Van's kit aircraft have always been what you might call a builder's aeroplane.
They make no pretence at being quick to put together nor does the company have any truck with modern composite materials. They are no compromise alloy aircraft held together with nothing more 'bi-tec' than rivets.
Van's won't bluff you with a 500 hour build time, either: they tell you straight that if you buy their basic kit you are looking at 1,800-2,000 hours minimum; this has not stopped 7,000 kits being sold worldwide, with some 1,700 completed (they keep a careful track of what's going on!). This enviable track record gets regular boosts from new models such as the RV-6A, which we reviewed two years ago, and now the RV-8. Since its launch last year they have sold a mind boggling 470 RV-8s with three kits being completed a week.
That's a lot of aeroplanes, even by American standards, and has a lot to do with the fact that not only are they builders' aircraft but when complete are pilots' aircraft as well. Van's produce aeroplanes which fly beautifully and which look good too, (full marks to whoever said that if it looks right it probably flies right). The RV-8 is their latest offering and is no exception.
New design features
The company describe the new RV-8 as the early renowned RV-4 (still available) 'on steroids'. The RV-4 was and is a very popular homebuilt, but it was designed almost 20 years ago as a basic, inexpensive sport plane with good cross-country capability.
Times have changed and Van's have often, in common with many US kit manufacturers, been asked to provide more room for their pilots. Add that to the fact that builders seem to be willing to pay more money for a heavier aeroplane with more horsepower in order to optimise cross-country capability and you get the picture of how and why the RV-8 was born.
The new aeroplane though is still pure Van's; alloy construction throughout, mainly flush riveted and, like the RV-4, tandem seated. The full profile cowl blends gracefully into a wider fuselage, which provides pilot seating some five inches wider than that of the RV-4 with much improved leg room. The elegant bubble canopy slides right back to expose both tandem seats.
The front seat is intended for solo flying, thus passenger/baggage placement and weight distribution is more critical than for a comparable side by side aeroplane. Pounds added even in the pilot seat move the C of G aft and diminish the stability, making it necessary to keep the pilot and passenger close together. This is achieved by literally placing the front seat between the co-pilot/passenger's legs. However, footwells have been recessed to provide more effective leg room and the angled wells support the feet at a natural angle, improving the comfort rating.
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The taller canopy not only gives excellent visibility (almost fighter like) but also adds additional headroom. This, coupled with the lower foot rests, provides fairly upright seating. Adjustable rudder pedals for the front seat help accommodate a wider pilot size range: it is surprising how just a few inches added in the right place can make such a difference. The larger fuselage of the RV-8 provides more instrument panel space, cabin width and front room, but also allows a forward baggage compartment between the instrument panel and the fire wall, a convenient and useful 4.6 cubic feet. This is in addition to the traditional baggage compartment which remains behind the rear seat and gives better loading options as far as the C of G is concerned and enables enough space for night stop cross-country flying, always a problem in close seated tandem aircraft.
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The large one piece perspex canopy slides right back to afford easy access. The aircraft is soloed from the front seat. The rear passenger or second pilot sits with the front between his or her legs.
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The aircraft is designed to take a variety of engines from 150-200hp. Our test example was fitted with 200hp Lycoming IO-360 driving a Hartzell constant speed propeller. The whole sits on sprung main gear neatly spatted with conventional tailwheel. It really looks the business but...
... How does it fly?
Anyone who has flown an RV-4 or 6 will know that I am not exaggerating when I use the term 'Pocket Rocket' and the RV-8 is out of the same mould. It is agile, stable, fast and has excellent low speed handling characteristics. The increase in size is more than compensated for by the larger engine.
Lined up on the runway, push the throttle home and the aeroplane literally leaps into the air. Immediately the crisp responsive control is evident. Little more than thinking about the pitch moves the nose up and down and roll rate is superb with no perceptible adverse yaw. In fact, the company's demonstration pilot's initial display sets out to prove that you can literally, as soon as airborne, your feet off the rudder pedals and the aeroplane will continue to fly straight and turn crisply with aileron alone.
With 120mph on the ASI we were climbing at a good 1,500ft per minute, two up, with over half fuel. Levelling out (being mindful of overcontrol with the very positive pitch authority) and bringing the power back to 25 inches of manifold pressure and 2,450rpm, we were really moving at 195mph and burning 8.5 gallons per hour. This approximates to 75% power.
Pushing the throttle right home, at a modest 1,500ft we were indicating 202mph on 10 gallons an hour. The maximum claimed true airspeed is 222mph but that's at 8,000ft. Bearing in mind our low level excursions due to the cloudbase which was restricting our climb I am sure that this is possible.
Rolling around the skies
The beauty of most Van's aircraft is that as well as being nimble cross-country mounts, they are also aerobatic. The aeroplane is stressed for +6/-6G so it wasn't long before the urge to do some aerobatics overwhelmed me. Without any inverted systems everything has to be kept positive, but with a cruise speed in excess of 190mph and an entry speed of 150mph or lower for loops, stall turns or rolls it was just a matter of pulling the nose up for a neat 3G loop or of lifting the nose by 20-30 degrees for some rolls, remembering to keep positive G all the way around.
