"Van" Flies His RV-12 LSA Entry...Big Grin

“Van” Flies His RV-12 LSA Entry…Big Grin

bydanjohnson

Monday, September 17, 2007 at 04:03 PM ET

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Key Takeaways:

Van's Aircraft successfully completed the first flight of its RV-12 Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) prototype, piloted by founder Dick VanGrunsven, marking its entry into the LSA market alongside Cessna.
The RV-12 prototype demonstrated strong initial performance, with a respectable 714-pound empty weight, a 606-pound useful load, easy takeoff, good climb, and "snappy" roll rate.
Flight characteristics were positive, described as having gentle and conventional stalls, leading to VanGrunsven's evident satisfaction after the flight.

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Van’s RV-12 prototype had 606 pounds of useful load with 19 gallons (115 lb.) of fuel. This gives RV-12 491 pounds for people and baggage. Van’s said this is “about as good as any of our other 2-seat airplanes.” Follow the progress of Van’s RV-12 project.

Cessna shows an LSA. Van’s Aircraft shows an LSA. Cessna flies their LSA. Van’s flies their LSA. Is it a race? Company founder and designer Dick VanGrunsven first flew his RV-12 on November 9th. The largest airplane builder (Cessna) and the largest kit company (Van’s) have now flown their LSA entries, each a product of ambitiously rapid development periods. *** The prototype RV-12 came in at a respectable 714 pounds empty, less than what many insiders thought yet within one pound of VanGrunsven’s prediction. “[Van and RV-12] certainly got off the ground easily and climbed well, passing almost inaudibly over our engineering and tech support staff,” Ken Scott wrote. Roll rate was described as “pretty snappy.” VanGrunsven said it felt at least as quick as the RV-9. Stalls were reported as gentle and conventional. Scott concluded: “We can report that when Van taxied in and opened the swing-up canopy, he was grinning.”