Empennage Kit Heading To CA Builder

Hot on the heels of the announcement the 5,000th completed Van's Aircraft kit recently took flight, the prodigious manufacturer of homebuilt aircraft kits celebrated another milestone this month. On February 6, the company shipped its 3000th RV-7/7A empennage kit, to a new builder in California.

Representatives with Vans tell ANN there was a brief pause in the crating/shipping department while photos of the 3,000th kit were taken... and then it was back to work, as empennage packing specialist Todd Cabrera began packaging number 3001, destined for England.

The RV-7/7A replaced Van's popular RV-6/6A in 2001. At that time, over 6,000 RV-6s had shipped. That aircraft has much in common with the RV-7/7A... and Van's notes that means more than 9,000 kits for the same basic design have been sold.

Furthermore, if you include the RV-9/9A -- which features the same fuselage as the RV-7, but with a different wing -- that means close to 10,000 similar aircraft are either under construction, or flying already.

In any case, if there was any doubt that the side-by-side RV-7/7A design was one of the most popular kit aircraft ever produced -- it should be gone now. The shipment of the 3,000th RV-7 kit represents an average of about one and half RV-7/7A empennage kits per day, every day, since the airplane was introduced. Over 400 have flown, and more are flying almost daily in countries all over the world.

FMI: www.vansaircraft.com