Response from Gus at Vans on new RV-3 question
David,
Think of a 1960s Mini (the car, not the skirt, you old dog). Now look at the current “Mini” for the 21st century. Or the VW Beetle. Only the name remains.
The issue is not tooling, it’s thousands of hours redesigning/redrawing all the parts, and writing the assembly manual. 4-5 engineers/drafters/proto builders for who knows how long to make it to the standard of the RV-12/14 kits and plans. Plus, of course, a complete makeover to raise the gross weight to fit corn syrup fed pilots who want to install all the latest Autopilots, ADS-B, IFR devices, backup alternators, IO-390, CS props etc. Suddenly, you’re looking at a whole new airplane. For that development expense, it has to be a 2 seater to access a larger market, or any reasonable ROI would not be there. Now we’re cannibalizing the RV-8 sales…and unless you’ve got a neck like an owl the RV-8 is a single seat fighter once you’re strapped in.
The next RV has to be an amphibious, aerobatic, roadable, VTOL jet to errrr… shift the paradigm, revolutionize GA, “democratize personal flight” and provide employment opportunities for disruptive MBA buzzwords. And just as soon as we can find a sucker accredited investor to loan us a few million, we’ll get right to work on it.
Happy New Year! Enjoy your RV-8.
Gus Funnell
Van's Aircraft, Inc.
14401 Keil Rd NE
Aurora, Oregon 97002
503.678.6545
I shall continue to enjoy flying the RV-8 and stop RV-3 dreaming. As Gus says, once you strap on the 8 it is easy to imagine being in a single seat fighter.
My 8 is light on the ailerons, two finger operation. Is that undesirable? How does one measure "effectiveness" of an aileron? The rate of roll is very rapid.