Today we had the unfortunate task of relocating the RV-10 project - or at least the vast majority of it - to storage for the winter. With Van's still working through their financial troubles and the laser-cut parts debacle, we needed to clear up the garage space so that I can refocus on some home projects. The garage is going to transition from airplane factory to woodshop for the next few months; there just isn't room for both. We managed to fit the tailcone in to the back of the Tahoe. The cabin top worked as well but we had to scoot the seats up too far for me to even fit into either front seat, so Julie had to drive that trip while I followed in the other car....she's a great sport!!
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This is a real bummer of an update to have to make. Just as it was looking like we might be inching towards resolution to the laser cut parts debacle with hope of replacement parts that would allow building to resume, the company has announced that they are effectively suspending operations while they reorganize over the next couple of weeks (more likely months). The update informed the community that Van's Aircraft has only been kept afloat for the last few months by loans funded by founder Richard Vangrunsven and his wife. With the building community demanding replacement parts on the company's dime (and rightfully so), it is clearly no longer sustainable for them. Reading between the lines, it would appear that a bankruptcy filing is likely imminent, and if the company survives, likely large increases in kit prices. We shall wait to see what impact this will have on our project and the deposit we have in on the only kit we have yet to take delivery on - the finishing kit. We remain hopeful that Van's can weather this storm and continue to produce the greatest homebuilt kits on the market in general aviation.
In the meantime, we will likely be moving our current parts to storage and reorganizing the garage to tackle some home projects over the winter. Even if Van's is able to quickly determine a path forward, it is highly unlikely that we will receive replacement parts to move forward in any meaningful way in the next few months. It's funny how frustrations somehow work out to be a blessing in disguise. We weren't able to invest much time on the project during May & June due to other obligations and adjusting to a change in work schedule (i.e. back to the commute). As things started to settle down and there was talk of resuming our riveting of the tailcone, there were blurbs online about builders having issues with laser cut parts provided by Van's. This culminated with the following post on Van's website on July 4:
"In early 2022, Van’s began manufacturing some parts via partner contractors utilizing a fiber laser cutting process. This decision was made after completing a formal manufacturing process evaluation and extensive fatigue testing of materials used in the manufacturing process, with the purpose of increasing the production capacity for some parts during a period of high demand. Van’s has recently received reports from builders that cracks have formed in some parts with laser-cut holes while dimpling, or while riveting the dimpled holes. We are acting on those reports and investing time, resources, and energy to address customer concerns and provide answers." Before long, a list of approximately 5 pages worth of parts that could have potentially be laser cut for the RV-10 was shared by Van's outlining which were in each of the various stages of testing. It would seem that we were largely spared on the rudder and vertical stabilizer that we've completed but I still have some verification to perform. Same goes for the horizontal stabilizer. As for the tailcone that is in process, I'm pretty sure that several (if not all) of the bulkheads were laser cut and will need to be replaced. I am almost done reviewing our parts list for the wing and fuselage kit and have identfied dozens of laser cut parts that will need replacement. In the end I'm grateful that we hadn't been hard-charging through the kit over these last couple/few months or we would have had a lot more heartbreak in terms of required disassembly. Based on my inventory, it would seem I'll be able to proceed with the elevators and possibly skip ahead to the ailerons while awaiting further word from Van's. Couldn't have asked for better timing for the long-backordered Van's light box to be delivered after finishing my work on the vertical stab. Julie has been looking forward to getting involved and learning what this build process is all about, so the light box was the perfect place to start! So far she's found that she likes dimpling with the pneumatic squeezer. The light box is now completed with the exception of deciding on how to hang it below my floating shelves and some cleanup to rid the aluminum of the writing. The inside of the light box has orange LED strip lighting which gives the Van's logo a cool glow!
This afternoon I finished up on the last practice kit and couldn't wait to get rolling on the real thing. Moved right in to work on the vertical stabilizer. Most construction updates will now be posted in their individual sections by clicking on the 'Menu' link in the upper-right corner of the screen. Today's work can be found under empennage/tailcone, or here. Things should start happening at a much quicker pace and updates will be made much more frequently. Thanks for following along!
My how quickly things can change! When we first ordered our RV-10 empennage/tailcone and wing kits, we anticipated seeing the empennage/tailcone sometime in April with the wings about 3 months later. This was based on current lead times at the time of our order. The lead times for Van's have been very dynamic with a tremendously high volume of orders, material shortages, shipping challenges, etc. We were very surprised to get the email a few weeks ago that our wing kit was heading to crating - months before we expected! We are fortunate to be in the PNW and relatively close to Van's (4 hour drive), so yesterday I hopped on a one-way flight to PDX, loaded the kit into a U-Haul, and made the trek home. Just a hair under 12 hours from time I left for the airport to backing into the driveway with our first airplane parts!
This afternoon we received the long-awaited email from Van's Aircraft with our builder number and next steps. We are officially in line for the empennage/tailcone and wing kits! By late Spring/early Summer we should be hammering rivets. Going to be an exciting few months!
On October 14, 2021, we clicked "send" on the email that will set us on the wonderful adventure! Our kit order form has been sent to Van's to hold our place in line. We decided to order the empennage/tailcone and wing kits at the same time in hopes that the wing kit would be ready about the time we finish up the empennage!
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