likely you will have to look at this as having no room for anything but a perfect landing every time to give you the needed edge. Here is a link to a 9A flip over in Alaska that happened on gravel. Again, this doesn't mean it will happen to you, but please be careful and give yourself every advantage. Also, you should be careful about maintaining tire pressure on the nosewheel and certainly be using the new fork assy for extra clearance.
http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?ev_id=20051006X01588&key=1
 
Before we had our airport improved, (77F) it was basically gravel. I moved my 6A here about a year after I finished it.

Long story short. I tried to keep the rpms as low as possible on startup, taxi, and would feed the power slowly on takeoff. Even so, the gravel dinged up the prop, wheelpants, flaps, and even a few places on the horizontal stab. I had the prop overhauled after the new surfacing was finished and the prop aged out.


I really would be careful about operating off of the gravel unless I just had to. It is going to cause a few dings to the paint and prop. I know, I could have left it in the hangar, but as the old saying goes, "All ships are safe in the harbor, but that is not what ships are for!"

Just my $.02.
 
Rock Damage

Thanks guys. I was hoping for encouragement however my gut feeling was the same as your feelings. Based on that I guess the airplane will go to Arizona instead of Alaska.
Thanks again for your advice.
Best regards,
Jim Wright
 
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