Glad I choose to start building a Patrol and not wait for the RV-15

[BravoGolf]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5sHK-B230sY

[rodsmith]

From the short video, I am not impressed.

[Utah-Jay]

The 15 is not a BH that’s for sure

[Pbruce]

I love seeing new things which touch us here in the “Hawkosphere”. Fun to see a new entrant into the space , especially by such a powerful player. Fun to speculate (gossip) about what it is, what it might do, what it won’t. Fun to watch the reaction of our peers from our position of bias toward our Bearhawks.

Since I’m interested, I’d like to suggest rationalizing your like or dislike with the reason for it in your posts

For me, low speed trumps high to a point, but ultimately I went for the Patrol over a Supercub because the SC just too slow. We don’t know the RV-15 span, area, aspect, or airfoil, so it’s hard to guess much about low-speed attributes one way or the other. Slotted fowler flaps with short linkage to overhead lever looks promising. Ditto the push-pull controls. I wonder if it was hard to engineer the aileron linkage. Looks like it. Aluminum construction? I hear lots of negative comments but man there are a lot of 185s out there with scarcely a dent and many are in their 70’s.

I like rag and tube, I’m attracted to tandem seating, and I want a plane which does not look, feel, or fly like a 185. Either the test pilot was small or the plane is pretty big. Maybe too big/expensive? (thinking of IO-390 $$)

I think if it flies slow enough, and handles well enough at low speed, it will be a winner. I’m taking it for granted that it will cruise at 150 mph or more. Vans might pull that off, if my RV-9A is any indicator: that plane had impeccable low speed handling.

[Bcone1381]

I'd like to expand on what Pat said in Paragraph 1. I think of Vans as an Industry Partner, not a competitor, or enemy. We help each other reach higher. Each inspire the other's product improvements.

I like the evidence of a forward facing FI unit and absence of an induction intake below the cowl to lower some drag...I'm an efficiency buff.

I like the Fowler Flap; the Cessna style flap tracks are better than a hinge that hangs 5 inches below the bottom of the wing skin like the Husky or dH Otter. I've often wondered if a fowler flap could improve the Riblet airfoil's low speed performance.

I like the low drag gear. Innovative. But the wing angle of attack on the ground is low and will make for longer ground runs on takeoff. I wonder about its strength....then again, the BH line improved strength in that arena some years ago.

[spinningwrench]

The assembly instructions and drawings for the RV-15 will be superb. A neighbor is building an RV-10 and I actually glean some good details from his instructions. I do like it that VAN's load tests every new design to failure as there are always new stress factors when scaling designs up or down. The steel tube fuselage of the BH will always be a strong selling point for backwoods operations. I view VANS as in a different market than the BH but a look at the RV-15 next week will be interesting.