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RV-4 First Flight

jlisler

Well Known Member
After 12 years of on and off construction, RV-4 N455J is officially a flyable airplane. After receiving the airworthiness certificate this morning, I performed a full power ground run on the engine just to make sure it would develop adequate power and to see that there were no issues with the fuel delivery system. A quick adjustment of the low speed idle and another 15 gallons of 100LL (for a total of 20 gallons, 10 in each side) I was ready to go. At 1715 this afternoon I pulled onto runway 18 at 17J (Donalsonville, GA) and applied full power. The take-off roll was brisk but the airplane tracked straight. It broke ground after a short ground run and climbed away at 1500 FPM. At 2000 feet I orbited the airport feeling out the controls and watching the oil pressure. The left wing is slightly heavy and I hope to correct that with a squeeze of the left aileron. Also, right rudder was required to keep the ball centered. I may try to correct the rudder first before squeezing the aileron, just to see how it affects the heavy wing. Stalls were non events at less than 50 knots indicated. Oil pressure was to high and I had to throttle back to keep it in limits. The oil pressure relief is adjustable so that should be a simple fix. The most annoying thing was a canopy buzz on the trailing end at high speed. How do you stop that?

I would like to report that the first landing was a greaser but that would not be so. After the third bounce I remembered to plant the main gear on by raising the tail. Life was good after that. The 4 sure handles better than my Cessna C140A on the ground and in the air. I think I can get use to this airplane.

Thanks to Pierre Smith, Louisville, GA., for my transition training. I was as prepared for this flight as any I have ever made.

Jerry Isler
Donalsonville, GA
RV-4 N455J - Flying


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Congrats Jerry. Great Job. Now, I have to get busy and throw money, I mean, finish mine.
 
Outta sight!!

Fantastic Jerry.
Call me and I'll send you some felt tape to stick under the canopy skirt. Let the oil come up to temp before you adjust the pressure. If I recall correctly, you squeeze the right aileron if the left wing is heavy. Opinions?

Congrats,
Pierre
 
Today I made a few adjustments on N455J and I am proud to say it is doing great. After looking everything over and deciding the airplane was built as straight as I could make (no warped wings or control surfaces, no aileron dangling below the wing in the airstream) I squeezed the right wing aileron. It required three massages to get the airplane to fly hands off but now it does. The changes to the aileron are imperceptible.This helped out with the rudder in that there is less than 1/2 ball of deflection on the skid indicator now. I am not sure I will put a tab on the rudder because there is so little yaw to deal with now. Time will tell. I also made adjustments to the oil pressure relief valve and now have the hot oil pressure at 85 PSIG. That's right at the top of the normal operating range according to the book.

I made three flights today and each was the best one of the day. It is amazing how quickly you become comfortable in this airplane! The landings were the best ones I have ever made in a taildragger. This machine begs to be wheel landed and tracks straight as an arrow on the ground.

To answer a question, the gear leg fairings are from Mark Fredrick of F1 Rocket fame. These fairings are tapered from top to bottom and when I installed them I accidentally trimmed the bottom off to get the correct length to fit my airplane. This in affect made the gear legs look larger than normal but it really makes the RV-4 look more robust. Rather than standing on spindlely looking gear legs, they appear way more substantial. The intersection fairings were of my own creation. I formed up modeling clay and then layed on several layers of fiberglass cloth. They fit real tight but I have managed to crack one already due to the fore and aft motion of the gear legs.

I plan to venture out a little further in my 50 mile radius test zone today.

Jerry Isler
Donalsonville, GA
RV-4 N455J - Flying
 
check out the way the large pin stripes meet at the wing root. neat.

i am gonna kick ol' Ironflight with the horse off the computer background and put you on here. :)

ah, wing root intersection fairings, NICE looking-- any ideas how to keep them from cracking?
 
Negotiate?

Hi Jerry,
Man, you're doing great and if you keep at it, you'll be able to make Sun 'n Fun yet. :D

Did you negotiate the 50 mile radius or did you tell Frankie that I said to give you a large area?

If you want to try and fly off the 40 hours to make SNF, I'd be glad to come down and do double duty for free!

Regards,
 
hmmmm.......

>>check out the way the large pin stripes meet at the wing root. neat.

Mark,

Jerry claims that this is a "homebrew" paint job. I think he's full of it ;-).

Congrats Jerry, you did a great job. Also, I think the looks of your plane will be just as appealing 20 years from now as they are today.

Good luck with your test flying and enjoy yourself. You deserve it.

John
 
I had the honor of being Jerry's first passenger Yesterday. It is a beautiful airplane and was fun to ride in. Excellent motivation to continue pounding the rivets.
 
My First Passenger

As Alton has already said, he was my first passenger. What a brave soul he was. Outside of doing the kangeroo hop on landing everything went well. There is a difference between solo and the near gross weight landing characteristics of the RV4. One of the main differences is the amount of trim required. Solo requires nose up trim (with the flaps deployed) to stay on speed for the landing approach. Also, wheel landings are the order of the day. The tail wants to stay in the air until you retract the flaps or almost come to a crawl. With the back seat full you have to trim nose down to stay on speed. This configuration appears to be better suited for 3 point landings. The other major difference is the trim setting for take-off. With a passenger you have to trim nose down quite a bit or else the airplane gets light on the mains a little before you reach lift off speed. In the air the airplane handles pretty much the same either solo or with a passenger.

Jerry Isler
Donalsonville, GA
RV-4 N455J (45.7 hrs)

Still learning about this great airplane!
 
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