THROWBACK THURSDAY -- 50 YEARS of VANS AIRPLANES

[chrispratt]

With the wide range of questions and uncertainties surrounding Van’s Chapter 11 situation, some perspective from an old builder might help on what this hobby means to me and I suspect to most of you.

It was fifty years ago that I saw a photo that changed my life: the front cover of Air Progress magazine, November 1973 featuring the first Van’s RV-3.



I had to have one.

I was enrolled in college at the time. Living at home. No money. No mechanical background. No knowledge of engineering. Not sure what I was going to do with my life.

But I had to have one.

A goal was set.

I sent away for a set of plans at the staggering cost of $75 if I recall correctly (every cent I had at the time). When plan set #119 arrived I spent hours poring over the plans trying to figure out how in the world anyone built the spar (pre-phlogiston days) much less the other parts.





I had a goal and a dream. Nowhere to build. No money. But a dream, and dreams are priceless. Years passed and my RV-3 dream evolved into an RV-8. Although it was much later than planned, my dream started to take shape in 1999 with the first kit, and was fulfilled in 2005 with the first flight.

Still flying today.

Dreams can come true. Thank you, Richard Van Grunsven.

So, to all of you with dreams: Take heart and give Vans some time to sort this out. Companies sometimes hit a bump in the road, or in our case, turbulence. It will work out.



Chris

 

[PhatRV]

My first exposure to Vans aircraft was reading a RV4 build blog back in 1999. This blog convinced me that I could build an airplane by myself. 19 years later, I placed a deposit on an RV8 empennage kit. Five years later, it got an AWC. A few months after that, it became a real airplane after its first flight.

 

[chrispratt]

My first exposure to Vans aircraft was reading a RV4 build blog back in 1999. This blog convinced me that I could build an airplane by myself. 19 years later, I placed a deposit on an RV8 empennage kit. Five years later, it got an AWC. A few months after that, it became a real airplane after its first flight.

Enjoy every flight. The first 50 hours are usually tweaking this and chasing down that, but shortly you get to a point where you can just go out and fly. So much fun.

Chris