The Plane

The Kit

<<< Before and After<<<

An RV-9A arrives at the door step of the new owner looking like the picture on the left. Thankfully Van's Aircraft, Inc. allows the builder to purchase the airplane in sub kits allowing the expense to be spread over time as well as solving storage problems for the average person building in their garage. The qualitiy of the kits is simply amazing with the matched hole technology that Van's is able to offer with the modern tooling and CNC machines being utilized at the factory. Building a straight airplane just happens automatically as a result of the efforts and investments that Van has made to offer a high qualtiy product. This doesn't mean that the airplane builds itself though, and completing and flying your airplane will still take dedication and perserverance. The result however of investing your time and money will yield you a plane that simply does everything well. Fly anywhere you want at three miles a minute or better, or if you are just out boring holes in the sky pull the power back and you are flying at the same speeds as the Cessna or Pipers that you likely trained in on half the fuel burn. One of the luxaries that we now take for granted is flying higher than we used to for a given distance that we are traveling. This gets us out of the Cessna altitudes as I call them and for the most part we have the skies to ourselves. We can get to 9,500' in less time than we could get to 4,500' in our Cherokee and often this allows us to catch the winds and "Make hay while the sun shines" as a friend often describes travel in his RV. You can read specs and imagine how an RV will feel in your hands, but a ride will ruin flying for you in a typical production plane. So C'mon in, the waters fine!.

Vendors We Selected

AeroSport Power- Because of their good reputations I decided to go with either Lycon in the California Central Valley, or with AeroSport Power in Canada for a power plant for our 9A. When it actually came time to make a decision and order our engine the exchange rate between the US and Canada was favorable and going with AeroSport seemed like the smarter choice. Working with Bart and Sue was a pleasure and their support remained very good even after they were paid and the engine was delivered. Any time I've had a question or a perceived problem Bart has spent his time to make sure that when we hang up I am happy. Really, I cannot over stress how well I was treated as an AeroSport Customer. For example, because of what I thought were temperature issues on climbout in the summer here in California I called with my internet knowledge having just read about vernotherms. Bart explained why he didn't believe my vernotherm was bad, but that he was sending me one out in the mail that day anyway. It arrived and after installing it of course I was wrong. Simply put, this company understands that we are homebuilders and allows us some room to work thru our issues with support, including parts if needed to make us comfortable. The stories go on and on like this if you talk to others flying with AeroSport's products under their cowls. If we ever build again our next plane will also fly with an AeroSport Power product turning the prop.

Hartzell- What is there to say about Hartzell? The product is fantastic and is a performer making the RV really shine. The plane has "Takeoffs so short you just have to laugh" as written by Ken Scott of Van's Aircraft when describing the take offs in a RV-9A. When this prop is at 2700 rpm allowing 100% power to be produced here at my sea level airport the takeoff is just so much fun I can't hardly stand it. Can you say zoom? At Tahoe in the summer it still goes like a scalded cat when the power is pushed in.

Electronics International- Thumbs up to this company! A rep from EI gave me his home phone number once to call him on the weekend when I was at my hanger to talk me thru a programming issue that I was having on my capacitive fuel guage. He took time out from his kitchen remodel on a Saturday to work with me and it was his idea! Great company and great service. These are the kinds of vendors that need and deserve our business as we build our airplanes.

Trio Avionics- Wow, what an autopilot! Again a great company with great support. This company was also above and beyond when I had a tech support question on a Saturday. After finishing the installation of my Trio I couldn't get the portable GPS to couple so I called Trio to leave a message to call me on Monday when they returned to their office. About 5 minutes later the phone rang and I was talked thru my issue even though the person was working a booth at the Copperstate Fly Inn. Great service and a fantastic product.

N994W's Particulars

Our 9A is powered by an AeroSport Power 0-320 D1A producing 170hp. She utilizes one Lightspeed Plasma ll Plus and one Slick Unison magneto as a backup to the Lightspeed. The propeller is a two bladed Hartzell PN HC-C2YL-1BF/F7663-4 and the governor is a MTV-12-B. The panel features a traditional six pack configuration with vacumn driven gyros. Her empty weight is 1092 pounds and the only way that she can be out of CG and be under gross weight is to have six gallons or less of gas and a single pilot weighing less than 104 pounds. Since this obviously doesn't describe me it is comforting to know I cannot get this plane out of its CG range. The interior was custom made for us by Becki Orndorff of GBI as was the canopy cover that we use when traveling. Intersection fairings and empenage fairing by Bob Snedaker at Fairings Etc. Adding an oxygen system opened up the mission and allows us to get great economy on trips. Lastly, paint by GLO finishes her off.