9,000 RV Kit Completions Could Mean That Maybe Van’s Aircraft Is In This Business To Stay!

Just in case you weren’t already aware of this fact, Van’s Aircraft is a highly successful business in the kit-built aircraft market. When it comes to choosing a homebuilt airplane project, 9,000 kit completions seems to indicate that Van’s is doing something right.

Last week, Van’s Aircraft, received a first-flight report from Mr. Thomas Damm, of Billund, Denmark. Mr. Damm’s RV-8 became the nine thousandth RV kit to be complete and flown by a customer. It’s reported that Wild celebrations ensued.

Mr. Damm bought the barely-started kit from a close friend and completed it over a span of 9 years. Using his life-long experience as a pilot for SAS, he made the first flight on April 8.

His aircraft has a Superior XP IO-360 with a Whirlwind 200RV C/S prop.  The panel is a mix of round gauges and a small Dynon D1 unit.  Navigation chores are handled by a Garmin 296 and a SkyDemon MD GPS. Custom touches include a set of Grove airfoil shaped gear legs and the Showplanes FastBack/Canopy kit.

“On the first flight I saw 170 KTAS at 5000’ at only 24' / 2400 RPM. You guys produce great airplane kits!” Tom wrote.

To help visualize what 9000 RVs might look like, the artists in Van’s engineering department produced a couple of graphics and “thought pictures,” and here’s what they came up with:

• Assuming an average wingspan of 27’ with no gaps, 9,000 RVs parked wingtip to wingtip would form a line of aircraft 46 miles long.
• A rectangular grid of airplanes would be roughly 850 m X 720 m (2788’ X 2362’) and (with a couple inches of space between wingtips) would cover about 151 acres.
• Assuming an average of 180 HP, the total fleet of 9,000 would generate 1,620,000 HP.

It appears that the Van’s Aircraft engineering department doesn’t have enough work to do, or possibly this is the result of the aforementioned “Wild Celebration.”

(Image of RV kit completion number 9,000 provided by Van’s Aircraft)

FMI: www.vansaircraft.com