RV-14 Demo Flight - OSH 2014
Having not touched the build since about April, I was happy to
finally be back at OSH and get a chance to touch a real RV-14 up
close. I got signed up for the demo flight, to see if
continuing the build would be "worth it", and give me a little
motivation boost. I'll just cut right to the chase and
here's my report...
The RV-14 is a beautiful plane from the outside. I think Van's
did exceptionally well in choosing the colors and scheme for
this baby. I actually think I'll do something similar, but
of course use the same colors as what I used on the RV-10...not
just because I like them a lot, but because it gives me just
three paint colors to worry about. I may do one small
change though...I'm not yet sure, and clearcoat my entire plane
when I paint. We'll see later on that.
Anyway, climbing in to the RV-14 I knew what to expect, from
sitting in the demo last year. It is far nicer to be in than the
RV-7 that I almost went with. I took a flight with a
friend who built many planes, including an RV-7, and after
flying in his I was sadly disappointed in how low into the
cockpit you feel. Your view isn't as nice, and it is a
little tight getting into. With the RV-14, not so
much. You have a great view, and the cockpit is very
comfortable. Keep in mine that I'm currently maintaining
my "fatty" status, weighing in at maybe 240-245 during
OSH. Yeah, far more than I want, but we'll just keep
working on that, hopefully faster than working on the plane.
The panel of the demo plane was laid out better than last year,
with a little more EFII (is that plural for EFIS, or is it
EFISES? :) ) and I found the seating to be comfortable in the
as-built configuration. The view was great, the canopy
operation was nice, and I was absolutely thrilled to have a sun
shade and consider that required equipment.
It didn't take long though to find a couple things I didn't
like as much.
First, while there is adequate space in the cockpit, I don't
really consider the RV-14 to be "large" anymore. It
certainly is more crowded than my RV-10. My right arm,
just above my elbow, hit the side longeron immediately under the
canopy on the high sidewall. The RV-10 has pockets in the door
for elbow room, and I'm going to miss that a lot...especially in
winter. I'm going to have to find a way to cover that
longeron with something to keep it from being a freezing mass of
metal on my arm in the winters in Wisconsin. And, below
that longeron it does open up, but directly to the exterior
skin. In the RV-10 there was room to insulate the side
walls and cover with cover panels. I don't think this will be as
practical in the RV14. I think we'll have to have thin
sidewall insulation (for those of us who want to insulate) and
find a way to over-wrap the exposed aluminum on the sides
without reducing cockpit space. I probably won't insulate
and pad as much as I did in the RV-10, but I'm definitely going
to do some of that, as in this part of the country it would just
be too cold during some seasons.
The next thing was the push-pull controls. I mentioned to
the guy giving the demo ride that I wanted a quadrant. He
thought that they probably sell a quadrant that would work, but
he hadn't heard of it being any sort of standard option on the
RV-14. I will definitely want a quadrant, without a doubt,
so that will take some additional planning.
The only other thing was the sun exposure. I didn't
realize how much more comfortable the RV-10 really is, until I
got in it 15 minutes after getting out of the RV-14. It is
much more comfortable, much larger, much nicer to be protected
from the sun, and all around a "better" airplane from a comfort
perspective. That said, they are really two totally
different airplanes with slightly different missions also.
Flight wise, it ran smoothly, handled well, and did everything
the way RV's do them, so I had no complaints with the
ride. I think it'll be a great plane, and I decided I
should continue building. I have now ordered my prop, and
engine, and have many of my avionics that will be going into the
plane, so there are only a few things left to gather, and now
that September has hit, it's time to start pounding away on it
again. I think that the RV-14 is a definite step up in
airplane kit and comfort from the smaller RV's, but for those of
us that built and fly RV-10's, it's going to be a bit of a step
down. If you were going to do an X/C trip and had both
planes at your disposal, the RV-10 would win hands-down every
time. But for going out and playing in the local skies, or the
occasional X/C, the RV-14 will suit quite nicely.
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