Van's Aircraft

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Van's Aircraft, Inc. is an American kit aircraft manufacturer founded by Richard VanGrunsven in 1973. The Van's RV series aircraft are all-aluminum, low-wing monoplanes of monocoque construction. In 2023, over 11,000 Van's aircraft were flying worldwide, making up one third of the USA's experimental aircraft fleet.[1]

The Van's Aircraft factory is located at Aurora State Airport, Oregon.[2] The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2023.[3]

History

The company was founded by Richard "Dick" VanGrunsven in 1973.

In 2013, the company announced it would begin selling assembled RV-12 model aircraft as well on a limited basis.[4]

In December 2017, the company reported that its 10,000th aircraft had flown, an RV-7 built in Martinsburg, West Virginia.[5]

As of November 2019, about 10,600 RV kits had been completed and flown, and thousands more are under construction. Completion rates currently average about 1.5 per day,[6] making the series the most numerous of all homebuilt aircraft.[7][8][2]

After announcing financial difficulties in October 2023, on December 4 2023 Van's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Factors leading to the reorganization included corrosion issues (a "multi million" dollar problem), laser-cutting instead of punched parts (affecting 1800 kits), and kit pricing under the cost of production and shipping.[3][9]

Regulatory status

File:VansAircraftLogo.png
Previous company logo, used 1973-2018

RVs are deemed Experimental Amateur Built (EAB) aircraft by the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States and are accepted under the corresponding category by the aviation authorities in many other countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. A modified version of the RV-6 was sold to the Nigerian government as a kit-assembled military trainer.

The RV-12iS is available as an experimental light sport aircraft (ELSA) or special light-sport aircraft (SLSA), which allows for commercial use for purposes like rental and flight training.

RV aircraft series

File:RVFormation.jpg
Formation flight of 40 Van's Aircraft
  • RV-3: single-seat kit aircraft, aerobatic, debuted in 1972; genesis design for rest of the RV series[10] [11]
  • RV-4: two-seat kit aircraft, tandem seating, aerobatic, bubble canopy[10][12]
  • RV-6: two-seat, side-by-side seating aircraft, aerobatic; the most-built model of the RV series and likely the most popular kitplane ever produced[10][13]
  • RV-7: modernized kit with similarity to the RV-6, with longer wingspan and larger rudder, aerobatic; replaced the RV-6 model[10][14]
  • RV-8: two-seat tandem seating, aerobatic aircraft, with larger cockpit and greater overall size than the RV-4[10][15]
  • RV-9: two seat, side-by-side aircraft; non-aerobatic, with larger wing and more docile handling qualities than others in the RV line[10][16]
  • RV-10: largest of the RV fleet with four seats, non-aerobatic, tricycle landing gear only[10][17]
  • RV-12: two-seat, side-by-side light-sport aircraft,[18] updated to RV-12iS variant in 2017 [19]
  • RV-14: two-seat, side-by-side aerobatic aircraft, considered similar to the RV-7 in design but larger and roomier[20][21]
  • RV-15: future high-wing, back-country capable aircraft[22][23]

Four of the designations missing from this sequence — RV-1, RV-2, RV-5, and RV-11 — apply to projects by Richard VanGrunsven that were never produced or marketed by Van's Aircraft (or even completed in the case of the RV-2 and RV-11).[24] The RV-13 designation was not used at all.[25]

Timeline

<timeline> ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:110 bottom:100 top:10 right:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1970 till:01/01/2022 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1970 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1970

Colors = 

 id:new   value:blue     legend:Currently_produced_design
 id:upd   value:lavender      legend:Discountinued_design;_some_parts_still_produced
 id:rel   value:black      legend:New_model_number_released

LineData = 

layer:back
color:rel
 at:01/01/1971
 at:01/01/1980
 at:01/01/1985
 at:02/01/2001 
 at:01/01/1995
 at:02/01/2001 
 at:01/09/2003
 at:01/04/2008
 at:01/07/2012

BarData = 

 bar:3     text:RV-3
 bar:4     text:RV-4
 bar:6     text:RV-6
 bar:7     text:RV-7
 bar:8     text:RV-8
 bar:9     text:RV-9
 bar:10    text:RV-10
 bar:12    text:RV-12
 bar:12iS  text:RV-12iS
 bar:14    text:RV-14

PlotData= 

width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,-4)
 color:new
 bar:3  from:01/01/1971  till:end
 bar:4  from:01/01/1980  till:end
 bar:7  from:02/01/2001  till:end
 bar:8  from:01/01/1995  till:end
 bar:9  from:02/01/2001  till:end
 bar:10  from:01/09/2003  till:end
 bar:12iS      from:01/01/2017 till:end
 bar:14  from:01/07/2012  till:end

 color:upd
 bar:6  from:01/01/1985  till:01/01/2001
 bar:12  from:01/04/2008  till:01/01/2017

</timeline>

Gallery

References

Template:Reflist

External links

Template:Sister project

Template:VansAircraft

  1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named hamstreet_filing
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  7. ↑ Kitplanes Staff: 2008 Kit Aircraft Directory, page 77-78, Kitplanes Magazine December 2007 Volume 24, Number 12, Belvior Publications, Aviation Publishing Group LLC.
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  24. ↑ Experimental Aircraft Association video, 2022: ""AirVenture, Theater in the Woods - Van's 50th Anniversary" eaa.org
  25. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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