On the same trip as my visit to Van’s Aircraft, I attended an EAA Sportair RV construction workshop at Aircraft Spruce’s Corona CA store. The workshop was conducted by Tom Emery. Tom is an excellent instructor, and he teaches prospective builders what they really need to know to get started on an RV. We spent Friday afternoon talking about primer choices, sheet metal basics, what tools are really required, and other similar stuff.

On Saturday we started with a small practice project, then proceeded on to Van’s practice airfoil kit. The practice project is designed to provide experience in the techniques discussed on Friday, and also to illustrate common errors in plans reading and tool use. The work area was set up in Spruce’s warehouse.

The work area was set up in Spruce’s warehouse.

The airfoil section kit is supposedly a RV-4 flap section. It isn’t prepunched, so measuring and layout is required before assembly. The frame is pretty basic – a spar and two ribs.

After assembling the spar and ribs with pop rivets, stiffeners positions are marked, then the stiffeners themselves are cut, finished and match-drilled to the skin. After match-drilling and deburring, stiffeners are back-riveted to the skin.

The spar and ribs are then riveted to the skin using a variety of riveting techniques – squeezing (both hand and pneumatic), pop-rivets, and traditional riveting using a gun and bucking bar. The forward edges of the surface are then rolled using a 1″ pipe, then pop-riveted together (sorry, no pictures), completing the project.

Is the class worthwhile? Yes, I think it is – especially if you have no previous metalworking experience. I had done a little work on a previous RV project attempt, so not everything in the workshop was new to me. It was, however, a good opportunity to ask questions of an expert, and also to make mistakes in a more forgiving environment. After all, you don’t want to buy any more replacement parts from Van’s than necessary! If you do sign up for a Sportair RV workshop, I recommend starting your RV as soon as possible thereafter – these skills are perishable, so don’t let them slip away.

Before I committed myself (and others) to such a weighty project, I wanted to get some hands-on experience with an RV. Fortunately, I was able to add a few days to a trip to San Diego and hop up to Portland for a visit to Van’s. I also was able to attend a Sportair RV construction workshop on the same trip.

Gotta have a picture of Van’s (relatively) new facility – so here it is.

Gotta have a picture of Van’s (relatively) new facility – so here it is.

Before my demo flight, I toured the factory with Rob Butt. The CNC machines used for all those pre-punched parts are pretty spiffy. Based on the number of parts in inventory, Van’s must be doing a brisk business. I hope so!

I had scheduled a demo ride in the RV-7, but unfortunately the factory demonstrator was not available due to some vortex generator tests. So, I ended up flying the RV-8A demonstrator with Scott Risan. I didn’t get any pictures inflight – too busy flying, don’t you know – but I did snap one pic of the back of Scott’s head (sorry Scott, at least everyone now knows you aren’t losing your hair).

I didn’t get any pictures inflight – too busy flying, don’t you know – but I did snap one pic of the back of Scott’s head (sorry Scott, at least everyone now knows you aren’t losing your hair).

How was the flight? Despite relatively low ceilings and a gusty wind, it was wonderful. The -8 and -7 share basically the same wing and airfoil, are approximately the same weight, and have approximately the same control surface sizes and linkages. So even though it’s not the airplane I’ll be building, the handling qualities should be very similar.

After Scott flew the takeoff, I performed some basic familiarization maneuvers – steep turns, etc – and some limited HQ evals. Control forces were light in all axes, but the airplane was stable and rode quite nicely through some light-to-moderate bounces. No more than fingertip pressure was required to fly the airplane, and I found that keeping my hand about halfway down the stick helped avoid overcontrolling. Despite having no interior insulation, and not having my ANR headset, interior noise levels were quite acceptable. And the visibility was awesome, of course! Just prior to landing, Scott performed an approach-to-landing stall. Just a bit of buffet was noted before a small pitch break, and then the airplane was flying again.

After the flight, I got the mandatory hero picture.

After the flight, I got the mandatory hero picture.

In short, it was an excellent trip and very worthwhile. The folks at Van’s are excellent (thanks Rob and Scott!), and if you make the trip be prepared to order that tail kit.