Zzz wrote:

Battson wrote:
https://www.avweb.com/recent-updates/experimentals/the-tale-of-the-tundra/

...

I really wanted the Tundra to be a good airplane, in fact we almost bought a kit instead of the Bearhawk.

All I can say is, wow. I am pleased I bought the Bearhawk and not a Tundra.

Same here. What a disturbing tale that article is.

I crawled all over one at SNF years ago. Looked like a really nice plane. What a nightmare story, though. Thankfully, MOST kit planes are better designed……

Vans certainly are.

MTV

Looks pretty nice

Aryana wrote:Looks pretty nice

Indeed! It will be interesting to see more.

MTV

So far I'm really digging what I see, looks like a little helio.

Sounds like a 200ish hp Lycoming with a CS prop, very curious to see performance numbers obviously.

Much to infer from the interior shot; looks like manual flaps, push/pull rods for the ailerons, lots of interior space, good visibility.

Stoked. Can't wait to see one on floats.

Thanks for posting that! Here is another video I found with some analysis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z16eGH83CmI

I agree with him that it is somewhat surprising they went with a strut-braced wing design.

Plenty of room to take a nap on the floor.

I'm not at all surprised it has struts. A cantilever high wing requires a much beefier upper cabin structure (to make up for all the holes for windows), and the very stout spar carry through would be right where the pilot's head is.

Get a load of those flap track hinges. Big slotted/Fowler flaps and the large tail surfaces should make low speed handling very nice.

Like all the Van's planes, it seems very well thought out.

That's exciting, looks cool. The guy in the analysis video brings up the handle hanging on A pillar as well as questions about how door opens. Looking at the exterior shots in the video, you can see door hinges on the front edge of door as usual, but it appears they may have a removable hinge pin like ACA planes do. I'd bet that's what those handles are for because there is one on each side of plane.

asa wrote:That's exciting, looks cool. The guy in the analysis video brings up the handle hanging on A pillar as well as questions about how door opens. Looking at the exterior shots in the video, you can see door hinges on the front edge of door as usual, but it appears they may have a removable hinge pin like ACA planes do. I'd bet that's what those handles are for because there is one on each side of plane.

That’s what I thought also, maybe only for the test flight phase though?

Sweet, but it needs a "round tail" to really make it standout in the crowd.

I assume those handles are just to make the doors jettisonable for flight testing.

Edit: Vans commented on one of the YouTube videos that those are indeed door jettison handles.

I have patroller doors on my 185, and these look even better. The gear looks a bit short, but I’m sure it’ll look better on 8.50s or bigger tires.

There’s also a big aluminum enclosure on the floor where the right seat would be. I’m assuming that’s for flight test ballast? It’s tough to see, but is tall enough that it blocks the bottom of the right side door window.

Edit again: On another YT comment from Vans, it’s a fuel tank unique to the test airplane.

Looks pretty cool! Seems to have shocks on the tailwheel. Huge fowler flaps as well.

Kind of surprising/weird that it seems to have both a trimmable tail and trim tabs on the elevators. Maybe just a prototype thing.





(Pictures from Van's Air Force.)

Oregon180 wrote:Looks pretty cool! Seems to have shocks on the tailwheel. Huge fowler flaps as well.

Kind of surprising/weird that it seems to have both a trimmable tail and trim tabs on the elevators. Maybe just a prototype thing.





(Pictures from Van's Air Force.)

Those trim tabs may be servo tabs or anti-servo tabs. Speculation is fun.

Interesting comments in the Van's youtube video. So, kind of a fast-back 150 taildragger with 0-320 Lyc?

I am guessing the airplane will have the option of either and O-320/O-360/ Possibly IO-390 too similar to the current line of Vans 2 seaters. The takeoff roll looks really short but I am guessing they didn't have a lot of fuel on board for the test flight. It will be interesting to see what type of performance Vans is able to produce for what looks like a very traditional design. It looks like lots of space in the cabin for hauling camping gear. Very promising indeed.


Josh

From the close up pic of the tail - any speculation on what type of rivets - are they solid or blind/pulled? Hopefully sticking with Vans traditional solid rivets.

Been waiting to see where this would arrive on the spectrum of backcountry planes. No surprises really.

At first glance it looks small-ish and a rather common shape. That tail looks familiar...
It appears they are trying to compete with the already oversaturated 2-place market. Hard to see much outward difference between this and the Murphy line or a Tundra. Certainly it should still be a popular option, with people who would have bought other aircraft in the market otherwise. Bad news for Murphy... It'll be the "RV difference" which sells them - ease of build and reputation, rather than design or performance aspects. Provided it proves rugged enough...

It appears they've thrown away several of their classic RV advantages though, such as cantilever wings and probably the higher airspeeds their other designs have. Venturing into territory they don't have a long track record with, off airport - where this will be going. They'll be playing in the same pool as most other backcountry aircraft. Slap some bushwheels on and it'll be a 90 to 100kt plane like the rest of the mass market wearing bushwheels. The wing doesn't look particularly long - again, probably a deliberate choice to preserve airspeed. So I guess we shouldn't expect miracles when it comes to the flight envelope.

Straight sprung main gear is not a surprising choice from RV, but commonly a weak point in the backcountry from a maintenance and piloting perspective. Likely deliberate a sacrifice to preserve airspeed and to stay in familiar territory. I like oleo gear much better.

Looks like it has a designed-in oleo damped tailwheel spring assembly, which has potential to be a great design choice. It looks like they got the flaps right too, but it'll all depend on the flight characteristics...

Oregon180 wrote:Looks pretty cool! Seems to have shocks on the tailwheel. Huge fowler flaps as well.

Kind of surprising/weird that it seems to have both a trimmable tail and trim tabs on the elevators. Maybe just a prototype thing.

It may be that this is a stabilator like on a Cherokee versus a trimmable stabilizer with elevator that are found on skywagons and super cubs. If that is the case, it would need a trim tab or anti-servo tabs as was mentioned. From those angles it is hard to tell.

Mapleflt wrote: Robertson style STOL kit,

The best part; it could be a round tail, bring it on man let's gooooooooo

Not sure why anyone would want a Robertson, since the Sportsman came out. Much better performance gains.