AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2020 - 55

Little airplane,
big ideas

Earning a commercial certificate
in an LSA
Commercial training in a Van's RV-12?
When I began my training, the FAA
had permitted the use of technically
advanced aircraft (TAA) in lieu of
complex aircraft in commercial training for about a year. But qualifying for
a commercial pilot certificate by training solely in a simple, diminutive light
sport aircraft puzzled even many
active instructors.
Great! What are you doing your
retract time in?
But the RV-12 isn't a TAA...is it?
Complex aircraft have long been
a staple of commercial pilot training,
but now the aeronautical experience requirements include 10 hours
of training in a complex airplane, a
turbine-powered airplane, or a technically advanced airplane. The batch of
changes to training regulations that
went into effect in 2018 defines a
TAA as having an electronically
advanced avionics system that
includes an electronic primary flight
display, multifunction display, and
two-axis autopilot integrated with the
navigation system. No IFR-approved
GPS navigator required, and the combined Dynon display qualifies as both
the PFD and MFD.
So, here I was in an airplane that
didn't even have a mixture knob, let
alone gear lever or propeller control.
At first it felt like cheating-no gear
diagrams to draw, no extra steps to
memorize, not even a second radio
to manage. But the unusual design
decisions that led to the RV-12 challenged me to think more deeply about
why airplanes handle the way they
do. Rigid design constraints-chiefly
the 1,320-pound weight limit and the
desire for removable wings-meant
everything from the antiservo tab and
stabilator to the hollow propeller was
a deliberate choice. Studying those
choices, and their real-world effects
on my flying, was a better lesson in
aerodynamics than I ever got studying
for the knowledge test.
Plus, the RV-12 is just fun. The little
airplane's bubble canopy and responsive handling make you feel like this is
how chandelles and lazy 8s are meant
to be flown. I don't regret passing up
the aging retractable-gear airplanes
on the flight line, but I do chuckle at
my nonpilot friends' response when
I tell them I earned my commercial
pilot certificate: Can you fly bigger
airplanes now? 
-Sarah Deener

questioning the airplane, its components,
and even its reason for existence. "The
Cessna 152 is the best trainer ever made,"
she said. "Why can't this be a 152?"
I assured her the RV-12 was far better
than a 152 in terms of comfort, handling,
visibility, technology, reliability, and fuel
efficiency-and that her students would
clamor for it. Then I showed her how to
check the engine oil level by turning the
propeller through by hand and listening
for the "flushing toilet" sound of oil moving from the crankcase to the sump.
She was so repulsed I thought she was
going to turn around and walk out of the
hangar.
Tibbs took issue with the RV-12's flaperons, stabilator, and control stick, too.
("What's wrong with flaps, ailerons, an
elevator, and a yoke?") She detested the
parking-brake-style flaperon activation handle. ("It's impossible for me to move.") The
airplane's removable wings terrified her.
Our introductory flight was a debacle. She hated the choke knob required for
cold engine starts, found the throttle knob's

spring tension awkward (OK, she's right
about that), and regarded the geared engine's
high rpm as absurd. We were in the runup area prior to takeoff and I asked her to
increase engine power to 4,000 rpm. ("Four
thousand rpm? That's a crazy number!")
I pointed out the Rotax gearbox
reduced propeller rpm to half that value,
and high rpm produces more power in a
smaller package-like a Formula One racer.
Tibbs was having none of it.
In the air, she was bewildered by
the glass panel and wished for analog
instruments.
We returned to the airport for a series of
landings, and all of them were well-placed
and graceful, but she wasn't mollified. I
made a few adjustments before our next
flight, but her resentment persisted-and
I was astonished. Flight instructors have
long pleaded for modern, exciting, funto-fly trainers that can attract the next
generation of pilots. The RV-12 checks all
those boxes, yet my interaction with Tibbs,
AOPA's 2016 Flight Instructor of the Year,
showed CFIs might be an obstacle.
After Tibbs made several solo flights,
her tone began to soften. Then she started
teaching in the airplane and her students
quickly adopted it.
The bright red SLSA was given the
nickname Salsa, and it became the busiest
airplane in her flight school. A year later
when the original owner decided to sell,
Tibbs found a buyer for it and kept it on
the flight line. It's the most effective, economical, and reliable airplane in her fleet.
"It wasn't love at first sight," she said of
the RV-12. "It's just so different from the
172s and Arrows and Archers that I was
used to. But my students love it-and I'm
convinced they solo faster in it."
STRANGE BIRD

The preflight inspection of an RV-12 brings
home its peculiarities.
Inside the cockpit, you check the wing
attachments to make sure they're secure,
and the automotive-style electrical fuses
(not circuit breakers). Turn on the master
switch and you'll hear the electric fuel pump
chugging away, and there's no need to turn it
off because it's supposed to run all the time.
Like other RVs, the airplane's strength
comes from its stressed aluminum
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2020

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