The Van's RV-4 is an American light

homebuilt aircraft Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...

supplied in kit form by Van's Aircraft of

Aurora, Oregon Aurora is a city in Marion County, Oregon, United States. Before being incorporated as a city, it was the location of the Aurora Colony, a religious commune founded in 1856 by William Keil and John E. Schmit. William named the settlement after h ...

. It seats two people in a

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

seating configuration with the pilot accommodated in the front seat.Vandermeullen, Richard: ''2011 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide'', Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 74. Belvoir Publications. The Van's RV series has become the most popular kit-built aircraft in the world. , the RV-4 is the fourth most popular RV model. As of November 2022, 1446 RV-4s had been completed and flown worldwide.

Development

Richard VanGrunsven Richard E. "Dick" VanGrunsven (born 1939) is an American aircraft designer and kit plane manufacturer. The number of VanGrunsven-designed homebuilt aircraft produced each year in North America exceeds the combined production of all commercial gen ...

designed the RV-4 in the mid 1970s as a two-seat development of the single-seat RV-3. The RV-4 prototype first flew in August

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

. The RV-4 is a new design based upon the concepts proven in the RV-3 and is not merely a stretched RV-3. The RV-4 airframe will accept a range of engines up to , including the

Lycoming O-360 The Lycoming O-360 is a family of four-cylinder, direct-drive, horizontally opposed, air-cooled, piston aircraft engines. Engines in the O-360 series produce between 145 and 225 horsepower (109 to 168 kW), with the basic O-360 produc ...

. The RV-4 has a new wing, with increased wingspan and wing area over the RV-3. The RV-4 is designed for sport aerobatics. The RV-4 has proven to be a capable cross country aircraft in service, able to carry two modest sized people and baggage on longer trips. RV-4s have been flown around the world, notably by an Australian,

Jon Johanson Jon Johanson (born 1956) is an Australian aviator known for his pioneering flights in a home-built Van's Aircraft RV-4. Early life Johanson was born in 1956 in Warburton, Victoria, the third of four children. His father was a dairy farmer in ...

, who completed world-girdling RV-4 flights on two occasions. Many larger people find the RV-4 cockpit design physically constraining, and as a result VanGrunsven has designed an entire family of derivative designs. The RV-6 was designed to allow side-by-side seating, and the RV-8 was created as an enlarged aircraft that follows the RV-4's philosophy and offers tandem seating in a bigger aircraft. Unlike most later RV series designs, RV-4 kits are only available with

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

, although some may have been constructed in tricycle configuration by builders. At least two RV-4s have also been built with retractable landing gear (mostly for the engineering challenge, as the performance gains were modest).

Variants

;RV-4 :Basic version ;Harmon Rocket :Higher performance derivative of the RV4, with clipped wings, a

Lycoming IO-540 The Lycoming O-540 is a family of air-cooled six-cylinder, horizontally opposed fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter engines of displacement, manufactured by Lycoming Engines. The engine is a six-cylinder version of the four-cylinder Lycoming ...

engine and a razorback turtledeck.

Specifications (Typical RV-4)

References

External links

* {{VansAircraft Homebuilt aircraft 1970s United States civil utility aircraft RV-04 Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1979

Development

Variants

Specifications (Typical RV-4)

See also

References

External links