by ANN Correspondent Kevin O'Brien

We might not have covered Van's Aircraft as much as we should have done, given their dominant position in the SportPlane industry. Why is that? Well, it might be that news is the business of reporting change and especially drama. Van's is remarkably free of drama, and the most important change there, is that more and more customer RVs are flying all the time.

How many RVs? And how frequently are they flying? The pictures tell the tale.

The first picture shows the number flying at Sun n Fun. April 17, 2004: 3630 flying.

The second picture shows the number flying as of Oshkosh. It was taken at 4:30 PM on July 29, 2004: The sign has been altered to show 3830 flying.

That's 200 airplanes, 103 days. So just about two RVs are flying and being reported to Van's daily. Every single day!

Will RV's ever outnumber Cessnas?

Probably not; Van has a way to go, with 37,700 or more Skyawks alone built since a much earlier start (1956), and Cessna planning to build some 600 single-engine machines this year. But there are a number of other marquee names in the certified market that have not got as many examples flying as Van's has of their robust, versatile "Total Performance" RV homebuilts.

FMI: www.vansaircraft.com