RV-10 Flying and Flight Testing Information

Pilots Operating Handbooks and Weight & Balances for RV-10's
Flight Testing
Watch Your Step - Tipping back on aircraft entry
Flight Testing Services
LATCH THOSE DOORS!!


Pilots Operating Handbooks and Weight & Balances for RV-10's
Note: BEWARE - None of these POH's and W&B's is "certified accurate", and they may contain inaccurate information or formulas.  Verify everything you use when using the information.

Sorry for the long winded read, but please read this:  
Regarding the POH:  I've passed it around to a few people now, with a couple requests...

1) If you have useful stuff to add to it, please copy me back on it so that I can improve mine on this site. I get lots of request for the POH, so this will help others in the end too....personally, unless the change is really nice, I'm happy with how it is, but it would be nice to have a good W&B page and other things right within the POH.  So far almost nobody has ever written back with improvements to date.

2) Don't trust the V-speeds....use them as a guideline for your first flights if you wish, but do go out and test for yourself.  The Vx and Vy in particular I didn't spend a lot of flights verifying and re-verifying.

3) If you don't agree with, or don't like a particular checklist procedure, then don't use it.  We don't have identical planes, and equipment, so we can't have identical checklists either.  That's why it's no use to do a "standard" printing of them.   Also, some people choose to fly differently than others.  For instance, I never go full-rich on landing until short final.  I personally don't think it's good for the engine, and plug fouling, and at those low power settings on landing your engine will like you if you keep it lean.  But, some people want to go full rich abeam the numbers on downwind.  Fine. Don't bother trying to
change my opinion on it, and I won't bother trying to change yours.

4) Remember, just because one person wrote some content, if YOU use the information in that checklist, you need to consider it YOUR information.  I and the other people who contributed their POH's and W&B's are not responsible for anything YOU do while you fly your plane, even if our checklist procedures cause you problems.....the PILOT has the sole responsibility for his plane and passengers....a theory that I'm very glad we have in piloting.


5) Caution: Van's has specified the RV10 Vne (never exceed speed) to be 200KTAS (TRUE airspeed)  Do not confuse this with KIAS as some others have, and when creating or copying one of the below POH's, make sure to note that it's TRUE Airspeed.

With that out of the way, here's a bunch of POH's and W&B's for you:

N104CD POH and W&B
N246RS POH
C-FXCS POH and W&B  + John Cleary's W&B Spreadsheet Version
RV-6A POH by Bruce Patton
N519RV Checklist

More to come if we can drum up contributors!

Flight Testing

Here are 2 references provided by Marcus Cooper that give some good info for planning your flight testing. (.pdf format)
EAA Flight Advisor "Before You Fly" (Thoughts on your first flight and the EAA Flight Adviisor Program)
EAA First Flight Advisor - Flight Test Cards and Scripts

Here's a Flight Test Plan and 100 hour inspection program for Bruce Patton's RV-6A - Nice reference (Word .Doc)

Getting good performance numbers & Static port errors

Airspeed Markings for RV's




Watch Your Step!! (Tipping back on aircraft entry)

A couple of builders have reported  suffering tail strikes upon boarding the RV-10 in certain load situations.  Be aware that if you have baggage and/or passengers loaded, your RV-10 will be very tail heavy and when you climb onto your step, you will increase that imbalance.  If you have an extreme tail load, you may need to first load a person into the front seat, although this is just an over-cautious guess.  What is definitely known, however, is if you already have rear seat passengers, do not try to have both the pilot and co-pilot board at the same time.  Under most circumstances you will only want to have one person on any step at any time.  This should be sufficient to prevent tail strikes upon boarding in all but the most extreme circumstances.   Also beware that when trying to taxi with a tail heavy load, you need to watch for bumps that would induce lots of up-down motion.  One builder has suffered a tail strike on large bumps at OSH with a fully loaded plane.


Flight Testing Services
Vic Syracuse, an RV-10 builder who built an RV-10 and flew it over 580 hours, is now offering DAR, Flight Testing, Upholstery, and Avionics Service. Check him out at http://baselegaviation.net/

LATCH THOSE DOORS!!
If there's one mechanical weak-link in the RV-10 it's the doors.  Van's came out with a door latch warning system after doors have been broken off in flight due to improper latching by the pilot or crew.  Read This for more...