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RV vs Rans

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I've read the comparisons of the RV-12 and the S-19. How about comparing the ease of building for a first timer? Thanks.
 
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S-19 vs RV-12

I'm a first time RV-7 builder, helped build a Rans S-6ES 2 years ago and have watched an S-19 tail construction in various stages. Demo flight in the S-19 and sat in the RV-12. SO here's my 0.02$:

1. The RV-7 tail went together much easier than the Rans S-19. The S-19 tail is not prepunched. no one has seen a RV-12 tail kit. Rv-12 wins
2. Rans construction drawings are easy to follow. S-19 wins
3. Rans kits come very complete. S-19 wins
4. Both are roomy for a big guy. Tie
5. The S-19 is harder to enter. RV-12 wins
6. Vans appears to have a better testing.


Bottomline--->either should be a good plane. The Rans tail will test a first time builder.
 
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Keep in mind you are limited by a gross weight of 1320. The empty weight of a Rans is 820 or 500 left for 144 full fuel(24 gal) and thus 356 for two adults and baggage. 100 lbs of baggage and you are limited to two small people...128lbs each...yikes!

The 12 on the other hand has an empty weight of 738 (certified SLSA weight).Fuel is 120 (20 gallons instead of 24) so you now have 100 pounds of baggage and two 181lb people.

86 pounds doesn't sound like much until you start to look at weights. Personally I like full fuel...I like to take clothes with me on trips...and I haven't weighed 128 lbs since I was in high school.

p.s. the rans does have a slider which is certaintly heavier as well.
 
i stand corrected...was assuming an RV12 built for sport pilot privledges. An AmBuilt could of course could be open to your imagination (and certification).
 
the_other_dougreeves said:
Peterk said:
Keep in mind you are limited by a gross weight of 1320. QUOTE]
Correction - if you certify as a LSA, you are limtied to MGTW of 1,320lb. If you want ex-AB, you can go higher. How high? Hmmm.....

TODR
Click to expand...

Aside from discussing whether it would be a very good idea to use a gross weight above what the designer recommends...

[Ok, I can't help pointing out the fact that an airplane like the RV-12, designed to as light of an empty weight as it is, is probably structurally designed with that specific gross weight in mind. It then stands to reason that to keep weight down, there is no extra designed in for a builder to willy nilly assume they can just specify a higher gross weight, but I digress]

Certifying at a gross weight higher than 1320 lbs could be possible under experimental amature built, but it may cause a major drop in resale value.
It could never be flown by a sport pilot. Ever. Once an aircraft has been certificated with performance or specs outside of the LSA requirements it can never be recertified as meeting the LSA requirments.
Click to expand...
 
rvbuilder2002 said:
Aside from discussing whether it would be a very good idea to use a gross weight above what the designer recommends...

[Ok, I can't help pointing out the fact that an airplane like the RV-12, designed to as light of an empty weight as it is, is probably structurally designed with that specific gross weight in mind. It then stands to reason that to keep weight down, there is no extra designed in for a builder to willy nilly assume they can just specify a higher gross weight, but I digress]
Click to expand...

One reason the Rans S-19 has a higher empty weight than the RV-12 is that the S-19 was actually designed to a gross weight of 1475 lbs. That is the word straight from Randy Schlitter; listen to the portion of the following video interview (beginning around the 5 minute mark):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-kLIEBHp2s
 
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