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A stronger RV nosegear

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bifft

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2011
Messages
429
Location
Utah
Thought I'd go public with my current homebuilt airplane project. Open it up for comment, advice and ridicule.

It was two years ago I decided that I can't afford two airplanes. Even ignoring the money question (a pretty big thing to ignore) I haven't the time to fly or maintain another. Can barely do the one I've got.

Like everybody else on here I've got a whole stable of planes I'd like to build. The backcountry STOL with a car engine. The electric motorglider. The scale warbird. The aerobatic 103. None of those are ever gonna make it off the digital napkin.

But of course I need a project. When I started the RV, I wanted a cross country plane that could also do aerobatics. These days I want an aerobatic plane that can also do cross country. So it still covers 95% of what I want to do in an airplane. But, maybe there is a way to push it up to say 98%?

Having finished my phase one in the middle of a pandemic, I haven't yet done any real cross country flights. But, small plane cross country isn't really compatible with working for a living and needing to get home on a schedule. Too weather dependent. Plane is capable enough I could visit relatives in California with a 4 hour flight instead of an 11 hour drive, would just need to limit myself to summer so as to be reasonable confident of good weather.

Aerobatics wise it will be a long time before the airplane is the limit instead of my skill. It would be nice if aerobatic weight/CG limit allowed me to share aerobatics with someone, but I don't actually know anyone who wants to do any with me. Not worth getting an extra parachute for that "maybe someday, somebody" mission even if the plane could handle it. (right now I could do it, but the passenger would need to weigh 120lbs or less with chute).

One thing I had wanted to do with this plane, but think it may not be a good idea as it stands is do back country fly in camping. I love going into the wild by truck/bike/kayak/foot. Would be nice to add plane to that.

Plenty of people do take RVs into the back country. The nose wheel however does have a reputation of being not quite robust enough. Back around 2000 or so when I had to decide between tailwheel and tricycle gear Vans still marketed the nose gear as being better for STOL work as you can get to a higher angle of attack and land shorter.

Shortly after I started my fuselage Vans came out with the RV-8A tricycle version and it was about 15 lbs lighter and easier to build than the conventional gear model. The gear can bolt right to the main spar instead of needing "gear tower" structures up front to support the legs. That 15 lbs and easier to build was enough to push me to tricycle. I had also been flying a biplane for several years at that point and had gotten my fill of S-turning.

Over the next few years I got married and my building slowed way down. The nose gear model RVs started to get a reputation for flipping over on grass or soft fields. In 2005 the NTSB took the unusual step of looking into a possible problem with a homebuilt design:

Text of Study
Photos and Data

In 2007 Vans came out with a service bulletin on it:

SB 07-11-09 - Van's Aircraft Total Performance RV Kit Planes

Basically they made a thicker leg with a shorter fork to increase the clearance of the nut before it would drag into the ground. They also set a maximum static nose wheel load of 375 lbs and say to always fly with the fairing in place.

This fix does seem to have reduced the incidence of these problems, but not eliminated them. I do have the new leg and fork on my plane. But I'm still not comfortable taking my plane off pavement. It can take off and land plenty short, but I don't know if it can handle the rough/soft field part.

So, my goal: take my existing RV-8A and modify it so it can handle some back country airstrips. Not trying to get it onto the proverbial Alaskan gravel bar, just into and out of the smoother/longer Utah and Idaho back country airstrips. I don't expect to make it into a supercub or anything.

Perfection isn't possible. Hitting a big enough rock/ditch/badger hole will flip/wreck anything. If I can make it so it can handle the rougher fields as well as a tailwheel RV that will be good enough.
 
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