Do you guys think you could use a souped up 360 or a 375 on this?
Now all you guys who are building Seven's know how the "Six" builders felt when the RV-7's were introduced!
Now all you guys who are building Seven's know how the "Six" builders felt when the RV-7's were introduced!
If I were making the choice today, I think I'd be sensitive to the pending petition relative to recreational flying on a drivers license. Dan
So...more room, some additional range, 20% heavier and 35% more expensive, prop, avionics and interior not included in computations.
I wouldn't argue with Van's, but I wouldn't pay the extra money.
Steve, you're right about comparing this -14 to a baseline RV-7A. But we've seen that a significant portion of builders do not build the baseline VFR machine that Van's intended. Cheaper and lighter makes for a better airplane in many respects, but plenty of builders are just more interested in a touring machine: highly upholstered interior, lots of advanced avionics, more fuel on board, etc. That equals HEAVIER, and therefore often pushes past the maximum weight the RV-7 and -9 were designed for. Part of Van's calculus may be just responding to that segment of the market, and giving the homebuilder an option to build all that fancy stuff into an airframe that is engineered to carry it safely (i.e. with a bigger motor, too). This does seem to be a departure, in that it does not seem to be intended as a lightweight, VFR machine like most of Van's designs (maybe RV-10 as the exception).
Sure, its more expensive, but if you compare it to a comparably equipped RV-7A (i.e. with an IO-390 installed, Dynon SkyView, extended range tanks, etc), I'd bet that it's not fully one-third more.
AND, this is actually designed to operate with the extra weight. The fact that Van's has done all that without impacting the performance specs very much is pretty awesome, even if it does come with a bit of a price penalty.
I'd totally agree that for a mission of VFR flying around the patch on weekends, mostly by myself and not including high-altitude or mountain environments, an RV-7 with an O-320 or carbureted O-360 may be a better and cheaper choice than this airplane (or an RV-4!). But for frequent long cross-country flights with 2 adults, the -14 seems to me a great evolution in Van's products (that's before even considering all the actual construction improvements that they seem to have made).
Cheers,
But, didn't the 7 replace the 6 out-right?
Is the 14 replacing the 7/9's?
And one more thing...
I'm still thinking about that 180hp limit on the medical proposal thing.
I'm not going to start feeling bad about my 7A just yet.
We'll see.
Then they came out with the 9 and I'm sure there's a lot of 7 guys that wish they had that model instead.
I guess I'm just still a little sad from having my plane declared obsolete.
...Everybody's going to secretly wish they had one. The crazy thing is they all look alike. A person not familiar with the RV line of side by sides can't tell the difference.
I guess I'm just still a little sad from having my plane declared obsolete. I'm sure I'll get over it on my first flight.
And no slider? What? That is just wrong.
If I were making the choice today, I think I'd be sensitive to the pending petition relative to recreational flying on a drivers license. I don't think this airplane would do as well if you dropped back 30hp to make the limit.
So, I'd still be choosing between 160hp -9 or 180hp -7. As it came out (-7), it's difficult to imagine a better flying airplane.
It's a good looking airplane and I'm sure it will do well.
Dan
Builders will buy the RV14A over the RV7A just to get the improved nose gear. I certainly would.
RV7A builders/flyers are so twitchy and nervous about the failure rate of the existing nose gear design that they have already spent over a half a million dollars buying a third party brace device that no-one can be certain really works (at this early stage).
Vans wont sell too many more RV7As.
Sad for me....I've been superceded even before I get into the air.
Now all you guys who are building Seven's know how the "Six" builders felt when the RV-7's were introduced!
This new model sits very well with me. I'm almost 6'4" and 220lbs. Not fat, just big. There are a lot of people out here that struggle with the, "will it fit?" question. Several buddies would like to build but none of the models except the -10 fits. I started a -7 knowing that it would always be tight after having sat in one. It would have made the long legs almost impossible for me. So, I decided to go for an -8, hoping that it would fit better. It does but just a bit and my wife has to sit in the back. Not necessarily a bad thing for me but she sees it differently, in a tolerable way. Which means she'd probably fly less often. This hits the nail on the head for me at least. I wonder though, can I economically go with the IO-375? The 205hp version would be close to the 390 and at about 10k cheaper to boot. Also, the spec sheet article states "basic aerobatics," will it perform the same acro as a -7 or -8? And lastly, a tail wheel is a must!
Thanks Vans!