Faxed off my order for a RV-8 empennage to Van's early this morning. This will be my third attempt to build a Van’s Kit airplane. The first was a RV-9/9A before I got my pilots license, now I have decided that I may want to do aerobatics and fly a bit faster in formation with other RV pilots. I have also decided that I fly mostly alone and tandem fighter pilot seating is what I want. I was on the verge of purchasing a RV-8 and was combing barnstormers for the right second had project in my area. I ended seeing a local RV-4 project and thought, hey that might work. I bought it and it was a botched RV-4 wing/empennage project from the start. I thought it was a good deal, but beware; Van’s discourages buying projects unless you really know what you are looking at or have someone with you. I had neither. This was a scratch built RV-4 copied from another one that the deceased owner had built. I bought it from the second owner and a lot of first hand knowledge was lost because he had bought it from an estate.
Since I have been burned because I didn’t know any better I am now staying with the factory on this RV-8. But, I did learn a lot from both the RV-9/9A empennage and the disaster of a RV-4 project. I sold both at a loss, but not as much cost as building the wrong airplane.
I plan on building a stock RV-8 except for maybe adding the Showplane’s Fastback modification which is fairly straightforward and complete. I like the look and the tip over canopy without the forward roll bar in the way.
Why a Van’s kit? Well I have looked at many others, but you cannot get the level of engineering, performance, and cost all in the same airplane like a Van’s RV. The only other kit I may have considered was the Sonex (mostly because I’m cheap), but I am staying with Van’s.
