S

shorbird

Member
I have a short strip next to my home in Ca. 1400' but one end has wires so I consider it 1000'. I am able to carefully fly my 140hp miniplane in and out and was able to get my hot W-10 Tailwind in and out a few times before it was sold. I'm considering building a RV 7 or 9. Their all fast but I would perfer the 7 however, I'm a practical guy and need to consistantly get in and out without added excitement. I have not flown an RV yet, any comments or suggestions?
I like to fly into back-country strips as well.
Would like to order prior to end of year.

Thanks.....Dennis
 
I think you will find it tight depending on the height of the power lines at the end of your strip. Why not ask the power company if they would consider burying the lines at that area? We fly our 4's into an 1800' strip all of the time with no problems. However I would guess that a 1400' strip with power lines might eat up brake pucks fairly quickly.

Tom
 
My choice was a -9

I was looking for the same thing you are looking for and ended up with a -9 with a 160hp and C/S prop. What an airplane! A friend of mine was behind me with his -6 in the pattern the other day and had to go around. My approach speed is 14 MPH slower than his and he ended up getting a little too close. I also like flying the mountains and the slower landing speed of the-9 was a consideration. I have 44.0 hours on my -9 and have no regrets, in fact, what and amazing airplane!
(It seems that some of the folks at Vans try to talk their kit buyers out of the -9 and into the -9A. If a -9 is what you want, stick to your guns).

Roger
 
Short strip

Hi Dennis,
I agree with Tom that you would do well to have the wires buried. Taking off from the end with the wires shouldn't be a problem obviously and if you could land on the other end and complete your rollout under the wires shouldn't be a concern either. Demo'ing ag airplanes has put me in this position many times but it can be dicey if the wind doesn't agree. I know an older retired MD with an RV 4 that he flies into and out of his 1500' strip regularly. It has tall trees on one end so it's in one way and out the other. Your short field techniques should be excellent and a go-around has to be a definite part of your
habits, ignoring your pride and spectators.......go around if you must. The -7 is a really good choice-we have 9 hours on the Sojourner now and are ecstatic with the performance of our RV6A (0-360). It jumps off the ground but I can see that we need more time refining approaches (they're hard to slow down) in order to land in the distance, and stop, that Van quotes.
Pierre
 
Why not ask the power company if they would consider burying the lines at that area?[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE I agree with Tom that you would do well to have the wires buried.
Click to expand...

While burying the power lines would be the ideal solution, I doubt most utility companies would be willing to do so......unless well compensated. A fellow pilot in an adjacent county asked for just that to ease the personal pucker factor into and out of his 900' strip. He was told (by a utility representative) the cost for line burial would be at least $14,000. On one memorable takeoff, he did manage to hit those wires and cut off power to untold numbers of customers for many hours. Miraculously, his airplane was relatively undamaged (save for one wing skin) in the incident and the power company did not come after him for utility repair costs or loss of revenue service! Go figure. He subsequently replaced the wing skin and installed a climb prop on his Cessna 170 and has been happily incident free ever since.
Now back to your problem. If it were me, I'd opt for an RV-9A with a constant speed prop. Its takeoff performance is truly exceptional. That should provide you with all the short field excitement you need....or require. ;)

Rick Galati RV-6A "Darla"
 
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