If it all goes wrong as the airspeed bleeds off you will feel plenty of buffet through the stick before the stall bites some 7mph later at 62mph indicated. The aircraft nods down dropping first one wing then the other; but strangely, instead of this turning into a spin it nods back and forth without any correcting rudder input. You have to be brave to just sit back and observe this phenomenon developing as you get the distinct feeling that as each wing drops in turn the aircraft is going to spin, but in fact it stabilises in a nosedown attitude with first one wing and then the other dropping, hands and feet off the controls. To recover is simplicity itself, just nod the nosedown and add a little power.
With half flap deployed the pre-stall buffet starts at a lower airspeed, but the stall is similar. Control authority throughout the speed range is excellent. Roll rate encountered through a complete 360 degree roll was 90-100 degrees per second. It feels faster and post-flight discussions revealed that my mentor for the day, Van's General Manager Bill Benedict, may have been taking it easy: 140/150 is more like the maximum roll rate. Bill co-ordinated the aircraft beautifully. In fact his aerobatic demonstration was so stable that I was able to continue writing my notes as we completed a beautifully executed aileron roll, holding a precise 1 G all the way round.
Mine, I have to admit, was nothing like as good.
Landing features
A crisp handling well loaded wing often means poor low speed landing characteristics, but this is not the case with the RV. It is certainly possible to keep the speed up in the circuit or on the approach with the best of them, but bring the power back and the aeroplane remains a real pussy. 40 degrees of flap gives some extra drag over the threshold but there is plenty of control authority right through the landing flare.
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Fast and agile the RV-8 may be, but long on runway it's not.
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Even with two on board we were still off the ground in 150-200 metres; conversely the landing roll, particularly if the speed is brought well back over the threshold, is 250-300 metres.
Although the wheels are well-faired there is adequate clearance for grass field operations as we proved when we positioned from Lakeland, Florida (Sun 'n' Fun) to South Lakeland's sod field (to use the nicest possible American terminology).
The success story
The RV-8 is already a winner as the sales figures I quoted earlier prove. It's a builder's and pilot's aeroplane of the first degree; practical, fast, durable and well designed. Terms like 'Personal Spitfire-ette' really do spring to mind. In typical RV fashion the kit is supplied in four sub-kits: empennage, wing, fuselage and finishing.
While at present they are not quoting a complete kit price (they have not costed the finishing kit), ex-USA you can buy the empennage kit for $1,190, wing kit pre-punched for $4,350 and fuselage kit pre-punched for $4,900. The finishing kit should work out at around $3,800, and the company reckon that the total for the aeroplane, excluding the engine, should come out at around $14,000.
In deference to the fact that some people simply do not have sufficient time to complete a basic kit, and presumably to increase their market penetration, Van's will be offering a quick build option, like that for the RV-6/6A, in which the main components such as the wings, tall and fuselage are riveted and complete, reducing build time by about 50%.
As another result of the way in which RV-6/6A sales have developed (around 55% now have tricycle undercarriage) a tri-gear RV-8 is in development. This will have a free castoring nosewheel: if comparisons to the RV-6 are anything to go by it will knock about 2mph off the speed, a price many people are willing to pay for the improved ground handling/landing characteristics.
There is really little need for me to say much more as the aircraft and sales success certainly speak for themselves. This is one classy kitplane. If you like traditional tandem seating, classic lines, it will, as it already has, sell itself.
RV-8 Kitplane
| Airframe |
|
| Span |
23' 0" |
| Length |
21' 0" |
| Height |
67" |
| Chord |
58" |
| Wing Area |
110sq ft |
| Wing Loading |
6.36lb/sq ft |
| Power Loading |
9lb/hp |
|
|
| Capacities |
|
| Empty Weight |
1,090lb |
| Gross Weight |
1,800lb |
| Useful Load |
170lb |
| Fuel Capacity |
42 US Gallons |
|
|
| Power |
|
| Engine |
Lycoming 10-360-AlD6, 200hp |
| Prop |
Hartzell HC C2YK-1BF/F7666A4 |
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| Performance |
|
| Top Speed |
200hp/222mph |
Cruise
(8,000', 75% power)
(8,000', 50% power) |
212mph
189mph |
| Stall (solo) |
51mph |
| Takeoff Distance (solo, 1/2 fuel) |
250' |
Climb
(1 ,8001b gross weight)
(solo, 1/2 fuel) |
1,900fpm
2,700fpm |
| Ceiling (solo, estimate) |
22,500' |
Range
(75% power)
(50% power) |
800 statute miles
1,000 statute miles |
Contact
Van's Aircraft Inc.
P0 Bo 160 North Plains
OR 97133
Tel: 00-1-503-647-5117
Fax: 00-1-503-647-2206
