Update on Availability of Transition Training
Having just re-worked my insurance policy for the RV-14, I'm now able to be ready to offer transition training in the RV-14. For the first person, I will need just a very small amount of additional lead time as I did not yet buy the add-on premium for doing so, but I have the quote. I will say that for the next year I should be OK offering the training. Beyond that I'll take a wait-and-see approach to the insurance quote. Here's why:
For me alone, the insurance was around $1000 for the RV-14 (Tri-Gear model).
Add my wife with no instrument rating and 250 hours, and it went up last year to about $1400 approx.
Now, my daughter is just about to do her solo in the RV-14 when she hits her birthday, so adding her raised it up to nearly $2750. While I will happily swallow that cost for my daughter, it gives the benefit of making the transition training coverage be a perhaps lowered additional risk for them since I'm already paying that price premium. To add transition training I'm up to $3434. So as you will notice, that's about $2000 over what it costs to put me and a non-instrument pilot such as my wife, on the policy. With luck, next year when my Daughter takes her checkride, the policy would then drop to something around $1500. Unfortunately, that means next year the add-on for transition training will likely be a much bigger proportion on it's own, as I expect the sum-total to probably not change all that much.
So for the next year or so, if you need transition training feel free to send me an email and we can look at schedules and figure it out. Don't plan to do it until near your first flight period, and do be aware that there is a big tendency to feel like "I'm only about 2 weeks from doing my first flight" when in reality you could be 3 months away yet. There is often much to do in the final wrap-up.
I have a day job, and with teenagers, vacations, and all sorts of other things to keep me busy, I'm not really interested in doing this as anything more than a sideline, so I'm hoping that there will be alternative places to do training as time goes on. I know I flew with Mike Seager for the RV-10 transition training and he was excellent, and would probably be the best you could find. I am, however, a person who really wants to ensure the viability of aviation, with the emphasis on homebuilding, so feel it is my duty to step up since I have the ability, and do my part to not only help you RV-14 builders get your insurance coverage, but help keep our accident rate down as well. I would love for the RV-14 to be an accident/incident free airplane for as many years as we can get. The RV-10 didn't work out that way in some respects, with many bone-headed moves done by pilots, none of which were the fault of the airplane design. But with Van's RV-14 we have the opportunity for a clean slate, so lets do all of our fellow builders a favor and fly well, be responsible, and keep our insurance rates low.
As a side note, unfortunately at present, I can't offer tailwheel training of any time. Admittedly in my 1700 hours of flying to date, I've only landed a tailwheel plane one time, and never received a signoff myself. If that makes me not a real pilot, so be it. I intend to seek out training this summer and get the signoff, and if I then can get some time in tailwheel RV's to become proficient, maybe that will change. So if you're building a tailwheel model, definitely lock in with Mike or find a suitable and acceptable place for your training.
My email address begins with "Tim", and I have a few different web domains...use any of them and the email goes into the same inbox. Shoot me a line when you're getting to the point where you need your training and lets get it done.