I met Mike at the airport on Saturday evening to pick up some rivets to replace the brittle rivets I’ve been having issues with. Mike was excited to fly as the winds had been high all day and they were finally within limits. He asked me if I wanted to go… like I was going to say no! We took a quick flight up over Codorus State Park, and it was a great opportunity to explore some more of the RV-7 flying characteristics. One word: WOW! Mike demonstrated aileron rolls, which were quick and crisp. I took the controls and flew over the lake pointing out a few of the places I was familiar with from when I worked at the marina. We easily were pulling 3-4 g’s in the steep turns. I hadn’t seen the RV series do stalls before, so I asked Mike to demonstrate the stall performance in the RV. It has a very crisp and sharp stall. The power on stall was the most impressive. It was hard to get it to stall, as it just kept climbing like a beast! I was seriously impressed with the climb performance demonstrated… it was truly hanging from the prop! Finally I took back the controls and asked Mike if he wanted to learn a new aerobatic maneuver. He wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing first (can’t blame him!) The wingover is a very gentle and benign maneuver with very little chance of stall or overspeed. I demonstrated 2 or 3 times and gave the plane back to Mike. He had it mastered in no time. He’s looking to take aerobatic instruction soon. I believe his fun factor in the 7 will reach a new level after that.
Afterwards, we went for beers a Johannson’s down under… at this point I could feel it had been awhile since I had flown, and even longer since I’d done any aero… I couldn’t believe it. I was a little air sick! I was embarrassed and pissed at myself for allowing myself to be out of the air for so long that a few gentle maneuvers managed to make me a little woozy!
Regardless, the RV-7 is a fantastic flyer, and I cannot wait to have my own (8 that is)!