I loved my RV8 and RV10, but I never thought of either as a "bush plane". The reason was my lack of confidence in the strength of the gear. Fine for smooth ground, but not sure that I would abuse it regularly with sod or other rough surfaces. I know people do use them on unimproved surfaces, so no flames on that issue please, but I wasn't comfortable with it. These are not Cessnas that are built for the abuse of student pilots, and other harsh uses.
The primary appeal to me of the RV15 is the bullet proof landing gear, as my new mission is operating off a rough runway.
So, why not use the technology of the RV15 gear (or Mike Patey's Scrappy), on other model RVs as an option?
The ability to land the plane three point with the gear absorbing the stress and NOT rebounding, would make rough field operations much easier on the equipment.
I am a potential builder of an RV15, if it ever comes to be in my lifetime (I'm 72). In the mean time, I would like to consider the option of building or converting an RV14 to a rough field, FAST and aerobatic airplane. Is it possible to engineer a drop in assembly of such a gear for the RV14? The RV10 I built, has main gear that bolts to the wing spar. Could that mounting point be used to install a scaled down RV15 type of main gear? The design could be tweaked to minimize the extra drag of the beefed up gear with the proper fairings I should think.
Vans promotion of the RV15 as being a good "rough field" airplane is testimony of the concept and if a third party engineered such a gear, maybe Vans would support it as an option.
As more airports are converted to shopping centers, the added utility of being able to safely operate on non runways is becoming a real asset in my opinion.
The primary appeal to me of the RV15 is the bullet proof landing gear, as my new mission is operating off a rough runway.
So, why not use the technology of the RV15 gear (or Mike Patey's Scrappy), on other model RVs as an option?
The ability to land the plane three point with the gear absorbing the stress and NOT rebounding, would make rough field operations much easier on the equipment.
I am a potential builder of an RV15, if it ever comes to be in my lifetime (I'm 72). In the mean time, I would like to consider the option of building or converting an RV14 to a rough field, FAST and aerobatic airplane. Is it possible to engineer a drop in assembly of such a gear for the RV14? The RV10 I built, has main gear that bolts to the wing spar. Could that mounting point be used to install a scaled down RV15 type of main gear? The design could be tweaked to minimize the extra drag of the beefed up gear with the proper fairings I should think.
Vans promotion of the RV15 as being a good "rough field" airplane is testimony of the concept and if a third party engineered such a gear, maybe Vans would support it as an option.
As more airports are converted to shopping centers, the added utility of being able to safely operate on non runways is becoming a real asset in my opinion.