Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Bob, or anyone else who has flight experience in an RV-7 and a Thorp:

I am curious about the difference in stall characteristics between the RV-7 series of aircraft and the Thorp. Is there any way to describe the differences in their stall characteristics? I know they all are different to some degree, but I'm hoping to get a little insight.

For example, my Thorp will tell you through the stick that you are going to stall. My control stick will let me know that I am near stalling by giving me a few little stick burbles prior to stall. It generally breaks straight ahead or maybe a left wing drop. I would describe my stall as crisp and a true break once you have stalled. But jaw dropping quick response and recovery when recovery inputs are applied.

Would you describe the RV-7 to have similar stall characteristics to a Thorp?

The RV series has Hershey Bar wings with a fat cross section. Think Piper Cherokee. You get a sink rate increase when approaching the stall. My present Thorp setup with the Sunderland wing is so straight forward it is hard to tell you stalled; with immediate power input , you lose about 30 feet. My old setup, with the Thorp airfoil, gave a distinct break to the left, but again, recovered immediately. A secondary stall was another matter. You need to center the rudder, stick forward and add full power. A two hundred foot loss was the norm. Since many Thorps have a variety of wing profiles, each one is a little different. I personally know of one that had different profiles on each side. It was not fun to fly.

_________________
Bob Highley
N711SH
SN 835
KLAL

Thanks Bob.

Every airplane is going to be different . Be it a Thorp or RV , depending on how it was built . The A-4 and T-39 wing had leading edge slats that would deploy below a certain airspeed as they were held in place by airspeed and when you got close to landing speed they would deploy w/o any pilot action . You could always count on one "popping" out before the other one during stall training . Always a fun filled day ! POW !

RB

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