First post on any forum ever....Hope it works and that I do not breach any VAF rules.
At the beginning of building my RV9A I had absolutely no idea the nose gear could fold up, ending in a flip over. Once I found out I started to read all available accident reports, videos on Utube and discussions on VAF.
Over the years it has brought me from a happy builder, over despair and all kind of plans to mitigate the risk. The more I studied the subject the more convinced I was that I - with my moderate flying skills - will end up inverted.
Well much to my surprise it has not happened - yet.....I hope I am not committing hubris though.
One of the very first things i did was adding a camera under the wing to see all 3 wheels, in order trying to describe the dynamics involved in the nose wheel oscillating. This turned out to be too complicated for me, but I did develop a sort confidence in the design, and certainly found a number of bad habits and things not to do.
I have only operated on relatively even and level surfaces. I am still convinced that if the NW falls into a pothole or meet an obstacle higher than a couple of inch the gear will dig in.
As other and new builders of A models may be going through the same despair as I did.. I thought I would make my video available for all
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr92SjkTynA
It comes with a warning: It is extremely boring and have no entertainment value at all, but if it provides peace of mind for anyone then its worth the 18 min of NW oscillation.
What surprised me the most is the last sequence of the video, where the plane actually lift of - just a few inches - and then lands on the NW without me noticing it - until second landing.
So it seems Scott was right in his reply 8 years ago: "Fly with confidence"
......And perhaps the design is better than its reputation?
Best regards
Lasse