Colin.macd
I'm New Here
With mosaic taking effect will Vans increase strength of the 12 by various means such as thicker skin?
Van's Air Force
The definitive Van's Aircraft support community! Buying, building or flying an RV? Join our exclusive family of mentors and enthusiasts!
Stronger RV12?
- Thread starter Colin.macd
- Start date
Why? More weight is less performance. These aren't falling out of the sky now, right?
Colin.macd
I'm New Here
It seems that most of the SBs have been to rectify problems caused directly or indirectly to cracked or broken pieces. Mostly the fixes replaced original parts with stronger ones
I think most cracks are caused by poor deburring. Some SB’s are Vans just CYA’ing IMO.
And whether it's CYA or not, the SBs have been issued to focus on specific issues that have come up after the airplane has been in service for some time. The most common or early trouble spots are already "stronger". The AST balance attachment serves as a good example. Where problems come up, Van's already makes the airplane "stronger" when necessary. With respect to SB's, it's better to address problems than over-engineer everything.
"Stronger" in a structural sense to increase capacities like load and speed is a whole different subject than SB's. I would not expect Van's to redesign the RV-12 to accomplish that.
A recent video from Van's made at an EAA chapter presentation commented on this when a question was asked about increasing the MGW of the 12iS. That would require reengineering and retesting of the wing and landing gear. Not gonna happen. Someone asked about factory production of the RV-7 and was told that the RV-7 is not suited to factory production but they did state that the RV-14 was designed with factory production in mind. here's the video:
Last edited:
