
Welcome
to the RV12 Project home page where I will document my progress at
building and flying a RV12 ELSA airplane to be used in my quest to visit every state in the continental United States
for charity. This site is one of a series
of web sites that document my various aviation and automotive projects, both
past and present. If you linked here directly and would like to view
my other projects, please click
HERE.
From
this page you can navigate to any aspect of the RV12 construction effort
that you'd like to see. Below, in
the construction log you'll find all of my assembly pictures and narrative
for every phase of my project. You can start at the beginning and page
sequentially through every page or you can click on just a specific item of
interest. If you want to know more about what a RV12 really is, then
go to the bottom of the page and there, I'll do my best to describe it for
you.
Finally a word about copyrights.
All the material on my site is copyrighted. If you want to use it
for your own use, go ahead. If you plan to stick it somewhere on the
Internet for others to use, or you plan to distribute the material in any
way, I would appreciate it if you would ask for my permission before doing
so. I will usually grant my permission provided I am credited as the
author.

This airplane is currently for
sale. To see the flyer with all the information, click
HERE.
I also have a few videos of my
trip to Maine with my son.
HERE is a video of us flying up the Hudson
River past Manhattan and Ground Zero.
HERE is a video of us leaving Rockland, ME
for Bar Harbor, ME.
HERE
is a video of us making a low pass over Bar Harbor, ME.

At Airventure, I was fortunate
enough to win an Outstanding Workmanship award with my RV-12.

I completed a 5,000 mile
round trip adventure to Oregon in June 2014 to get the airplane painted. To read
that story, click HERE!

From this........
to this...............

in 15 months!!!!!
Man Cave Set Up
Done
Empennage Kit
Done
Wings Kit
Done
Fuselage Kit
Done
Finish Kit
Done
Engine Kit
Done
Instrument Kit
Done
Flight Testing
Done
Painting
Done

The RV12 ELSA is an airplane
that you can build in your garage and fly it anywhere! Sounds cool
huh? It is a two-seat all metal side-by-side airplane that has great
visibility underneath a bubble canopy. It is a kit airplane and those
kits are designed, manufactured, shipped, and supported by a great company,
Vans Aircraft, in Aurora, Oregon. They sell many different airplane
kits of varying configurations from single seat to four seat and
side-by-side and tandem seating. If you would like to explore the
world of experimental aviation, I invite you to visit their web site and see
all that is available. You can go there by clicking
HERE.
The RV12 meets the certification
standards of the Light Sport Aircraft category. Since you build it
yourself, it is also classified in the Experimental category, hence the
designation ELSA (Experimental Light Sport Aircraft). Basically, an
ELSA (or just LSA for a production-build airplane) is similar to a general
aviation category airplane except the ELSA has some limits placed upon both
the airplane and the pilot. There are also limitations in terms of
when and where you can fly. It gets a little complicated trying to
describe all the differences but the Light Sport category was created as an
less expensive and less complicated entry level for new pilots and
aircraft owners, hopefully, to encourage more people to enter sport
aviation.


Exterior Dimensions
|
Span |
26’ 9” |
Length |
19’ 11” |
Height |
8' 4" |
Wing
Area |
127 sq.
ft. |
Weights
|
Empty
Weight |
740 lbs |
Gross
Weight |
1320 lbs |
Loadings
|
Wing
Loading
(gross weight) |
10.4
lbs/sq. ft. |
Power
Loading
(gross weight) |
13.2
lbs/hp |
Powerplant/Systems
|
Engine |
Rotax
912ULS |
Propeller |
Sensenich Composite ground adjustable |
Fuel
Capacity |
20 US
gallons |
Other
|
Cabin
Width |
43” |
Baggage |
50 lbs |

 |
Speeds and ranges in
statute mph (sm) |
Speed - Gross Weight
|
|
Top Speed |
135 mph |
Cruise (7500’
@ 5500 rpm) |
131 mph |
Cruise (7500’
@ 5000 rpm) |
116 mph |
Stall Speed |
47 mph |
Ground Performance -
Gross Weight
|
Takeoff
Distance |
700 ft. |
Landing
Distance |
525 ft. |
Climb/Ceiling - Gross
Weight
|
Rate of
Climb |
900 fpm |
Ceiling |
13,800 ft. |
Range
|
|
Range (7500’
@ 5500 rpm) |
555 miles |
Range (7500’
@ 5000 rpm) |
614 miles |
|