The question about the relative low price of Pitts a/c is a good one. The first thing to remember is that a lot of the single seaters are homebuilt from either plans / factory kits or a mixture of parts sources. The quality of the aeroplanes is extremely variable. Some homebuilts are better than the factory machines, others shame their builders. There are not many dogs about in the UK but there are some. The Pitts is a tough little machine, but it is covered with fabric. The fabric does not last for ever and replacing it is painful in terms of effort /money and downtime, then you have to consider the paint. Many had 2 pack car type paint put on in an effort to get a wetlook show machine finish, this is not desirable because it is very hard to repair cracks when they appear. The fabric and paint on a Pitts are in decline from day one, the worse it is the cheaper the aeroplane will need to be to attract an informed buyer. Some aircraft can look great at 10 paces, but to the trained eye up close they may turn out to be very tired indeed.
Lots of Pitts aircraft (and I mean MOST) have been in some type of damaging incident during their lives, often as a result of a poor landing or on the 2 seaters the canopy falling off. The quality of repair has an impact on price. But on the plus side they can almost always be repaired to a high standard - its just that this does not always happen. In comparison to other dedicated aerobatic machines they require more maintenance. The flying wires, fabric inspection covers, undercarriage (if on correct bungee spring gear) and inumerable self tapping (also self undoing) screws need frequent attention. Most Pitts owners do a lot of this work themselves & with good reason - it saves a lot of money and means they know what they are flying / spot problems early. An RV is a lot less work per hour aloft. Given the choice I would rather be in a Pitts than an RV for anything other than an A to B transit, a well sorted Pitts has way more soul and character. For competition flying the Pitts is at a disadvantage compared to more modern machinery like the Extras / Edges / Cap 232 and Sbach a/c because of its relatively slow roll rate and the drag induced by rolling. Roll rate is not a judging criteria...but fitting an 8 point roll into the box and following it with a half loop up with some snap and rolling combination on the top is hard in a Pitts. The aeroplane will do it - but during the 8 point roll you will use a lot of space and slow down making it hard to have enough energy at the top of the 1/2 loop up for the snap / roll fraction combo. A pilot in a carbon winged monoplane or even an extra 230 or DR107 One Design will have an easier job. The result is that the Pitts pilot must fly his machine very very hard to be competitive at all above intermediate level. Those of us who have done that and seen others do it KNOW that the fabric and paint deteriorate fairly rapidly with such use.
The tricky landing characteristics are exagerated in my view. Get propper training / stay current and its amazing how they will cope with big crosswinds and short runways. If you can buy a good one they are a delight - (espcially the single seaters) and represent great value in aeroplane terms. Engines - dont foret that the engine in a dedicated aeros machine has a particulary hard life which is invariably a shorter life than a comperable engine in an RV could expect. An RV is not a dedicated aeros machine - its a characterful and efficient tourer with a little aeros capabiluty for sunday afternoon fun. They are both great at what they were designed to do but thats about the only similarity!
Last edited by air18150; 8th December 2015 at 11:37.