Hundreds of Van’s RV aircraft parked together at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2021. Dave Weiman Photo
Published In Midwest Flyer Magazine Online October/November 2021 Issue
For the first time ever, Van’s Aircraft will be manufacturing a high-wing, total performance, RV-15, it was announced July 28 at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2021.
“We’re pretty excited that here at AirVenture, we’ve opened the curtain to the Van’s skunkworks, and let the community know that the RV-15 will be a high-wing, backcountry-capable, total-performance, all-metal airplane,” said Van’s Aircraft Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Greg Hughes.
Hughes said it is very important to Van’s to include the community in what the company is doing.
“There’s been a lot of talk over the last couple years from the community — ‘Here’s what we hope Van’s does; here’s what we think Van’s should do’ — and we wanted to be able to share with our community what we’re doing and the direction we’re going in.”
While there currently aren’t any more details available on the highly anticipated aircraft, Hughes said the community is welcome to share their input with the team.
Hughes continued: “While the design is fairly well along its way, there’s still a few decisions that we might be able to make, and just hearing people’s input is very valuable to us. We still have design refinements that our engineering team is working on, and when you change one thing on an airplane, a lot of other things can change, so we don’t want to promise anything to the public. The Van’s engineering methodology is total performance, and takes the time that it takes to get it just right, so when people ask, ‘When is it going to be done?’ When it’s done!”
