My introduction and 4 seater kits

Greetings,

I'm not exactly a newbie when it comes to kit built aircraft but I'm finally
looking for my own plane to build. I helped some and flew lots in my uncles
RV-4 and ever since have been bitten by the bug.

I think I want a 4 seat (any suggestions, concerns on this?) but that seems
to drive the price up. Ideally it would be 4 place, STOL, with a cruise of
around 150+. (suggestions?)

This forum was recommended to me by other builders as a good place to meet
people who have been there before. So here I am.

Thanks for the info!

-Dan

Dave,

That BD-4 is very interesting. The specs look like a good match for my
requirements. This one is on the list of possibles for sure.

thanks!


"Dave Anderson" wrote in message
news:AkFQa.62094$H17.19394@sccrnsc02...
You might consider the oft-forgotten BD-4, recently resurrected and made
available in kit form. "4 seats" is arguable, 2+2 is more like it, but I
think that's true with most "4-seaters". It's an issue of room rather
than
load. Not exactly STOL, but the extended-wing taildragger form has pretty
good short and soft capabilities. Cruise of 150+ is no problem.

http://www.tvap.com (kit)
http://www.bd-4.org (most info)
http://www.bd4.org (my lil'ol' bird)

"LFOD76" wrote in message
...
Greetings,

I'm not exactly a newbie when it comes to kit built aircraft but I'm
finally
looking for my own plane to build. I helped some and flew lots in my
uncles
RV-4 and ever since have been bitten by the bug.

I think I want a 4 seat (any suggestions, concerns on this?) but that
seems
to drive the price up. Ideally it would be 4 place, STOL, with a cruise
of
around 150+. (suggestions?)

This forum was recommended to me by other builders as a good place to
meet
people who have been there before. So here I am.

Thanks for the info!

-Dan

In article , "LFOD76"
writes:


Greetings,

I'm not exactly a newbie when it comes to kit built aircraft but I'm finally
looking for my own plane to build. I helped some and flew lots in my uncles
RV-4 and ever since have been bitten by the bug.

I think I want a 4 seat (any suggestions, concerns on this?) but that seems
to drive the price up. Ideally it would be 4 place, STOL, with a cruise of
around 150+. (suggestions?)

This forum was recommended to me by other builders as a good place to meet
people who have been there before. So here I am.

Thanks for the info!

-Dan




If you have already got some experience with Vans RV aircraft, I would highly
suggest you take a look of the new RV-10. I haven't seen one yet but would lay
good odds on it being a great four-seater. Other than that, the are several
great four-place aircraft available. The Bearhawk, BD-4 (Ugly), AeroComp-4,
and Stallion are all Highwing four-place that are worth taking a look at. The
Express, Pulsar (KIS) Super Cruiser, RV-10, and Lancair ES are traditional
low-wings. The Aero-Canard and Velocity XL and canard styled four-place.

I think you can tell from my signature line which I picked and am very happy
with my selection. Were I faced with the same selection today, I would give
the RV-10 a good hard look though.


Bob Reed
www.kisbuild.r-a-reed-assoc.com (KIS Builders Site)
KIS Cruiser in progress...Slow but steady progress....

"Ladies and Gentlemen, take my advice,
pull down your pants and Slide on the Ice!"
(M.A.S.H. Sidney Freedman)

In article , wrote:

In article , "LFOD76" says...

Greetings,

I'm not exactly a newbie when it comes to kit built aircraft but I'm finally
looking for my own plane to build. I helped some and flew lots in my uncles
RV-4 and ever since have been bitten by the bug.

I think I want a 4 seat (any suggestions, concerns on this?) but that seems
to drive the price up. Ideally it would be 4 place, STOL, with a cruise of
around 150+. (suggestions?)

This forum was recommended to me by other builders as a good place to meet
people who have been there before. So here I am.

Thanks for the info!

-Dan

There aren't many 4 seat kits around. The best - and newest - is the RV-10,
just introduced last week. Other than that the STOL requirement limits you
slightly. Cozy and Velocity are out. Murphy Super Rebel and Moose, KIS
Cruiser, the new Jabiru 4 seat, the Express and the V6 STOL come to mind.


Dan - how do you define STOL? Are you just looking at performance
numbers, or are you also worried about the ability of the aircraft to
handle rough strips? If you don't need the rough strip capability, the
RV-10 might be worth a look.

