OVER THE PAST 15 YEARS the recreational aviation fraternity has been moving away from fast tricky composite pocket rockets to good old-fashioned aluminium high wing STOL taildraggers, for 'backcountry' flying.
Yet Vans soldiered on, making fast low-wing planes with evolutionary rather than revolutionary designs coming at an ever-slower rate. Thus, the RV-14 was not much more than a 120% version of the RV-7. Vans' fans were clamouring for a high-wing bush plane - and it just was not coming.
The other manufactures were rubbing their hands together in glee - most notably Rans - whose S-21 was the plane Van's fliers had hoped the next RV would be. At the bottom of the African continent, the Sling boys finally got on with the job of designing and building their much-awaited High Wing and as can be seen from our feature on their epic Oshkosh adventure - they have come up with yet another winner.
The years went by - and still nothing from Vans. Finally, in early 2021, Vans admitted to having a taildragger in design. And that was it. Then, a month before Oshkosh this year, pictures were leaked of the RV-15 flying. The long wait was over.
The question is - has it been worth it - will the legions of Vans fans be happy?
In a revealing interview with the UK Flyer magazine at Oshkosh this year, Van's President and CTO Rian Johnson admitted Richard Van Grunsven had been talking about a high wing since 2002. However, the growth of the RV business had taken up so much engineering capacity that it left none for new product development.
Johnson said that over the past two years he had assembled a great engineering team. "They finally had the opportunity to design and build the airplane that we have been thinking about for quite some time. Over the past 10 years the design has now fully come together."
Denne historien er fra August 2022-utgaven av SA Flyer Magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Denne historien er fra August 2022-utgaven av SA Flyer Magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Iris - her early years: IRIS FLIES ACROSS SUDAN
Laura McDermid continues her stories about Iris McCallum's early years in East Africa and the Sudan. In part 1 of this story she recounts how she had to fly a bunch of Belgian Missionaries to Aweil, a city in northwestern South Sudan, from Wilson in Nairobi in her old mate 'ARN', the Piper Aztec 5Y-ARN.
UGLY IS PRETTY: LEAR 25 VS PILATUS PC-6
When you go to a party where you don't know anybody, you should always go for the 'Ugly' girl, because she will be happy that you chose to spend time with her.
CIRRUS G7 LAUNCHED IN AFRICA
What makes one aircraft better than another? Range, Speed, or carrying capacity, short field performance, operating costs, high wing, low wing, side stick, traditional control yoke?
PRESIDENT'S TROPHY AIR RACE 2024
The annual Presidents Trophy Air Race (PTAR) is the highlight of the year for many competitive general aviation pilots.
THE ABSA LOWVELD AIRSHOW 2024
This year marked the thirtieth edition of the Lowveld airshow – and it was widely acclaimed as the best ever.
PREVIEW: AFRICAN AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE EXPO(AAD)
Guy Leitch finds out from AAD Exhibition Director, Ms Nakedi Phasha, how the buildup to this year's biennial expo is going, and what visitors and exhibitors can expect.
APRIL 2023
April has been a very quiet month on the local aviation marketplace with only nine new registration allocations and three deletions, according to the officially-supplied register review.
PIPISTREL PANTHERA FINALLY HERE
One of the world's most eagerly awaited piston single engine aircraft designs has finally arrived in South Africa. ZU-KTR is a long awaited Panthera, proudly owned by Bertus Kritzinger, a Free State trucker, and based at New Tempe in Bloemfontein, where the well-known Ferriera Aviation has assembled it.
STAGGERWING - ALREADY OLD WHEN NEW
The Staggerwing was the climax, and the end, of an era.
The Aim of Bombing
In modern warfare it's not the soldiers who die - it's the civilians. One of the best examples of this is carpet bombing.