From: billphil@earthlink.net (Badwater Bill)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.homebuilt
Subject: Re: How did the RV-6 spin??
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2000 13:16:07 GMT

On Sat, 22 Apr 2000 03:00:38 GMT, ammeterj@home.com (John Ammeter)
wrote:

>BWB,
>
>You mentioned spinning down through a sucker hole to get to the Mud n
>Scud Fly-in with your RV-6.  I didn't have a chance to talk to you
>about that when we were at Oysterhouse's.  Care to share your thoughts
>on spinning the RV-6?  Van has said the -6 spins much faster than the
>-4 and recommends against spinning it unless you're very experienced
>in the model.  I never spinned mine so can't talk from personal
>experience.
>
>I do have a tape of another friend spinning his RV-4 several times.
>He used a video camera mounted in the -4 as he spun his -4 first one
>time in each direction and then several times in each direction.  He
>tried positive input and no input to stop the spin.  It's a very
>dramatic film as the ground begins to spin at about one turn every one
>to two seconds.


It's not for the weak at heart.  I thought my Jantar 15 meter
sailplane spun fast, but that was child's play compared to the RV-6.
I do not recommend to anyone that they spin an RV-6.  In a fully
developed spin it rotates about once a second I'd guess.  It takes
about three turns to come out of it too.  You put in full opposite
control and just sit there waiting.  the airplane is so short coupled
it spins up like a frisbee.

Remember too that they are all a bit different from the builder's
point of view.  An aft CG or a small half a degree slant to the
vertical stab can make it unrecoverable.  I spun mine before I ever
read about spinning RV-6's.  So, I scared the shit out of myself way
ahead of time.  But, I know that mine comes out, both to the right and
left.  It spins a bit slower to the right if you keep a bit of power
in it.  That's what I did at the hole last weekend.  I let it fully
develop and did about 15 turns I'd guess.

I don't recommend spinning an RV-6 unless you are on equal grounds
with being a test pilot.  I'm not saying that I am because I'm not.
but as I started with my response above, "it's not for the weak at
heart."

BWB

From: billphil@earthlink.net (Badwater Bill)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.homebuilt
Subject: Re: How did the RV-6 spin??
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 17:30:26 GMT

I used to own an AT-6 Texan about 20 years ago when they were cheaper
to buy and run (80 cents/gallon at 32 gal/hr....not too bad).  The old
boy who checked me out in it told me they lost a lot of students in
the Army Air Corps during WWII in spins.  He took me up to about
16,000 and told me to spin the Texan to the left.  I did.  After three
turns he told me to recover. I neutralized the elevator and punched
full right rudder (the rudder pedal travels with the throw of your leg
like the old Stearmans do)  I held it and held it and held it but I
never came out of the spin.  Finally I was about to shit my pants and
I felt him get on the pedal, displacing it about one inch more than I
had it (and I thought I was on the stop, but I wasn't).  She came
right out.

He then told me what happened to lose all the students in training.
In the AT-6, your whole leg moves on a slick aluminum floor plate and
the rudder pedal travel has to be about 2 feet.  So, unlike modern
airplanes where you simply push a couple of inches or so on the pedal,
in the Texan you slide your whole leg forward and aft.  In that spin,
I hadn't gone to the stop.  I had a hell of a lot of rudder in there
but I wasn't standing on the stop.  That made the difference.  If I'd
have been alone, I'd have bought the farm.  That tiny little bit of
extra travel was necessary to get the damn thing out.

Badwater Bill