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VAF designs the next Vans Aircraft?

HAL Pilot

Well Known Member
So I have been pondering the limitations and business model that Vans has.

Designing an airplane is an expensive proposition especially when tech support is included from the vendor for all past models. Vans main bread and butter is the selling of the components for their kits. The engineering part is a necessary business cost. They have limited ability to engineer new things if they are working service bulletins, researching tech support issues or even creating a construction Wiki like I suggested a few years ago etc. With the current Covid fun we have all been going through there will be a major push for work at home solutions for businesses, so having a distributed volunteer workforce is not out of the realm of possibilities.

3D printed parts could eventually be included to reduce construction time and cost.

There are 30k some members of VAF some with advanced degrees that could be useful. If we created a volunteer .Org service that engineered an aircraft for Vans, it would be much easier for Vans to create and test the hardware that eventually is sold to us. This same organization could have a living construction plans document with tech support residing on the document for all to see issues and fixes as they come up. Kind of like what VAF is right now. The result would free up the engineers at Vans to do higher level design management of such external and inhouse projects resulting in better construction plans for us and even more aircraft options to chose from. Theoretically DR could run the Internet part of such an organization as more airplane options would create more users, more advertisers, and more donors. So everyone benefits.

As a volunteer maybe one could earn credit for discounts depending on how much time you donate. This credit could be used to buy stuff from Vans, or sold to active Kit buyers.

I'm sure there's a can of worms worth of legal issues for something like this but I would guess there might be some legal eagles here that could help.

If you are interested in what the RV14 Wiki looks like there's a link in my signature.

Thoughts?
 
I am all for philanthropic endeavors and helping our fellow man. However, I struggle to see the merit in providing volunteer efforts on behalf of a "for profit" venture. Supporting one another in our efforts to better build a plane is one thing, but providing no cost services to allow Van's to earn greater profit just doesn't make sense to me.

Aside from that, I would not want to imagine the legal issues associated with crowd sourcing the design of an airplane. That has negligence written all over it. Just imagine the jury hearing from Van's: "Sorry, it is not our fault as we had a poster from the internet design the wing spar that failed."

Larry
 
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The first challenge would be getting everybody to agree on what the new airplane configuration and mission should look like so I don't think there would ever be any liability issues,:p
 
Another issue might be getting someone like me, qualified in aerospace stress analysis but retired, to do more engineering for free. I retired because I didn't want to continue doing engineering, and bought my RV-3B kit so that I could build instead of engineering a new design.

And you know what? It was the right decision. So, sorry, my friend, but there's just no way.

Dave
 
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Another issue might be getting someone like me, qualified in aerospace stress analysis but retired, to do more engineering for free. I retired because I didn't want to continue doing engineering, and bought my RV-3B kit so that I could build instead of engineering a new design.

And you know what? It was the right decision. So sorry, my friend, but there's just no way.

Dave

Well said!
 
In addition to the other objections already noted (all of which are valid points) it sounds like you've crafted a solution looking for a problem. Given the current backlog on orders and the increasing lead times for kits and parts, why does Vans need another design to service now? Vans Aircraft currently produces single, dual and 4-seat aircraft kits which include both nose and tail draggers, tandem and side-by-side seating arrangements, LSA and ESLA kits and complete aircraft which meet the criteria for those certifications, not to mention the parts, engines, props, etc. they sell. In the realm of aluminum, low wing small GA aircraft (Vans current and traditional wheelhouse), what's left? I have no doubt that Vans will eventually introduce newer models, updated versions of their current lineup and other products, some of which may already be in the pipeline, but I don't see any of this being high on their priority list right now.
 
Remember, there's nothing to prevent Van's from asking VAF for assistance. Surely they know what they need better than we do. In fact, there's a section here on VAF called "Job Board" where they can post positions open.

Dave
 
In the same spirit, if someone wanted to start rewriting the build manuals for the -7, -8, -9 to match the layout of the build manuals for the new planes, that'd be killer.
 
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