The Van's RV-7 is a tailwheel, aerobatic, two-seat, kit-build aircraft designed by Dick VanGrunsven and released in 2001. With around 1,800 examples completed as of 2020 the RV-7 is Van's second most popular model (the first being the aircraft on which the RV-7 is based, the RV-6).
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| The complete airframe kit, along with the RV-7 prototype N137RV |
I chose to build the RV-7 for a number of reasons. It seems like the perfect dual-role aircraft – great for fun, local flying as an aerobatic taildragger, but also suited for cross countries with its impressive speed and endurance and its ability to install a good amount of IFR avionics. Not to mention that it looks amazing and will definitely turn heads on the ramp.
The RV-7 kit offers builders a number of choices with regards to the airframe, canopy, and engine. The aircraft can be configured with either a tailwheel (RV-7) or a nose gear (RV-7A), and the builder can choose either a tip-up or a sliding canopy. The RV-7 can be fitted with engines ranging from 160-200 HP depending on how much takeoff and climb performance matters to you.
There's an actual "never-ending debate" section on the Van's Air Force forums that offers arguments for and against each of these choices, so I won't attempt to copy them here. That said...
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| David Charno's RV-7, N623JC. |
I want my RV-7 to look like the one above – tailwheel, tip-up canopy, and a smooth cowl. I'm a tailwheel instructor and tailwheel airplanes are just more fun to me, so having a tailwheel RV-7 just makes sense. I prefer the tip-up canopy for the clean look and unrestricted visibility both on the ground and in flight; the sliding canopy can be fully opened on the ground for more airflow while taxiing, but I don't like how the windscreen and rollbar assembly clutter up the pilot's forward view. Lastly, I want an engine with horizontal induction so I can have a smooth, clean-looking cowl. Honestly, I can't stand the look of the "scoop" required by engines with vertical induction – it completely ruins the clean lines of the nose.
The prototype RV-7 (N137RV, which was later converted into an RV-7A and now serves as the factory demonstrator) got the look perfect from the beginning:
Smooth, clean, fast. That's the way the RV-7 began and it's the design philosophy that I'll continue to use to build my own RV-7.
Now I just have to start coming up with paint schemes...
