Van's RV-15 (Next thing coming?)

[David Paule]

Actually, that criteria is applied if you're licensing it as a glider. A motorglider is licensed as a glider, I understand. A friend went through this for his Xenos motorglider. The FAA accepted it as the proper criterion.

Dave

[N208ET]

Originally Posted by rv7charlie

There are at least 3 all aluminum 'bushplane' kits I can remember at the moment. The Murphy Super Rebel (now known as a flat engine Moose), the Dream Tundra, and the St Just Cyclone (a Cessna 180 clone).

I didn?t state it so my bad, but I was thinking 2 place aircraft. Any 2 place all aluminum bush variants out there?

As stated many times throughout the post, the 2 place bush plane market has a ton of suppliers. With good reason, it?s a decent sized market. And those kits require some big money. Obviously the demand is there.

[ksauce]

Originally Posted by N208ET

I didn?t state it so my bad, but I was thinking 2 place aircraft. Any 2 place all aluminum bush variants out there?

As stated many times throughout the post, the 2 place bush plane market has a ton of suppliers. With good reason, it?s a decent sized market. And those kits require some big money. Obviously the demand is there.

Yes, the Rans S-21.

[eric.the.blonde]

My guess is that the RV-15x will be a production -10 built to part 23 performance-based standards.

Lets face it, future growth of Vans Aircraft is not likely to be the result of seducing greater numbers of people into buying kits. I read as much between the lines when they brought the RV-12 in house. Think of the RV-12 as a dress rehearsal for the next big thing.

Van's posted a video on social media showing a rather large CNC punch press (?) type thing being installed earlier this year. Seemed to me to be an awful lot of machine (and a long way from the fabled culture of frugality) for these little kits -- likely has an ulterior purpose.

[greghughespdx]

Originally Posted by eric.the.blonde

Van's posted a video on social media showing a rather large CNC punch press (?) type thing being installed earlier this year. Seemed to me to be an awful lot of machine (and a long way from the fabled culture of frugality) for these little kits -- likely has an ulterior purpose.

Actually, that’s our fourth CNC punch press! It replaced an older one, so we have three on the factory floor now. Those punch machines have been bread-and-butter workhorses in our factory for well more than two decades. The newest one is simply an upgrade in capability and fresh equipment. It enables faster production and allows us to do some punching that the older machines could not do.

Oh, and if we ever got to make a production/certified RV-10 (and I’m not saying that’s going to happen!) we’d probably call it something like the “RV-10.” Just like we did with the SLSA RV-12. New model numbers are generally reserved for new models, rather than production variants.

And, our business has been primarily kits for almost 50 years. It’s worked thus far and sales are quite strong. We don’t intend to move away from kits. Of course, we will move with the times and take advantage of the right opportunities as it fits our business model.

We’re excited about all the things we’re working on! If anyone wants to talk shop, find me at the AOPA fly in this week in Tennessee, or at the Petit Jean fly in coming up in Arkansas in October. Always happy to talk about what we’re up to (except for the top-secret stuff of course, hah) and learn about the airplanes people are building/have built!

[rcarsey]

Originally Posted by n6233u

There is a guy building a twin RV6 and it looked impressive.

And apparently its already flying. Powered by twin Corvair 100hp conversion engines.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMV...mngeA6qvKN_F7g

[joe gremlin]

Originally Posted by rcarsey

And apparently its already flying. Powered by twin Corvair 100hp conversion engines.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMV...mngeA6qvKN_F7g

It looks like he's got wood props on that thing. I shudder to think what that will be like when you lose one on take off and can't feather it.

[jnorris]

Originally Posted by joe gremlin

It looks like he's got wood props on that thing. I shudder to think what that will be like when you lose one on take off and can't feather it.

That's what I always said about the Champion Lancer too. Twin O-200s, fixed pitch props. No feathering. But the FAA certificated it, so I guess it's OK!!

[joe gremlin]

Originally Posted by jnorris

That's what I always said about the Champion Lancer too. Twin O-200s, fixed pitch props. No feathering. But the FAA certificated it, so I guess it's OK!!

Wow. I never would've guessed you could pull off managing a light twin without feathering props. You learn something every day.

[David Paule]

Decades ago, a buddy had built a Volmer Sportsman amphibian. It had an O-200 engine and he felt that it was underpowered. He came across a Lancer whose owner had already sold the engines, but had everything else. My friend bought the wings, complete with cowl and FWF stuff, less engine. He sent me a photo of the Volmer with both cowls on and the existing engine on, too.

Would have been a 3-engine amphib but he never got the engines, just not enough money.

Years later, when he could have paid for it all, he was having too much fun with other airplanes and the Volmer had been retired.

I wish I still had that photo.

Dave