RV or Harmon Rocket for Competition?

[frank_rv4]

Great video - I have Neil Williams book on my Desk! I did take about 5 hours of professional instruction though! And since then I've learned all I can with my current AC and plan to also attend IAC competition near me soon. Some great words from an obvioulsy wise pilot who knows his stuff! Would love to see him in an airshow or at a competition. And be honored to have a chance to be instructed or fly with him. Glad I watched this. Some day I hope also to be as good as you are. I'm only starting out at this point with my RV4 - my 4th plane. Looks like you have or had a Cap232. I'm also into the models - just finished a 30cc size Extra 260 - would love to have a real one. Here's me in my RV4 - copa for kid's day - same as the young eagles program through AOPA. I think the RV4 is a half decent plane to get started - I first learned in a citabria - it's slightly faster and more capable then that plane but not by much. Some would arugue the citabria is a better plane probalby. personally I like being able to get 1000' of verticle - which mine is capable of. and being able to go 200mph. if I want to. does nice looks and rolls spins nice - excellent recovery - etc... just don't have inverted fuel unfortunatly!! so I have to watch my G's stay in the postive. I'm definetly ready to move up to something better soon.

[Saville]

http://youtu.be/Wr4KRnqn79E My Rv4 - is very capable of doing up to the sportsman catagory - which is a ton of fun - and the price of these are reasonable - usually 40 - 50 K can get you into a nice RV4. I

Hi Frank, I just joined this forum and was interested to read your comments. I'm looking at RV-4's and I see a few in the price range you specify. My question is a bit general with regard to homebuilts: How do I know it wasn't built poorly? Are there checks that can be made before buying any homebuilt that gives you some feeling of security that the builder did a good job? Thanks

[jjhoneck]

I'm not Frank, but I recently went through the daunting process of finding a quality, pre-built RV. We bought an RV-8A last summer, after a nationwide search.

Best advice: Hire an expert. After noodling around (unsuccessfully) a bit on my own, I hired Tom Berge, a "one stop shop" RV guru from Minnesota who has built many RVs, is a CFI who specializes in RV transition training, is an expert sheet metal craftsman, and knows wiring and avionics.

Each night we would pore over T-A-P photos of RVs for sale on the internet -- him sitting in MN, me in TX. Tom knows enough about RVs to be able to tell if the plane was built according to plans, or if the builder free-lanced some things. He understands and appreciates good workmanship, and was able to steer me away from ones that did not pass his exacting standards.

Here's how it works, from start to finish: Once you find one you both think looks promising, Tom becomes your agent on the ground, doing the prebuy inspections. He will then test fly the plane. (We rejected one at that point, because it had squirrelly stall characteristics, indicating a possible wing anomaly of some sort that could not be seen by looking at the plane.)

If you decide to buy it, he then handles the purchase paperwork for you with the seller. After purchase, he becomes your delivery/ferry pilot. Our plane was in Vermont, and he flew it to his home base in Minnesota, where he made several modifications to the plane for us. (Adding back seat controls; a luggage door arm; doing the nosewheel mod, etc.)

He then delivered it to us in Texas -- where he became our transition trainer, signing us both off after the obligatory 5 hours of dual instruction. (A normal insurance requirement.)

We have been ecstatic with the RV, and we could not have done it without Tom. Even though I had twenty years of piloting, and 17 years of aircraft ownership experience, I felt like a total newbie in the experimental world, and am VERY glad I hired Tom to keep me out of the weeds with bad homebuilt aircraft.

If you want his contact info, let me know!