Van's RV Series (Experimental) Checklist

What the Van’s RV series is

The Van’s RV line is not one airplane but a family of Experimental / Amateur-Built kit aircraft, and that is the single most important fact about flying one. Van’s Aircraft sells kits, not certified type-designs, so there is no FAA-approved factory Pilot’s Operating Handbook the way there is for a Cessna 172 or a Cirrus. Each RV is licensed Experimental/Amateur-Built and the builder writes their own operating handbook, then validates every speed and limit during Phase I flight testing on that specific airframe. The result is that two airplanes wearing “RV-7” on the tail can be genuinely different machines: different engines (Lycoming O-320, O-360, IO-360, or IO-390), carbureted or fuel-injected induction, fixed-pitch or constant-speed props, steam gauges or full glass, a tip-up or a slider canopy, and owner-installed modifications no generic template covers. This template centers on the two-seat RV-7 / RV-7A family with the common O-360/IO-360, and notes the four-seat RV-10 (IO-540, side-hinged doors instead of a canopy) wherever its procedures diverge. Who flies these: the person who built the airplane over several years and knows every rivet, second and third owners of completed kits, and pilots transitioning into a fast, light, responsive airplane that climbs and handles unlike the trainers they learned on. Because there is no factory book, an RV checklist is only ever as good as the builder POH behind it, which is why this card is deliberately a customizable skeleton rather than a finished product.

I don’t own an RV, and I want to be honest about that up front, because this is the one template where the airplane in front of you might be nothing like the one I researched. I built this as a conservative skeleton around the RV-7 family because that is the most common two-seater, but the whole point of an RV is that the builder made a hundred choices I can’t see from here. Treat every line as a starting question for your own POH, not an answer.

Normal procedures

The normal flow opens with a “customize this for your aircraft first” section, then runs preflight and walkaround, before-start, engine start, taxi, run-up and before-takeoff, takeoff, climb, cruise, descent, before-landing, after-landing, and shutdown and securing, with two V-speed tables (RV-7 / RV-7A and RV-10). Two habits are marked as killer items because the fleet’s accident history earns them: the canopy or door latch, which you physically confirm locked rather than judging by sound, and the LEFT/RIGHT/OFF fuel selector, which forces active tank management. Because build choices — induction, prop, ignition, panel — change the actual content of the checklist, the card front-loads those questions so you fix them once before flying the flow.

Emergency procedures

The emergency and abnormal section is a conservative skeleton, with the reflex memory items in bold. It covers engine failure on the takeoff roll, engine failure after takeoff, engine failure in flight with a restart attempt, engine fire, electrical fire / smoke, an alternator/electrical abnormal, and a carburetor-ice flow marked for carbureted builds only. Two things are deliberately open: no turn-back-after-takeoff altitude is printed, because that number is airframe- and proficiency-dependent and must be worked out and tested with an instructor; and dual electronic-ignition builds are checked per the manufacturer’s procedure rather than a magneto-style drop. Because every RV is Experimental with a builder-written handbook, treat each flow as a starting question for your own POH, not an approved procedure.

Verify it against your POH

Because no factory POH exists, more of this card is “confirm for your build” than on any other template. The research behind it flagged these explicitly. Settle each against your aircraft’s builder-authored POH and a CFI before you rely on the card:

• Vno for the RV-7 / RV-7A. Only Vne, Vfe, Vso, Vs, Vx, and Vy were confirmed against a specific builder POH in the research pass. The maximum structural cruise speed (Vno) was not independently confirmed and is left flagged on the card — get it from your POH.
• Whether a turn-back-after-takeoff altitude should ever be a number. The minimum altitude for a return-to-runway maneuver is airframe- and proficiency-dependent and is not standardized across RV builds. The card deliberately states no number; work out a personal, tested figure with your instructor.
• Post-flight fuel selector position. Whether to leave a tank selected or set the selector OFF after flight varies by builder POH and fuel-system design (some builds document a reason to leave a tank on to avoid line drain-back). The card says “per your POH” rather than picking one.
• RV-10 door mechanism specifics. Single-point versus multi-point latch and any warning indicators were not confirmed in detail from an authoritative source. Confirm your RV-10 door check wording before trusting it.
• Electronic-ignition run-up. Dual electronic-ignition builds (no magnetos) are checked per the manufacturer’s procedure, not a magneto-style drop check. The card says so generically; pull the actual check for your specific EI system.
• Carbureted RV-10 branch. Whether carbureted IO-540/O-540 RV-10s are common enough to warrant a carb-heat branch by default is a build question. Fuel-injected is treated as the default; carb-heat items are marked “carbureted only” throughout.