My First In-person Look
I posted a request to see if anyone had an RV-10 that we could go see to the Central Oklahoma Aviation Facebook community a week ago when I was continuing my research about the RV-10 model. I had quite a few people let me know that they knew where one was, but they didn’t have any information on the pilots that owned them. I finally had someone that knew the pilot who flew an RV-10 that was very close by. I hit this wonderful gentleman up and he willing to oblige us with a view of his airplane.
This plane is quite a bit bigger than I had imagined. This thing sits roughly 6’6″ to the top of the cab if I had to guess as it was a bit taller than me and I’m 5’11”. That’s not really a concern for me and is actually a welcome sight as it will have good ground clearance but also have good headroom inside the cockpit. The wingspan reminded me of the more modern Pipers, but was not as wide as the Cessna Cardinal I have partial ownership in right now which is always fun getting it back into the hangar as to not hit the wingtips on the doors.
The one interesting thing was just how high the tail is from the ground. It is at least close to 4′ off the ground (again, I’m going by references to my own body, so I could be way off. This is my perception of the plane LOL) I’m not saying this is something that will keep someone from building this plane, it was just interesting how high it was.
The interior of this plane was so nice from a dimensions perspective. It reminded me of the Cardinal on the front seat in being a good width for two people to sit in without having to be scrunched together like we were in the Skyhawk. There was plenty of room for feet both for the front and the back seats. Even the back had a great width to it. The luggage area is accessible from the back seat, even though you will have to probably get up a little bit and get behind the seat, but it is easily doable, just like how it is in my Cardinal.
It was interesting to have the flight controls as a stick between my knees, as I’ve been so used to the yoke based control coming out of the panel. The panel in this plane, though a little older now, was still super nice! That’s one of the many advantages I’m seeing from doing this build as well. I will be able to get the avionics I want, placed where I want them.
All in all, I was VERY impressed with this plane and it made me even more excited to order the empennage and start the build! I’ve posted some pictures of this plane that I found online as well as from his build website. you can go to his build website here:
I’ve posted some awesome pictures of his plane below just in case he takes his site down or whatever.
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