Flying the Ravin 500
South Africa is a land that often surprises with
the world-beaters that it produces. From its loins
have come famous golfers, tennis players, sprinters,
medium and long distance runners, swimmers, actors,
authors, musicians, businessmen and entrepreneurs.
Talent in one field after another abounds in this
beautiful country, and often from the most unlikely
of sources.
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Add to the above list "aircraft designers and
manufacturers", for out of a garage in a homestead
North of Wonderboom Airport, has come one of the most
exciting and lovely aircraft I have ever flown, a
Comanche look-alike, simply called, the "Ravin".
This aircraft is the brainchild of one Jan Troskie,
a long time Comanche owner, who figured that he was
going to take a great design and a great aircraft
and make it even better. This he did, in under two
and a half years, with no fuss, no fan-fare and no
razz-a-ma-tazz. Combining huge latent talent with
enthusiasm, passion for the Piper Comanche, commonsense
and liberal doses of "Boere manier" know-how,
he has produced a truly phenomenal aircraft.
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Sunday 6th April, 2003 was certainly a red letter day for
me, for on this day Dirk de Vos of Wonderboom Airport organized
an invitation from Jan to fly the Ravin. Dirk is another
pilot that has a passion for Comanches, and having been
one of the first to fly the Ravin, he called me to say that
I just had to fly this machine. There was a double bonus
associated with the invitation, as Jeremy Woods, a long
time friend, said that he would fly me back to Rand Airport
in his 1959 Comanche 250, the very same aircraft that I
had owned and then co-owned over a period of 16 years.
I would thus have the opportunity of comparing the new
with the old on the very same morning……
Standing in isolation, one would be excused for mistaking
the Ravin with a late model Comanche. The two aircraft look
almost identical However, the original machine is of all
metallic construction, whereas the Ravin is all-composite.
Closer inspection of the aircraft reveals that there is
not a single rivet on the airframe and that the entire machine
is as clean as a whistle. Jan tells everyone with great
pride that the total number of composite parts in the entire
airframe amounts to only one hundred and fifty. This is
as opposed to the many thousands of parts in the original
Comanche, where screw heads and rivets stand proud all over
the airframe.
Nor is there an antenna to be found anywhere on the aircraft.
These are moulded into the airframe during construction
so that they will not produce any drag.
The aircraft is powered by a stock-standard 260 h.p.Lycoming
IO 540 engine driving a three bladed Hartzell propeller.
Great attention has been paid to the placement and design
of the engine's air intake so that the propeller, which
has extensions added to the trailing
edge of each blade, is able to transmit pulses of higher
pressure air directly into it. By so
doing the manifold pressure is raised by up to 1.5 inches
Hg in cruise flight, thus further enhancing the performance
of the aircraft.
The all-composite wing is immensely strong, being good
for well over 5 "g". This was constructed by Francois
Jordaan, who is rapidly developing an excellent reputation
for the composite wings he has built for many other aircraft.
The Ravin is in fact slightly smaller that the Comanche
all-round. The entire aircraft has been scaled down some
6% to 7%, but the cabin is still roomy enough to be very
comfortable. There is more than enough shoulder room for
two medium to large sized men in the front, and the two
back seats certainly look comfortable and roomy enough.
There are other differences that become immediately obvious
as one prepares to fly the aircraft. Entrance to the cabin
is via a smallish door on the left hand side of the aircraft
adjacent to the pilot's seat. Jan works on the principle
that the pilot should be "last in, first out".
There is no catwalk material, as this would produce some
drag, however small. Once everyone is seated, the pilot
being last, the cockpit door is pulled down and into position
and then firmly latched into position.
The windows are made of thick plexiglass and are also moulded
into the structure, thereby contributing to the overall
strength of the entire machine. The prototype Ravin has
no interior upholstery, and yet the cabin does not look
Spartan at all. The composite material had its own colour-speckled
pattern built into it and this certainly does not look unattractive.
