Van's Aircraft
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox company
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.<ref name="hamstreet_filing"/>
The Van's Aircraft factory is located at Aurora State Airport, Oregon.<ref name="VansIntro"/> The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2023.<ref name=Chapter11/>
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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In December 2017, the company reported that its 10,000th aircraft had flown, an RV-7 built in Martinsburg, West Virginia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> making the series the most numerous of all homebuilt aircraft.<ref name="Kitplanes">Kitplanes Staff: 2008 Kit Aircraft Directory, page 77-78, Kitplanes Magazine December 2007 Volume 24, Number 12, Belvior Publications, Aviation Publishing Group LLC.</ref><ref name="VansFirstFlights">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="VansIntro">Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name=Chapter11>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Regulatory status
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
- RV-3: single-seat kit aircraft, aerobatic, debuted in 1972; genesis design for rest of the RV series<ref name="AboutRVSeries">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="RV-3">Template:Cite web</ref>
- RV-4: two-seat kit aircraft, tandem seating, aerobatic, bubble canopy<ref name="AboutRVSeries" /><ref name="RV-4">Template:Cite web</ref>
- 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<ref name="AboutRVSeries" /><ref name="RV-6/6A">Template:Cite web</ref>
- RV-7: modernized kit with similarity to the RV-6, with longer wingspan and larger rudder, aerobatic; replaced the RV-6 model<ref name="AboutRVSeries" /><ref name="RV-7/7A">Template:Cite web</ref>
- RV-8: two-seat tandem seating, aerobatic aircraft, with larger cockpit and greater overall size than the RV-4<ref name="AboutRVSeries" /><ref name="RV-8/8A">Template:Cite web</ref>
- RV-9: two seat, side-by-side aircraft; non-aerobatic, with larger wing and more docile handling qualities than others in the RV line<ref name="AboutRVSeries" /><ref name="RV-9/9A">Template:Cite web</ref>
- RV-10: largest of the RV fleet with four seats, non-aerobatic, tricycle landing gear only<ref name="AboutRVSeries" /><ref name="RV-10">Template:Cite web</ref>
- RV-12: two-seat, side-by-side light-sport aircraft,<ref name="AvWeb11Apr08">Template:Cite web</ref> updated to RV-12iS variant in 2017 <ref name="RV-12iS">Template:Cite web</ref>
- RV-14: two-seat, side-by-side aerobatic aircraft, considered similar to the RV-7 in design but larger and roomier<ref name="AvWeb24Jul12">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="RV-14/14A">Template:Cite web</ref>
- RV-15: future high-wing, back-country capable aircraft<ref name="AvWeb26Jul21">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="RV-15">Template:Cite web</ref>
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).<ref name="EAA">Experimental Aircraft Association video, 2022: ""AirVenture, Theater in the Woods - Van's 50th Anniversary" eaa.org </ref> The RV-13 designation was not used at all.<ref name="Flying">Template:Cite web</ref>
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>
