It was one small landing for a homebuilt, one giant landing for the homebuilding kind. Since Richard 'Van' VanGrunsven touched down at the EAA Fly-In Convention in 1973 in his RV-3 - the first ever in a kit aircraft - his initials have become virtually synonymous with kitbuilt airplanes.
The RV line (RV-3, -4, -6, -6A and -8) is now the most successful kit aircraft in the world. More than 7,000 kits have been sold by Van's Aircraft of North Plains, Oregon, and more than 1,600 RVs are flying. Over 250 of them came to Oshkosh this year to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of that landing and the vibrant kit industry Van helped ignite. It's the largest congregation of a single make of aircraft in the fly-in's history.
On Thursday, Van led a fly-by of 25 RVs to honor the anniversary, a formation scheduled to be repeated Sunday. Other anniversary events include a social hour and banquet. Also, Van's original RV-3 and prototype RV-4 are being donated to the EAA Air Adventure Museum during the fly in, and an RV-6A donated by Van and built by EAA volunteers will officially join the EAA's Young Eagles fleet.
GANews & Flyermet up with Van at his company's booth, where crowds of RV builders and potential builders congregate daily for advice, assistance and camaraderie. What does Van attribute the RV's success to?
"We've been honest about our airplanes all the time, both as far as what the airplanes will do, what the performance is," he said. "And we've always had a commitment to the customer. No matter how good the kit is, it's going to take a lot of effort. There are going to be pitfalls, there are going to be times at which the builder needs assistance, and if there's nobody there to provide that, or unwilling to provide that in a friendly manner, the builder is less likely to be successful." What advice can Van offer to someone considering building an airplane?
"First, research the possible airplanes very carefully to make sure what they want an airplane to do, then make sure the airplane they are considering will actually do what it is purported to do. Make a wise decision, because building an airplane is a big project. It does take a lot of time and effort, and if a person is going to make that commitment , he wants to make sure it's a good commitment." From the one-man operation Van started with, his company has grown to about 35 employees. Almost three RV builders make their first flight every week, and by the turn of the century the pace is expected to increase to an average of one per day. As a sign of the times, the newest addition to the product line, the two-place RV-8, was designed entirely on computer.
Though Van's schedule no longer leaves as much time for flying as he'd like, he remains very much involved with the company's products. He still does the primary flight testing on all new models and modifications, though he doesn't do as much demo flying for prospective customers as he used to. And he's found time for a new aerial pursuit:
"I also spend quite a bit of time in sailplanes, gliders, soaring. That's kind of my hobby now, in addition to flying our powered homebuilts."
Could an RV glider be in the works? Possibly, Van says. And what else can RV enthusiasts look forward to?
"Part of our formula the whole way along is not to plan too far in the future, but to try to keep ourselves postured to take advantage of what opportunities are there, so we have the resources to branch out in different directions when the opportunity arises," Van said. "We've got some ideas that we'd like to pursue in the way of new designs, but it's really too early to talk much about that. But we hope to be around for another 25 or more years."
Best-made plans While pre-fab parts have helped RVs and other kits seize most of the homebuilt market, at least one plans-built design continues to attract do-it-yourselfers. Designer Nat Puffer explained the genesis of his popular blueprint-based product.
"We built a Rutan VariEZ back in '78, and I enjoyed working with composite construction so much that I pestered Burt Rutan to design another airplane we could build. Well, he was designing the LongEZ, and I didn't want another tandem airplane, so without saying much to him I decided to design a wider fuselage and use the rest of LongEZ design on the wings and the canard and so on. At first he didn't like the idea because designers don't like to have you make changes. Then he warmed up to it."
So did many builders. Puffer called the plane the Cozy, and hundreds are now flying. The latest model, the four-place Mark IV, has been on the market since '91, and about 640 sets of plans ($500 each) have been sold. Puffer says buyers fall into two categories.
"There area lot of people who aren't so much concerned about how much it costs as the fact that they want to do the whole thing themselves. They don't want to build a snap together kit."
And the other category?
"You can build this airframe for $14,000 so this is, you might say, a poor man's family airplane. Our builders are about half and half: those people who want to say they built the whole airplane and those builders that are trying to save money."
If you've wondered why Cozys and EZs keep their noses on the ground while at rest, it's because when empty, the center of gravity of these designs is just about over the main wheels. Retracting the forward gear keeps them from falling over backwards. Now Puffer's added a nifty modification to the new Mark IV: electric gear. Previously, the gear was hand-cranked down when it was time to fly, and passengers stepped aboard. With the electric gear, occupants can get in with the gear retracted, and the electric gear will extend once everyone's comfortably seated.
John Vermeylan, a builder nearing completion of his Mark IV, was standing in front of Puffer's booth with sons Brian and Mike, eyeing the display aircraft and no doubt anticipating the day he'd be able to step inside his and hit the electric gear switch.
"My kids are really pushing me," he said. "They were a little disappointed we didn't fly in this year, I would say definitely next year."