Van's RV-15 Production Pushed to Late 2025

The high-wing, two-seat backcountry airplane is currently undergoing flight testing.

Marc Cook

Thursday, July 25, 2024 at 10:01 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Van’s Aircraft RV-15 [Credit: Matt Beaubien]

Key Takeaways:

The Van's RV-15 bushplane is expected to move toward production by late next year (late 2025), with ongoing flight testing now receiving the engineering team's full attention.
Engineers are testing various configurations, including a smaller wing (160 sq ft) to balance low-speed capability with cruise speed, and different tail designs, such as a conventional tail.
Planned design changes include a new fuselage that moves the wing aft and features a more raked windshield for a sleeker profile, along with ergonomic tweaks to the instrument panel.
The current Lycoming IO-390 powerplant is not expected to change for the production model.

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OSHKOSH, Wisconsin—As part of its presentation Tuesday morning at EAA AirVenture, Van’s Aircraft offered an update on the high-wing RV-15, which is now expected to move toward production by late next year.

The bushplane was not at AirVenture in part because the flight testing is still ongoing. Van’s engineering staff, which was recently split into development and quality-assurance arms, has focused on other projects but has been back to flying the engineering prototype RV-15 since April. The aircraft is expected to get the team’s full attention this summer.