The floor carpeting and four luxuriously covered and comfortable
leather seats give the cabin an air of simple and unaffected
functionality. The second aircraft and third aircraft, which
are already in the advanced production stage, will both
have fully upholstered interiors.
The instrument panel has been laid out very neatly indeed
and is more than adequate for any use that the aircraft
may be put to. The radio's in this, the prototype, were
mixed and varied, but the entire avionics package can be
fitted to order and depends on what the purchaser ultimately
requires.
Jan accompanied me on my first flight in the Ravin and
simply let me get on with the job with operating the machine.
He merely stated that if I had flown the Comanche before,
then there was nothing that he could really add. The start
up and taxi out was entirely conventional although it felt
that one was slightly closer to the ground. The steering
was positive and the breaking was good.
It was on the take-off that the first manifestation of
what was to come presented itself. The aircraft fairly leapt
forward out of the starting blocks as the throttle was advanced
and tore down the runway with a huge sense of urgency. We
were airborne and climbing away in no time at all.
In spite of the lack of interior upholstery, the noise
level with headsets on was not really high and we were able
to converse with ease through the intercom. A few gentle
manoeuvres followed, an I do believe that within the first
two or three minutes of being airborne, I turned to Jan
and said "This aircraft is a masterpiece!"
This is indeed so, for the aircraft combines huge speed
and performance with delightful handling characteristics.
The aircraft feels very stable throughout its speed regime.
The controls are light and extremely responsive……..
but more about this later!
Having spent some twenty minutes in Pretoria's general
flying area, we cruised back to Wonderboom at 195 m.p.h
indicated in straight and level flight and then joined the
circuit for the landing. The approach and landing was entirely
straight forward and not unlike the same exercise in a conventional
Comanche.
A second flight followed in which Jeremy Woods, was given
the opportunity to savour the delights of this new machine.
After our return we thanked Jan and Dirk, and then flew
back to Rand in Jeremy's 1959 Comanche 250, also a great
performer, but at a cruising speed some 40 m.p.h. slower
than the Ravin's.
I could ramble on and on about the aircraft's handling
characteristics and its features …..
the trimmers, flaps, operation of the undercarriage, stalling
characteristics, ventilation, noise levels, visibility from
the cockpit ets, etc.. This is all stuff that would bore
the reader and that the aspirant purchaser would find out
for himself in any event.
For me, the greatest excitement associated with the flying
of this aircraft came when Jan asked me to demonstrate the
aircraft at the Ermelo, EAA and Rand Airshows. Given the
incredible strength of the aircraft, its control responsiveness
and its performance, and also the fact that the machine
is an experimental prototype, permission was obtained to
perform rolling manoeuvres with the machine at these airshows.
Suffice it to say that this aircraft proved to be a sheer
delight to demonstrate. There was a huge surfeit of performance
through one wingover after another, and at no stage did
the aircraft ever become energy deficient. The aircraft
showed off its capability in the rolling plane by flying
fast, super-slow and hesitation rolls. All of this in a
four-seater cabin class machine!
Since the aircraft has not been spin tested yet, no pitching
manuevers such as loops and stall turns have been approved.
Nor would Jan in fact want anyone flying any such manoeuvres.
He stresses that the aircraft has not been designed as an
aerobatic aircraft and does not want any buyer of the machine
going out and doing aerobatics in it. He requested permission
for the limited aerobatic manoeuvres to be flown in order
to demonstrate the aircraft's strength and agility.
The Ravin is simply and undoubtedly the most exciting and
exhilarating cabin class aircraft I have ever flown. It
combines grace, beauty, exceptional handling qualities and
unusually high cruising speeds with good load carrying capability
over long distances. The original Comanches were hard to
beat in all of these categories, those being the qualities
that endeared the aircraft to me in the first place. However,
the Ravin 500 goes many steps better and makes a "great
aircraft, even greater"!
