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Best Advice from, or Interaction with Van's?

claycookiemonster

claycookiemonster

Well Known Member
I'm sure many of us have had moments when the person on the other end of the phone, or across the counter, or in the tent shared some priceless pearls of wisdom with you. Whether about life or aluminum, they saved you.

Probably some day there'll be a book, "Chicken Soup for the RV'er" or something like that. Until then...

I was very early in the construction of my RV-8. For some reason, I just could not get the rivets that hold the elevator bearing bracket together to set properly and gauge correctly. It's one of the very first things you build, and I just couldn't get it right! I had drilled out the entire thing several times. Of course, this needed to be the most perfect airplane in the history of mankind! Zero flaws. My grandkids were going to fly in this, for God's sake! Fortunately, I had an airline layover in PDX right then, and I rented a car as soon as I hit the ground and beamed straight to Aurora. I rang the hotel desk bell on the counter and shortly a kindly bear of a guy walked out and asked me what I needed. "I can't make this right! I've tried and tried! I don't know what I'm doing wrong! One size shorter and it's TOO SHORT! One size longer and it's TOO LONG! What's wrong with me? Why can't I get this!" Tears and lamentations.

(that's the short version. you get the gist)

I remember whoever it was smiled at me with an air of complete peace and confidence. Then he said simply, "Dude, relax! It's just an airplane! It's not that complicated. You know what's complicated? My John Deere yard tractor. That's complicated! It has rack and pinion steering! It has belts and gears and a power take off. You're not building a tractor, you're just building an airplane!

So I took a deep breath, and then he closed in for the kill.

He asked me, with a straight face, if I thought I was as mechanically capable as my grandmother. I said I guessed I was probably even more mechanical than my grandmother. He said, "Good! Because women just like your grandmother build all the B-17's in WWII, and they built them the same way you're going to build your RV-8."

I have slept soundly ever since. God bless him, whoever he was.
 
"Build on!" was the best advice I got from Van's support.

And from Van himself, his advice, which I didn't heed until about 50k wasted dollars and about 7 years later, was "put a Lycoming on it."
 
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claycookiemonster said:
I have slept soundly ever since. God bless him, whoever he was.
Click to expand...

Ken Scott

And you can still get tidbits of advice like that because even though he has retired from Van’s he is still making contributions to aviation as a writer. His articles appear in Kitplanes and any other magazines occasionally.
 
I was considering leaving the certified world, and building an RV-7.
Was in the Portland area, so I stopped by the factory, and got the tour and demo flight.

When we returned (yes, with an RV grin), an empennage kit was on a rolling cart in the lobby.
"That one's got your name on it", she grinned...

That's actually when I decided to buy it that day. Took it home with me.

Every interaction I've had with Van's staff has been enjoyable.
People seem to enjoy working there.
Good stuff all around.
 
When I bought a set of quick-build wings from someone who was parting out a kit, I called and asked for information about those wings. The folks I talked to said they could confirm the wings were the " -1 " wings and they could provide me with an inventory and with traceability for documentation purposes. But, nothing else. What they did not say was probably the most informative.

It was around that time that the newsletter article (I believe Van wrote it himself) came out about buying 2nd hand kits.

I was lucky. The wings I got are ok, though they did require some minor corrosion control. But, if I had it to do over, I probably wouldn't.
 
I have always believed that one thing that VANS as a company has that is even better than the product they sale is their staff.
 
rvbuilder2002 said:
Ken Scott

And you can still get tidbits of advice like that because even though he has retired from Van’s he is still making contributions to aviation as a writer. His articles appear in Kitplanes and any other magazines occasionally.
Click to expand...

Ken used to teach the SportAir RV workshops at Oshkosh and, like most great teachers, he was one of those people you wanted to please because he didn't seem to throw compliments around.

I would put him in the Tom Berge category. People whose voices you hear every time you work on a project or fly an RV.
 
Best advice I ever heard .......... "you're building a tractor, not a swiss watch."

Oh yeah, and "build on".
 
I can't remember who it was but when I called asking about cracks in the gear weldments of my purchased RV6, he told me that I hadn't so much bought an airplane, but had adopted a puppy.
 
Mold the metal to your will

Kevin Miller, "mold the metal to your will" (replying to a query re those horrible F-601N joggles).
 
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