Van has released performance numbers for the RV-10, after his initial
testing. With 260 hp, at gross weight, take-off ground roll is 500 ft,
and landing ground roll is 650 ft. At a two person & 3/4 fuel weight,
the distances are 360 and 525 ft. Is that STOL enough for you?

--
Kevin Horton - RV-8
Ottawa, Canada
http://go.phpwebhosting.com/~khorton/rv8/

The rough strips are important, I'm a farmer in the appalachian mountains
of
pennsylvania, our land is not very flat and it looks like some bulldozing
will be required to make a safe strip. Our local grass strip is run(?) by

Then you should forget travelling speed 150. How about this
one: http://www.zenithair.com/stolch801/default.htm


--
-Jari / OH-XJJ
www.jarikaija.com
www.project-ch701.net
(Spammers! All spam messages will be deleted automatically
from server, so, save your miserable time...)

RobertR237 wrote:

If you have already got some experience with Vans RV aircraft, I would highly
suggest you take a look of the new RV-10. I haven't seen one yet but would lay
good odds on it being a great four-seater. Other than that, the are several
great four-place aircraft available. The Bearhawk, BD-4 (Ugly), AeroComp-4,
and Stallion are all Highwing four-place that are worth taking a look at. The
Express, Pulsar (KIS) Super Cruiser, RV-10, and Lancair ES are traditional
low-wings. The Aero-Canard and Velocity XL and canard styled four-place.

Actually, I think the Stallion (Super Stallion) is a 6-place, but it's still a good
one to offer:
http://www.aircraftdesigns.com/stall...allion_01.html

Russell Kent

Check out the Zenith 801 at www.zentithair.com. It's not as fast as you
would like but it is STOL. They also have the 640 which isn't STOL but is
faster.

Gig Giacona
PP-SEL RH
N601WR www.peoamerica.net/N601WR

"LFOD76" wrote in message
...
Greetings,

I'm not exactly a newbie when it comes to kit built aircraft but I'm
finally
looking for my own plane to build. I helped some and flew lots in my
uncles
RV-4 and ever since have been bitten by the bug.

I think I want a 4 seat (any suggestions, concerns on this?) but that
seems
to drive the price up. Ideally it would be 4 place, STOL, with a cruise
of
around 150+. (suggestions?)

This forum was recommended to me by other builders as a good place to meet
people who have been there before. So here I am.

Thanks for the info!

-Dan

I was going to build a 2 place 701, but thought about the 801 when they
released it on plans as well as kits. Themajor problems with the 801
(imho, this is for my "mission profile", a family plane with decent
cruise) is that its cruise speed is well below what you require, and
while it has a 1000# of useful load, its baggage space is not much
bigger than a couple of suitcases.

OTOH, the design I decided to go with, the Bearhawk, 4 place, good
cruise, and lots of baggage space and useful load, and buildable from
plans as well as a kit, meets my needs (and yours) perfectly.

John

Someone else here was talking about the Zenith CH 801. Now *that's*
ugly.

Hmmmm.... it/he/she can fly....... so, it/he/she can't be ugly!

-j

In article , "LFOD76"
writes:


The rough strips are important, I'm a farmer in the appalachian mountains of
pennsylvania, our land is not very flat and it looks like some bulldozing
will be required to make a safe strip. Our local grass strip is run(?) by
an FBO that let the grass get over 2+ feet tall and told my uncle (with the
rv4) it was safe to land. In fact the RV felt like it wanted to go belly up
when it was landed there.

So that is why STOL is important to me, I'd rather take my chances on my own
strip, that I'll maintain myself. I dont think I could ever safely land the
RV-4 here.



Based on everything that you have said, I would recommend the Bearhawk. I am
not that convinced the RV-10 would be that good on rough fields. The Bearhawk
looks to be an outstanding aircraft for rough fields but not sure if it has
STOL capabilities. If you don't mind damn ugly airplanes, the Zenith CH 801
would be a good choice.


Bob Reed
www.kisbuild.r-a-reed-assoc.com (KIS Builders Site)
KIS Cruiser in progress...Slow but steady progress....

"Ladies and Gentlemen, take my advice,
pull down your pants and Slide on the Ice!"
(M.A.S.H. Sidney Freedman)