Jay Honeck
Touchdown! Greaser!
After two decades of owning and flying certificated aircraft, Mary and I decided to visit the dark -- and rapidly growing -- side of general aviation: Experimental homebuilt aircraft. After much research, we opted to go the Van's RV route, as their performance, robustness, support, and cost matched our goals.
For three nanoseconds, we considered building a plane. We then realized that with just 18 hours a week off between us, and another full year of remodeling ahead before our latest hotel project was complete, that building an airplane was out of the question.
So, purchasing an already-built RV became the order of the day. In order to safely accomplish this radical departure from our norm, I hired an RV expert, Tom Berge, to assist in our search. I have written extensively about this wonderful experience in another thread, so I will leave it at that.
The differences between the RV-8 and Piper Pathfinder are striking and obvious. The -8 was designed to be a nimble, high performance 2-place sport plane, capable of gentlemen's aerobatics and relatively high speeds, while the Pathfinder was designed to be a load-hauler. With its immense 1460 pound useful load, it's the F-150 of planes, capable of hauling four 200- pound men in comfort and style.
The -8 can carry Mary, me, and two good-sized soft-sided suitcases.
That said, the progress made in the 40 years between the Cherokee and RV designs is amazing. The Cherokee design is solid, unexciting, and decidedly old school, with cable controls and the aerodynamic sophistication of a work boot, while the -8 is simple, clean, and nimble, with wonderfully harmonized pushrod controls.
The difference in flying characteristics could not be greater. After going through transition training and flying the -8 for thirty hours, I took the Pathfinder up for exercise. I actually thought something was broken! After lumbering up to pattern altitude, I gave the yoke a good grunt to crosswind -- and was shocked at the resulting wallowing, agonizingly slow turn rate. The controls were not harmonized, and excessive wing dihedral, undoubtedly put there to enhance stability, seemed to cause the nose to noticeably hunt during turns. In over a thousand hours of flying Cherokees I had never noticed these undesirable flight characteristics before, but now they were made painfully evident.
The advantage of non-certified avionics has also been driven home. The three access TruTrack autopilot in the -8 will fly us to the runway threshold, effortlessly, at a cost of just $3500. To get that safety and capability in the Pathfinder would have cost upwards of $15000, so we simply did without a device that most certainly could save our lives one day.
And I am truly looking forward to future panel upgrades, as opposed to dreading them as I did in all my previous planes. To be able to at last afford cutting edge aircraft technology is exciting.
Two things really surprised me with regard to the added speed and performance of the RV. First, soon after transition training started, it became obvious that the added performance actually made the RV easier to fly than the Cherokee. Once you learn the proper landing technique, it is child's play to grease the -8 onto the runway, and its virtually impossible to get behind the power curve, thanks to instant acceleration with the application of power.
Second, I expected the clean design to make the -8 a floater when landing, but just the opposite is true. Because of its light weight, this plane will land right NOW if you let your airspeed decay. You land it like a lawn dart by comparison to landing the Pathfinder, which requires far more finesse to land well.
To discover that a Cherokee -- widely viewed as one of the easiest-to-fly designs of the 20th century -- was actually harder to land than an RV was stunning. It's a real tribute to Van that he was able to design such a capable aircraft, with outstanding performance at both high AND low speeds.
With regard to mods and repairs, the advantages of experimental aircraft became immediately evident. Simple mods -- forbidden by law in the Pathfinder -- became legal and easy. Since I am not the original builder, I still must have an A&P inspect my work, but doing simple things like adding ship's power to the back cockpit for a tablet suddenly became possible. Replacing basic stuff like a voltage regulator, or converting a circuit breaker to a switch/breaker, ceased to be a major ordeal. And the guys in the experimental world have been enormously helpful, positive, supporting, and willing to help.
Were that only so in the certificated world from whence we have come! I have been astounded at the overt prejudice shown by some certificated aircraft owners and pilots against homebuilts in general, and RVs in particular. The attitude of some of these guys is breathtaking in their ignorance -- almost none of them have any experience with experimental aircraft -- yet they are incredibly vocal. It's one of the strangest things I've witnessed in aviation.
This prejudice is all the more surprising because the experimental aircraft movement is the ONLY healthy segment of general aviation. By every measure, certificated GA is dying, or already dead, while experimental GA is growing and healthy -- yet so many pilots seem to be vocally against it. Perhaps it's just a few squeaky wheels, but given our overwhelmingly positive experience with the RV world, this reaction is neither logical nor helpful to general aviation.
After two months of RV ownership I can say that the transition has been overwhelmingly positive. The negativity displayed by some old-school certificated pilots has been more than offset by the enthusiasm and warmth of the homebuilt community, which has welcomed us with open arms. This rapidly growing segment of GA has been a refreshing breath of fresh air, after two decades of existing in the slowly diminishing certificated world of aviation, and Oshkosh was WAY less of a funeral dirge this year than it's been in the recent past.
To be a part of a GROWING, thriving, vibrant aviation community is wonderful! I had grown so accustomed to an existence that assumed a slow, painful death for aviation, it's hard to describe how refreshing it is to discover a group of wildly enthusiastic and optimistic pilots that is expanding, not contracting! I heartily recommend making the transition to experimental homebuilt -- it will restore your faith in a future that will include general aviation!
So, as I watched the new owner of Atlas fly away this morning, I wondered aloud if I would ever own a certificated aircraft again. The answer for now, at least, is a resounding "nope".
