Vans RV-4 Demonstration

[@wangchili]

To GeneralSirDouglasMcA: I own an RV-4 for several years. The reason RV-4's are cheaper is because it is the least pre-built kit of the Van's aircraft line. No predrilled holes, no quick-build kits. Therefore the quality varies greatly depending on the skill of the builder. A pre-buy from someone knowledgeable in RV-4, RV's or at least in experimental aircraft is essential in my opinion. Having said that, it is a mechanically simple airplane and I find it a joy to maintain relative to commercial airplanes. Being an experimental, you can do all the work yourself if you are reasonably handy, educate yourself and ask lots of questions. The only requirement is for the yearly Condition Inspection to be done and signed off by an A&P. No IA's required just an A&P. I built one partially, the tail and wing and installed a new engine on my flying aircraft. The plane is a blast to fly and I love being up in it every single time. Just a personal opinion but I think the RV-3's and RV-4's are the best looking of the Van's line. And another thing, it is best to get checked out in similar aircraft before you take it up. They are not hard to fly but are very sensitive compared to regular bug smashers. Also if you do aerobatics in it which it is designed to do, it is advised to have someone show you in a similar high speed and aerodynamically clean aircraft. It picks up speed very, very fast on the downhill line and can get you in trouble very quickly. My experience was in Decathalons, Citabrias and Aerobats and it caught me of guard even though I was aware of the speed. Best luck to you on looking for one. P.S. I have a KZbin video of myself going through an aerobatic routine in my RV-4. Just search RV-4 aerobatics Jerry Wang. Good Luck!

[@damiandiesel1]

Jason and Joe Flood are the best.

[@ProProductReviewer]

Flying an aerobatic plane in circles is not a "DEMO!!!"

[@airshowfansh]

True, but when you have no airshows you improvise with what you have

[@wangchili]

@@airshowfansh One thing I do is to do a high speed pass followed by a super slow speed with flaps down to demonstrate the wide speed range this airplane is capable of.

[@GeneralSirDouglasMcA]

If you choose to buy a used RV 4, are they pretty low maintenance, so long as you hire someone to do a proper prebuy inspection? Some used RV 4s go for around $50k, which seems like a great price, although most for that price only have steam gauges on the instrument panel (I’m assuming that’d be the reason for the low price). Would it be safe to buy an RV that cheap?

[@airshowfansh]

You've asked a loaded question. Every airplane will break at some point or another and you'll have to replace SOMETHING. Always be sure you are on top of all of the owner maintenance stuff you can do (oil change every 25-50 hours, tires inflated, all the little stuff you should keep an eye on) and inspect often. Then when you look at price you need to ask yourself a lot of questions: Total time on the airframe? Total time on the engine? Prop? Since TBO? TOH? When was the engine overhauled? Annual due when? Is it ADSB equipped? What kind of panel/avionics? Are all of the logbooks complete? Is there any damage history? Condition of interior and paint?

[@GeneralSirDouglasMcA]

@@airshowfansh What I mean is, would I spend more time working on it instead of flying it? I know some experimental owners are always doing something to their aircraft, as if they enjoy working on it more than actually flying it (some people are this way with automobiles as well).

[@jvon811]

@@GeneralSirDouglasMcA The answer to your question is, "It depends..." Its a bit of both. I'm an RV-4 owner (not original builder) and I'm tweaking things all the time. Not always needed things, but I am a tinkerer though. Winter time is coming and I'm constantly searching for the perfect gap seals for my canopy to keep the cold out. Not really a needed bit of maintenance but I've spent a couple hours adding and removing seals. It's fun to perfect my airplane, in a weird way. And as far as amount of required maintenance, it really depends on the quality (sometimes, not always reflected by the price) of the airplane you purchase. As I'm sure you know or have guessed, the fact that they're Experimental leads to a very wide variety of build qualities. Not everyone is a perfect airplane builder their first try and some people unfortunately inherit other's mistakes when the buy the airplane. I've seen some pretty paint jobs that are mechanical nightmares and some rather ugly airplanes that are built straight, true, and are very clean on the insides. Getting a good pre-buy by someone who know's the RV model you're looking at is HIGHLY recommended. Like anything, buying a good airplane leads to less ongoing maintenance items but buying a lemon leads to more problems than you may want.

[@larryhawkins8311]

I’ve been flying my RV4 for 18 years and over 1800 hours. Very few maintenance issues, one was a small crack in exhaust pipe. That can happen to any airplane. One key To getting long life out of your engine is to fly often , at least one hour per week.