Tail Dragger -10?

[Darin Watson]

The -7 I have owned and flow for the last 12 yrs has been an incredible plane, and is the first tail dragger I owned. I had a Grumman Cheetah for 4 yrs followed by a C-336 Skymaster for 10yrs (a Suburban for the sky as opposed to the -7 Corvette for the sky)

I don’t want this to be a nose vs. tail dragger “popcorn debate”, however, I have enjoyed the characteristics of flying a TG, that I wondered if a -10 has been considered for conversion to TG? Has anyone looked at this and/or discussed with Vans?

 

[Mel]

The -7 I have owned and flow for the last 12 yrs has been an incredible plane, and is the first tail dragger I owned. I had a Grumman Cheetah for 4 yrs followed by a C-336 Skymaster for 10yrs (a Suburban for the sky as opposed to the -7 Corvette for the sky)
I don’t want this to be a nose vs. tail dragger “popcorn debate”, however, I have enjoyed the characteristics of flying a TG, that I wondered if a -10 has been considered for conversion to TG? Has anyone looked at this and/or discussed with Vans?

The aft portion of the -10 fuselage is not conducive to the loads of a taildraggger.

 

[Auburntsts]

Short answer is no. Along with the emp, there was never any provision in the mid and forward fuse for supporting a TD option. You’d basically have to design a new plane.

 

[DRMA]

Perhaps the RV-15 is the tail dragger you are looking for?

 

[Darin Watson]

Thanks…but no

Perhaps the RV-15 is the tail dragger you are looking for?

The -15 is not my mission, as I like the speed and efficiency of 4, 6, 7, 8 and 10…and I know the -10 can do reasonable grass strips, but like the added prop clearance and feel of the tail wheel when into the rougher places. I guess if I really need those extra 2 seats I’ll suffer a nose dragger.

Thanks to those who commented….I had thought that was likely the case!

 

[Desert Rat]

In addition to all the structural reasons this is a bad idea, it's not exactly convenient to mountain climb your way up out of the back seat of a 4 seat tail dragger. I'd imagine it could be downright annoying on something like the 10 where you're basically sitting on the floor.

 

[rocketman1988]

In addition to all the structural reasons this is a bad idea, it's not exactly convenient to mountain climb your way up out of the back seat of a 4 seat tail dragger. I'd imagine it could be downright annoying on something like the 10 where you're basically sitting on the floor.

You should try it in a StaggerWing!

 

[Ralph Inkster]

Any one out there that are dreaming/building/flying a 'Super-14' stretch? Some folks have done something like this with Super 6's, Super 7's & Super 8's in the past.

 

[glider_rider]

Short answer is no. Along with the emp, there was never any provision in the mid and forward fuse for supporting a TD option. You’d basically have to design a new plane.

this

is about the only difference in aft fuselage between RV14 and 14A

I'm building a 10 and honestly don't see any reason why it couldn't be converted to TD. If I only knew how....

 

[Auburntsts]

this

is about the only difference in aft fuselage between RV14 and 14A

I'm building a 10 and honestly don't see any reason why it couldn't be converted to TD. If I only knew how....

Not saying it can’t be done but I’m not an engineer so I’d be leery of looking at a single weldment with no other analysis and assuming that it’s as simple as part swap. YMMV…..

 

[rmartingt]

about the only difference in aft fuselage between RV14 and 14A

I'm building a 10 and honestly don't see any reason why it couldn't be converted to TD. If I only knew how....

But on the -14 it was designed with the taildragger option in mind, and the fuselage strengthened accordingly. Van's could have optimized the fuselage for weight savings on the -14A but kept it the same for commonality purposes.

The -10 was never intended to have a taildragger option and there are probably several areas that would need some strengthening beyond just adding the weldment for a tailwheel strut. It could be done, but you'd need a full engineering review (not just TLAR) and probably some other changes throughout the fuselage.

I agree a tailwheel -10 would be cool, but I'd bet the sales numbers would be even lower than the taildragger -9 if Van's offered it as an option, and the effort to do a modification probably wouldn't be worth it.

 

[rocketman1988]

TD

Trying to convert a -10 to a tail dagger is definitely not the place for TLAR engineering.