For three nanoseconds, we considered building a plane. We then realized that with just 18 hours a week off between us, and another full year of remodeling ahead before our latest hotel project was complete, that building an airplane was out of the question.
So, purchasing an already-built RV became the order of the day. In order to safely accomplish this radical departure from our norm, I hired an RV expert, Tom Berge, to assist in our search. I have written extensively about this wonderful experience in another thread, so I will leave it at that.
The differences between the RV-8 and Piper Pathfinder are striking and obvious. The -8 was designed to be a nimble, high performance 2-place sport plane, capable of gentlemen's aerobatics and relatively high speeds, while the Pathfinder was designed to be a load-hauler. With its immense 1460 pound useful load, it's the F-150 of planes, capable of hauling four 200- pound men in comfort and style.
The -8 can carry Mary, me, and two good-sized soft-sided suitcases.
That said, the progress made in the 40 years between the Cherokee and RV designs is amazing. The Cherokee design is solid, unexciting, and decidedly old school, with cable controls and the aerodynamic sophistication of a work boot, while the -8 is simple, clean, and nimble, with wonderfully harmonized pushrod controls.
The difference in flying characteristics could not be greater. After going through transition training and flying the -8 for thirty hours, I took the Pathfinder up for exercise. I actually thought something was broken! After lumbering up to pattern altitude, I gave the yoke a good grunt to crosswind -- and was shocked at the resulting wallowing, agonizingly slow turn rate. The controls were not harmonized, and excessive wing dihedral, undoubtedly put there to enhance stability, seemed to cause the nose to noticeably hunt during turns. In over a thousand hours of flying Cherokees I had never noticed these undesirable flight characteristics before, but now they were made painfully evident.
The advantage of non-certified avionics has also been driven home. The three access TruTrack autopilot in the -8 will fly us to the runway threshold, effortlessly, at a cost of just $3500. To get that safety and capability in the Pathfinder would have cost upwards of $15000, so we simply did without a device that most certainly could save our lives one day.
And I am truly looking forward to future panel upgrades, as opposed to dreading them as I did in all my previous planes. To be able to at last afford cutting edge aircraft technology is exciting.
Two things really surprised me with regard to the added speed and performance of the RV. First, soon after transition training started, it became obvious that the added performance actually made the RV easier to fly than the Cherokee. Once you learn the proper landing technique, it is child's play to grease the -8 onto the runway, and its virtually impossible to get behind the power curve, thanks to instant acceleration with the application of power.
Second, I expected the clean design to make the -8 a floater when landing, but just the opposite is true. Because of its light weight, this plane will land right NOW if you let your airspeed decay. You land it like a lawn dart by comparison to landing the Pathfinder, which requires far more finesse to land well.
To discover that a Cherokee -- widely viewed as one of the easiest-to-fly designs of the 20th century -- was actually harder to land than an RV was stunning. It's a real tribute to Van that he was able to design such a capable aircraft, with outstanding performance at both high AND low speeds.
With regard to mods and repairs, the advantages of experimental aircraft became immediately evident. Simple mods -- forbidden by law in the Pathfinder -- became legal and easy. Since I am not the original builder, I still must have an A&P inspect my work, but doing simple things like adding ship's power to the back cockpit for a tablet suddenly became possible. Replacing basic stuff like a voltage regulator, or converting a circuit breaker to a switch/breaker, ceased to be a major ordeal. And the guys in the experimental world have been enormously helpful, positive, supporting, and willing to help.
Were that only so in the certificated world from whence we have come! I have been astounded at the overt prejudice shown by some certificated aircraft owners and pilots against homebuilts in general, and RVs in particular. The attitude of some of these guys is breathtaking in their ignorance -- almost none of them have any experience with experimental aircraft -- yet they are incredibly vocal. It's one of the strangest things I've witnessed in aviation.
This prejudice is all the more surprising because the experimental aircraft movement is the ONLY healthy segment of general aviation. By every measure, certificated GA is dying, or already dead, while experimental GA is growing and healthy -- yet so many pilots seem to be vocally against it. Perhaps it's just a few squeaky wheels, but given our overwhelmingly positive experience with the RV world, this reaction is neither logical nor helpful to general aviation.
After two months of RV ownership I can say that the transition has been overwhelmingly positive. The negativity displayed by some old-school certificated pilots has been more than offset by the enthusiasm and warmth of the homebuilt community, which has welcomed us with open arms. This rapidly growing segment of GA has been a refreshing breath of fresh air, after two decades of existing in the slowly diminishing certificated world of aviation, and Oshkosh was WAY less of a funeral dirge this year than it's been in the recent past.
To be a part of a GROWING, thriving, vibrant aviation community is wonderful! I had grown so accustomed to an existence that assumed a slow, painful death for aviation, it's hard to describe how refreshing it is to discover a group of wildly enthusiastic and optimistic pilots that is expanding, not contracting! I heartily recommend making the transition to experimental homebuilt -- it will restore your faith in a future that will include general aviation!
So, as I watched the new owner of Atlas fly away this morning, I wondered aloud if I would ever own a certificated aircraft again. The answer for now, at least, is a resounding "nope".
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There really is no going back! All there is now is having to occasionally deal with some negativity, jealousy-fueled resentment, and even some downright hate coming from certain highly-opinionated segments of the general aviation community against experimentals, and RV owners in particular. I try to not let them bother me, and ignore them as much as I can. They're in the minority since most "airplane people" love RVs even if they own and fly factory built planes.
