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Anyone do a rear window?

johwiltb

Member
Ok, weird question, but I'm sure someone at some point has thought about this, but I couldn't find anything in the forums or other places mentioning this. But quick reasoning; my wife and I are considering building an RV-10, and we have a Skylane right now. One thing she's concerned about is the lack of a rear window. I'm not sure exactly why, but she really likes the window in the back (and hated not having one when we had a Cherokee).

I'm thinking something like what's on the Cirrus SR22s. Outside of the extra amount of work (I'm part of the way through scratch-building a Bearhawk Patrol, so I'm not afraid of that sort of thing), is there reasoning for not putting one in? I haven't yet seen an RV-10 up close in real life yet (there are plans in the work right now before we pull the trigger on a kit order), so if there's a glaring reason to not do it, I'd totally understand. But just was interested. Thanks!
 
Plus the geometry of the cabin to tailcone is such that if you did it, and I wouldn’t, it would be more of a skylight and not much of a window as there’s only gradual vertical transition going aft (flatter than a Cirrus), just like in your Cherokee.
 
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I think she is afraid of people sneaking up on her...

Give her a mirror on her side!

Problem solved!

:D John
 
Ha! Very true!

She says it's mostly because she feels claustrophobic without the back window. I, again, don't fully understand, but love to have her on board for something like this. Hopefully when we see one in person and/or take a demo flight in one, she'll feel a little better.
 
The cabin top is the rollover structure. Cutting a big hole in it probably isn’t a great idea.

Yeah, that's fair. I had figured it'd take a little bit of engineering thought, and maybe some reinforcement, but I'd definitely want to take some time to think through structural integrity before making some cuts.

Plus the geometry of the cabin to tailcone is such that if you did it, and I wouldn’t, it would be more of a skylight and not much of a window as there’s only gradual vertical transition going aft (flatter than a Cirrus), just like in your Cherokee.

Ahh, ok, the flatter transition is definitely interesting.

I wonder if anyone has tried it anyway.
 
What about mounting a rear facing camera and having a small screen up front. Kind of like a backup camera.
 
Ha! Very true!

She says it's mostly because she feels claustrophobic without the back window. I, again, don't fully understand, but love to have her on board for something like this. Hopefully when we see one in person and/or take a demo flight in one, she'll feel a little better.

On a serious note, as you know, making airframe changes are huge and multi-faceted.

When I was building my airplane, I always wanted a side baggage door like a Cherokee so that I could load my dog in there. In the -7, there are flap controls in the way and to do this would be complex structurally, if not impossible. If I were to leave the flap controls per plans, the baggage door would be too small for the dog. Needless to say, I didn't do it. It was a good idea, but that's all it was in the end... an idea.

That being said, after it became an airplane, I am glad that I didn't do it because the dog can come and go just fine without it.

Moral of the story, stick to the plans and build the plane Van designed. You will be very happy with the end product.

My two...

:) John
 
You need to get her in a 10. The windows are good size and the cockpit feels very open.
Definitely a more open feeling then in a Piper or Cessna.
 
So you're saying there's a chance...

Awesome, thanks everyone! I have a plan for a taking her up near the middle of March, so I'll report back on how she felt about it all.
 
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