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

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)

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

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)

On 15 Jul 2003 03:18 PM, RobertR237 posted the following:

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.

Those who have flown the Bearhawk confirm that it has outstanding STOL
abilities. The flaps are 8 feet long (each) and go down 50 degrees at
full deployment (plain flaps, not fowler or slotted). The landing gear
uses gear legs similar to what a cub would use, but instead of bungees
the Bearhawk uses a pair of oil filled shock absorbers. This gives
outstanding dampening whether on a hard surface runway or bouncing
through the sticks and rocks, in addition to having lower drag than
bungees. A number of people building other designs have purchased the
Bearhawk plans solely to get the landing gear drawings.

Another factor to consider is the ease of making repairs to the tube and
fabric fuselage and tail feathers, as compared to the all aluminum RV-10
and Zenith designs. When operating from rough strips, mishaps can and
do happen despite our best efforts, so repairability is a legitimate
concern. I've personally flown in a couple of tube/fabric planes which
were wrecked in remote locations, and restored into hands-off flying
condition. One of them was even flown out after making field repairs.

Personally I find the Zenith designs interesting, and I'd consider
building/buying one as a second aircraft for making local flights. But,
as has been mentioned by others, the limited cargo space and low cruise
speed make even the 801 totally unacceptable for my use.

----------------------------------------------------
Del Rawlins-
Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email.
Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:
http://www.rawlinsbrothers.org/bhfaq/

I can see the beauty in A) Taking off on my own land, B) bringing my wife
and friends along, and C) getting to my destination in a respectable time.
Form follows funtion in my book. Yes the RV-10 is dead sexy but if I tried
to land it here it would probably just be dead. I plan on measuring out the
few areas where strips could be feasable this week.

Your help is greatly appreciated and keep the suggestions coming. I've been
visiting all the sites you've all suggested.


"RobertR237" wrote in message
...
In article , Mike Borgelt
writes:


BD-4 (Ugly),

Cute , actually.

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

Mike Borgelt BD4 VH-BDW



Mike,

Seen a lot of BD-4's and have yet to see one that was cute but when
compared to
the Zenith CH 801, they are down right beautiful!

Then again, beauty has always been in the eye of the beholder.


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)

Another a/c that might fit your bill is the Super Cyclone. It's a C-180/185
reproduction kit sold by a company in Quebec, Canada. Here's the website:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/st-justaviation/ It's a real heavy hauler and
easily meets your specs. I haven't flown one but if it's true to the
original it should be a pussycat to fly [except when that big springy
landing gear tosses you back into the sky ]
nuke

"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