Rian Johnson and Brian Hickman provided insightful, well-reasoned, and encouraging updates on the RV-15 in last night's webinar. I've included a few screenshots of some interesting features, but there are more--you should watch the RV-15-focused portion of the recording (last ~2/3) to understand details from the horse's mouth. I like the concept of the vortex generators that tuck away with the flaps--my only minor concern there is tolerances in assembly fitup/scraping, especially if debris or ice gets in there (and I forgot to ask Van's about that aspect). When properly assembled and painted, I expect the hideaway flap VGs will be one of many beautiful and thoughtful touches that will combine to enable the crazy low (and balanced) stall speeds they alluded to along with the 140kt target cruise. Van's claims they are targeting kits by end of 2025--my paraphrase is deliberately squishy because their description sounded optimistic but equally dubious. I'm glad they are taking the trouble to get it right first rather than patch together with service bulletins later, despite being as impatient as anyone.
Recording is not yet up on https://www.eaa.org/eaa/aircraft-building/homebuilders-week, but to see more, look for "Van’s RV Aircraft Kits" (Jan 30) in the archived recordings there soon.
And as seen in flight--note telltales are firmly attached despite steep flap attack angle!
A sneak peek at the changing proportions that we will see in IRON 2 (IRON 1 is apparently the Van's-internal name of N7357)--from the sketches showing through, it appears that, along with the wing area reducing from 172 ft^2 to 160 ft^2 and the wing moving back by 4 in, the entire wheelbase is shortening (Van's claimed that ground handling stability is still excellent partly due to W/B characteristics and partly due to excellent gear design--even is useable albeit not advisable with extreme aft CG that they tested).
I see:
Recording is not yet up on https://www.eaa.org/eaa/aircraft-building/homebuilders-week, but to see more, look for "Van’s RV Aircraft Kits" (Jan 30) in the archived recordings there soon.
And as seen in flight--note telltales are firmly attached despite steep flap attack angle!
A sneak peek at the changing proportions that we will see in IRON 2 (IRON 1 is apparently the Van's-internal name of N7357)--from the sketches showing through, it appears that, along with the wing area reducing from 172 ft^2 to 160 ft^2 and the wing moving back by 4 in, the entire wheelbase is shortening (Van's claimed that ground handling stability is still excellent partly due to W/B characteristics and partly due to excellent gear design--even is useable albeit not advisable with extreme aft CG that they tested).
I see:
- moves back:
- mains
- engine
- windscreen
- main door/window/seat/control panel (which also tips a bit forward in angle, as described elsewhere in the talk)
- small fixed rear side windows
- Moves forward:
- tailwheel
- vertical stab (I also see rudder counterweight/control horn seems like it will return)
- No detail revealed here:
- flap pushrod routing behind B-pillar
- baggage door updates (will be revealed at Oshkosh, hinted it will be even larger than previously depicted)
- how far fwd/aft the strut also moves (if at all)--they have said elsewhere that the strut profile is changing to further reduce drag
