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Will I like it??

micjr27

I'm New Here
I'm looking for someone in Ontario, preferably southern Ontario, who has a RV4 that I can sit in. Not looking for a ride just trying to make a decision on a new purchase/build. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Find one? Buy one?

Did you find one to sit in?
Did you buy an aircraft? RV4?
I too am looking for one in Canada. I only sat in one in Winnipeg about 10 years ago for about 5 minutes to check fit.
I have found a couple of 4's in Canada and had my first ride in one yesterday. Loved it!!!

I don't see a response. Maybe someone PM'd you. You could check the TC database, and then with some savvy googling, find a phone number and call owners. Most owners like to discuss their aircraft, if you are polite and sincere. You might even find someone thinking of selling but has not listed yet.

I think an 8 would be even nicer but quite a bit more than I want to spend and more rare.

Cheers,
Shawn
 
RV-4

Did you find one to sit in?
Did you buy an aircraft? RV4?

I think an 8 would be even nicer but quite a bit more than I want to spend and more rare.

Au contraire! I am biased, I'll admit, but an VERY partial to the RV-4 for several reasons, not the least of which is that is the one I built back in the Slow Build days.

Even, given that, I think the -4 is the better looking of all the series with the cheeked cowling, swept back gear and small good looks! I have been in an -8 and, for me, there was way too much room in The Front Office. I love the way my -4 fits and I am an average-sized guy. I think from a performance point of view, the -4 is the sweeter flying of all of them, even over the -3.

Could I use more space on the panel? Yeah maybe. But I am a VFR pilot and this panel serves me very well, thank you. Crafted after many months of figuring out exactly where I wanted the instruments etc to be placed. I am very happy with my panel. I'll be happier with the Dynon D-10A in the panel.

If you found one, you will be more than happy with your new ride!
 
Also I prefer the wide stance while on the rudder pedals,, like riding a motorcycle or horse vs the -8 where your feet are close together. The -4 flies better! Although the -8 has better options for CG loading..
 
Finally got to sit in one!

I just came back from flying and lucky for me there was a rv4 parked at the restaurant across from my hanger. The guy that owns it let me sit in it and chatted about the pros and cons of owning/flying an rv4. Great guy, really appreciated his advice. At 6’1 it’s definitely a tight fit for my leg’s but it’s doable.
 
The Bug....!!

I just came back from flying and lucky for me there was a rv4 parked at the restaurant across from my hanger. The guy that owns it let me sit in it and chatted about the pros and cons of owning/flying an rv4. Great guy, really appreciated his advice. At 6’1 it’s definitely a tight fit for my leg’s but it’s doable.

Oh, dear! Now you have been bitten by The Bug! Welcome to The Club! It will be one of the best airplanes you will ever have the pleasure of flying and one of the most enjoyable things you will ever do!

I'm 5' 10" and fly with a helmet, the top of which is three fingers below the canopy. Even flying in Wyoming (WIND and turbulence) I have not hit the canopy. A lot of the clearance has to do with how it was built. Mine was not purposely built tall but it turned out to be exactly right. A 5 point Hooker harness helps keep me in place. I am VERY comfortable, as I said in a previous post, in the Front Office of SuzieQ. The seat can be fiddled with as well as seat cushions to make it a better fit. The roll-over structure (that the back of the front seat leans against) is pretty much set where it is. The hinge at the bottom of that back can be moved around some....like further back for your (long) legs!

Now: the search begins....!
 
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I totally agree with Roadjunkie, I've been flying my -4 33 years now. Van designed that airplane for me! Thanks Dick.

I'm 5'7" and 75, oops wait, did I get those numbers reversed? The 4 is the poor man's WW2 fighter mount. My first test flight of Harold Steiner's RV4 was in Murphy Idaho 1985, off a dusty volcanic dirt strip, put a permanent RV grin on my face which is still there today. That afternoon I ordered my tail kit. The rest is history.

I also own and fly a Pitts S1S and a Laser 200. They are my hardcore acro planes and I get my G high from them but in the end, the -4 will be with me until I can no longer climb aboard.

Cheers, Hans
 
I’m 6’5” and fit in my 4 just fine. Fine that is if you don’t mind cozy. I built it and did move the front seat back an inch or something. You can’t do much more than that without major surgery to the canopy mount among other things. It is tight and I have a rather thin seat cushion that has me wanting out after 3 hours max which is over 500 miles from home which seems like enough anyway.

It’s flying qualities are superb and it’s a joy to fly. By comparison I flew an RV7 once and it felt like a pig. If I ever had to fly a Cessna I suppose it would fly like a rhinoceros by comparison.

While all the subsequent Vans models offer superior cad based design precision, more utility, better leg, head, baggage room and are arguably “better” airplanes the -4 designed with pencil and paper and largely crafted by hand is probably the best of the bunch if you combine economics into your value calculation.

25 years after mine first flew it still gives me that RV grin every time we break away from terra furnaces together.
 
The RV-4

While all the subsequent Vans models offer superior cad based design precision, more utility, better leg, head, baggage room and are arguably “better” airplanes the -4 designed with pencil and paper and largely crafted by hand is probably the best of the bunch if you combine economics into your value calculation.

25 years after mine first flew it still gives me that RV grin every time we break away from terra furnaces together.

Our fellow RVer and writer, Doug Rosendaal, (I believe this is who said this; it's been a long time ago!), who has had many hours in many other airplanes including a P-51, F4U Corsair and his RV-4, said the RV-4 flew more like the Corsair than any other airplane he had flown. The -4 was closest to any military aircraft you would find on the civilian market.... And, at the time, his RV-4 was his favorite airplane!!
 
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