Flew the RV-14!

Production schedules for magazines being what they are, I figured I'd share a little "teaser" of my opportunity to fly the new RV-14 Taildragger with the community. Look for a comprehensive review in an upcoming issue of Kitplanes. Until then, here is a snippet (I'm still working on the full write-up). If you were here, you'd see my grin....


I think this crowd is going to love this airplane - I sure did!





http://kitplanes2.com/blog/2015/08/first-look-vans-rv-14-taildragger/

Jealous, I am.

Mike S said:

Jealous, I am.

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No, you're still Mike. But I agree!

I have some catching up to do on Kitplanes articles. Looking forward to reading your review.

I am looking forward to the article. I do wonder how changes to the original design of the aileron and elevator as stated are implemented. Do people get new parts, or just newer kits are shipped with changes?

kitplanes

Hey Paul,
Guess it's time to subscribe

JDBoston said:

I am looking forward to the article. I do wonder how changes to the original design of the aileron and elevator as stated are implemented. Do people get new parts, or just newer kits are shipped with changes?

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It has been quite a while since Paul first flew the tri-gear prototype.

All kits that shipped to customers have all changes incorporated

How are the ailerons different?

The summary on the KP website says changes have been made to the TE of the elevators and ailerons from the -14A to the -14. I noticed the reverse wedge shape on the -14's elevator TE but the ailerons didn't look any different to me. What changed?

I wasn't aware of any changes to the TE of the ailerons either. Could there have been a change in the aileron control linkage?

Don't know about the ailerons, but the elevator trailing edge was changed after he flew the 14A prototype, but before the kits shipped. All 14 kits have the same elevator trailing edge.

Thanks Paul for your prelude to your Kitplanes article on the RV14.
One of the attributes I was hoping the rv14 would have was to be able to land on farm airstrips here in New Zealand so your write up,sounds encouraging on that front and I can't wait to see the full article as well describing your take on the plane.
Great photos as well!

Scott is absolutely corrrect that when I first flew the -14A, it had about 60 hours on it, and they were still tweaking. The -14 and -14A are now the same in pitch and roll, with tweaks incorporated the same in both airplanes. I don't kow for sure what has changed n roll (if anything), but the wedge is definitely one of the pitch changes. Handles quite nice.

Paul, does the 14 have an 0360?
Seems to me I read somewhere it has it rather than the 0390.

Not meaning to hijack Paul's thread..... I am sure Paul wont mind if I fill in a few of the blanks. You can read his full report for the finer details

The RV-14 does have a 200 HP IO-360 with the old school Hartzell prop. (not blended airfoil).

Paul's full report will likely have some performance comparisons between the two models with the different power plants. It would have been nice to compare the two models with everything else the same, but it is what it is. Even though the engines and propellers are different, we know enough about what influences that can have that it will not an issue to specify performance #'s.

Our brains are very interesting in how they interpret sensory information....
There has not been any changes to the roll control system from the original configuration on the RV-14A. That is why the initial kit release was the wing kit instead of the emp./tail cone kit.

The final pitch control system configuration (which as mentioned previously; all kits were delivered with) has a change to the elevator trailing edges, and a very slight dimension/ratio change to the reversal bellcrank for the elevator push/pull tubes.

We feel that those changes made the airplanes feel nicely balanced between pitch and roll.
A lot of effort was invested in getting it right, we hope everyone else agrees that we did.

rvbuilder2002 said:

A lot of effort was invested in getting it right, we hope everyone else agrees that we did.

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Help me get this thing finished (rest of the kits) and I will give you all the data you would like, since my taildragger will have the IO-390 in it. Can't wait Scott, I know Van's wants the kits out more than we do, so we will stop asking. But you see all the people talking about how great it flies, it really makes you want to get it flying even more.

Looked at your build site Stoney, nice work.