Van's Air Force - Minnesota Wing
The Twin Cities RV Builder's Group
A Trip to Van's Factory
November 2002
by Doug Weiler
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In my travels for our friendly, hometown airline, I often have flights to Portland, OR, but up until now, they have been short overnight stays. Finally, this month I had a long enough layover to visit Van's new factory in Aurora. Thus a quick call to Jerry VanGrunsven and the itinerary was laid out.
We landed around 11 am and as our 757 turned final for runway 10R at PDX, I could see a pretty extensive layer of fog to the south obscuring Hillsboro and the terrain down towards Aurora. But the weather guys said it was going to break up soon. We'll see...
Jerry met me at the hotel and we headed out to his home just west of Hillsboro.
Jerry and Judy have added a lot on to their home on a 2000' residential airpark. Jerry has a great shop plus a large hangar currently stuffed with 2 RV-4s, 1 RV-6A, plus his new RV-8A.
The fog was slowly lifting outside so we had lunch and Jerry called the factory to see if the fog had cleared so we might fly down. No luck.. still pea soup in Aurora. We still had an hour or so to decide whether we could fly there or not, so Jerry invited me to go flying in his -8A in the local area.
Jerry put me in the front seat (trusting soul!!) and we headed out. After takeoff, Jerry showed me the VanGrunsven homestead with its famous 500' grass runway. I climbed out and we headed south to see how far the fog extended. A couple minutes on a southerly heading showed the Aurora area blanketed under a dense blanket of white. So we gave up on that idea and Jerry gave me a demo of his AOA Pro model angle of attack indicator.
The AOA instrument is truly amazing and Jerry made a believer out of me in no time. The instrument display is mounted just above his instrument panel which makes it plainly visible during approach. 
The chevron display shows a direct indication of your margin above stall. The readout is your angle of attack. It is amazing how sensitive it is. For example, he had me slow to 80 mph. The AOA showed an indication in the middle of the yellow band. Jerry told me to simply roll into a 45 degree bank. I did so and immediately the display sank into the red. The IAS never budged, but my stall margin was greatly reduced. Yanking back on the stick more resulted in an urgent female voice in my headset: "Angle! Angle, Push! Push!" In other words, back off on the stick and reduce your angle of attack. What a great safety device!!! Check out AOA's website for all the details.
The chevron display shows a direct indication of your margin above stall. The readout is your angle of attack. It is amazing how sensitive it is. For example, he had me slow to 80 mph. The AOA showed an indication in the middle of the yellow band. Jerry told me to simply roll into a 45 degree bank. I did so and immediately the display sank into the red. The IAS never budged, but my stall margin was greatly reduced. Yanking back on the stick more resulted in an urgent female voice in my headset: "Angle! Angle, Push! Push!" In other words, back off on the stick and reduce your angle of attack. What a great safety device!!! Check out AOA's website for all the details.We headed back to his airstrip, and I entered a rather tight pattern because of the proximity of the Hillsboro airport, 3 miles to the east. Flying just the angle of attack, I made a passable approach and landing in a strange airplane to a strange airport. Flying by the AOA is a great confidence builder!!
We gave on the idea of flying to the factory, so we hit the road.
Van's plant is very impressive. The last time I visited Van's was in 1992. It is well laid out, clean, and everything you would like to see in the largest sport aircraft manufacturer on the planet.
Here's a short photo tour:
Spars, spars, and more spars...
Jim Daggett has been crating kits for years. The most amazing thing is that he is blind. To watch him work is absolutely amazing!!
Jerry checks out a container of quick-builds fresh from the Philippines
How about some flaps and ailerons??
Here's the magical machine that cuts out perfect parts
And here's the parts!!
Here's the RV-10 mold for the fiberglas cabin top
Jerry shows the RV-10's inside baggage doors. They swing away to provide access to the baggage area.
The RV-10 is BIG... 48" inches cabin width. A nice console between each seat.
Here's where your hardware bags are put together
Just more stacks and stack of parts ready to go. You have to admire the organization needed to get everything together and out the door.
Jerry and I had a very interesting visit. I came away with a new respect for the quality and professionalism of Van's. I think we can be assured that they will continue to be on the leading edge of sport aircraft design and manufacturer for many years to come.