Appears To Be Caused By Improper Procedures At Contractor Facility

Van’s Aircraft reports that it is investigating a few reports of potential surface corrosion appearing on the interior aluminum surfaces of specific Quick Build wing and fuselage kits. Kits that are in-scope for this review are those that were assembled by a contract company and delivered to Van’s Aircraft between June 2020 and January 2021.

They note that not all kits from this time period are necessarily affected, and the scope of their investigation is intentionally broad at to help ensure sufficient and complete information collection.

Like everyone, COVID has resulted in significant impacts on the staffing and timeliness of businesses around the world. While Van's has 'worked hard to navigate the difficult business environment and maintain our business as close as possible to pre-COVID operations, these impacts have affected Van’s and our various subcontract business partners. In mid-2020 our Quick Build contract team was forced into a 100% closure for several weeks, and then was significantly limited in terms of staffing due to local COVID regulations.'

An investigation and a series of lab analyses indicate that in cases where surface corrosion is present on these QB assemblies, the cause appears to be the incorrect application of primer combined with the introduction of sweat on the parts’ surfaces during assembly at the contractor’s facility. Van’s temporarily halted Quick Build production in January while the primer application issue was identified, verified, and remediated.

In addition, Van’s has examined and is in the process of remediating primer issues found on Quick Build kits that have already been delivered to them and are currently stored at their factory warehouse. This will, of course, take some extra time to complete, but we will ensure, first and foremost, that the QB kits they ship meet their standards.

As Van's continues their investigation, they are reaching out directly to customers who received Quick Build kits that could potentially be affected, to assess the delivered kits and ensure they are checked. They will ask each of these customers to complete a survey, in which they will follow specific instructions to briefly examine and photograph certain parts/areas of their Quick Build kits, and then submit that information to Van’s Aircraft for review.

"In the event a customer’s kit is affected, our staff will work directly with each kit owner to resolve his or her individual needs based on our analysis of that kit. As always, Van’s Aircraft stands by its customers and products, and we’ll do what it takes."

FMI: www.vansaircraft.com