On Thu, 01 Apr 2010 07:01:47 -0500, Barnyard BOb
wrote:

On Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:17:57 GMT, Stealth Pilot
wrote:

On Wed, 31 Mar 2010 08:02:16 -0500, Barnyard BOb
wrote:


BOTH.
If you see the stick move...
you may well may be over controlling.

Roll and pitch rates ares not as high as purebred acrobatic ships,
but those use to such responses will feel right at home in an RV3.


does it fly like a Tailwind or more like an RV6 ?

Never been in a Tailwind.

RV3 stability is NEUTRAL.
Turn it lose, and it eventually will go someplace else.

An RV6 flies like a truck compared to an RV3.


what are the landings like?
squirrilly or docile?
Stealth Pilot

I hear the RV3 lands slower and therefore, shorter than a Tailwind.
Stall is a tad over 50 mph. Stall is gentle and very predictable.

Many RV fliers prefer wheel landings. It is NOT my technique of
choice. I go with the FAA position that the slowest landing is the
safest landing, therefore FULL STALL is my preference. However,
the RV3 has a quirk. IMO, the main landing gear is a couple of inches
too short. This means at full stall, you land tailwheel first. So, I
land just shy of full stall. Here's why....

Given that the main gear is stiff tubing, it is a bit jarring and not
good for the weldments where the landing gear tubing is welded within
the engine motor mount. This is a definite weak link for RV3's and
RV4's and cracks develop in this area more often than not for us
owners. It then follows the engine must be removed for most repairs
that generally are not permanent. This gear design, the implementation
and tubing thickness of my engine mount truly SUCKS BIGTIME!!!!! If
there is a practical and guaranteed way to fix this gear problem once
and for all, short of starting from scratch, I sure want to know about
it. I repaired my mount a couple of hundred hours ago and fly into
mostly rough grass strips. So far, so good. Could be my mods are
better than most through nothing more than dumb luck practiced via
shadetree eyeball engineering!

The squirreliest plane I've ever flown was a Piper Pacer that was
suffering tailwheel and main gear alignment problems. Beyond that,
I've not experienced any mechanically sound plane that I would label
as squirrelly.

WARNING: Given my years and hours, my opinion may not be of much use
to lower time pilots or zero time tailwheel guys. With this in mind,
I think the RV3 has mild ground and air manners and is less squirrelly
than most with one caveat for newbies.... the RV3 corrections need to
be made faster than say... an Aeronca Champ. Get behind on corrections
with any tailwheel craft and you could be in deep doo-doo.

I've heard of low time Champ pilots transitioning to tailwheel RV's
with no problems, but I recommend dual in any tailwheel RV just to be
on the safe side. With little mass in the ass end of an RV3... it
responds quickly and predictably and is easier to land than the other
RV's, IMO.

Quite unlike a Piper Pacer with 140? lbs on the tailwheel. :-)



~ Barnyard BOb ~

sounds to me that it flies just like the W8 Tailwind ...something that
I'm quite happy with.

your main gear legs are solid Wittman style tempered 6150 tapered rods
if they are built according to the plans. they arent tubes.

relating Tailwind experiences here on the same sort of undercarriage
setup...
the thin 5.00x5 tyres that were originally on my aeroplane had to be
pumped to exactly 25psi or the aeroplane was a ******* to land.
I noticed a counter display showing a 5.00x5 tyre with almost twice
the tread thickness of the normal tyre. I swapped to using those just
to get longer times between replacements. they work well, really well.
I can now have tyre pressures anywhere between 22 and 30psi and I dont
notice any difference. the tendency for landing bounce is gone as
well.
if you get any shimmy in the main gear on landing the cause is
brinelling of the single bolt at the top of the leg causing it to
become a loose fit. sure sign of this is the shimmy vanishing on the
application of light braking. replace the bolt and it should be sweet
again.

the ground handling is interesting. I will not be using the tailwheel
chain arrangement on the plans. mine will be a solid rod as per my
Tailwind. Originally the Tailwind had the Wittman plans tailwheel
arrangement and was rated as a good flying aircraft but a nightmare in
the ground handling. When I first taxyied the aircraft I recognised a
problem with overgearing of the tailwheel immediately. I made a simple
change that halved the tailwheel movement and the aircraft has been a
pussycat in the ground handling ever since. the plans indicate the
same gearing problem on the RV3 but it is probably masked by the
sloppiness in the chain and spring arrangement.

I had an 18 year break in my flying so I'm not a high time pilot. I'm
still under 600 hours in the last 10 years but 450 of those are solo
W8 Tailwind time so I should have no problems with the RV3.

I'm half way through making the first part. (tailwheel spring)

Stealth Pilot