The first two RV-15 wing kits left Van’s Aircraft’s Aurora, Oregon factory on December 23, 2025, bound for Reno air racer Kevin Eldredge and pilot Spanky Melton. The shipments were symbolic of Van’s aggressive post-bankruptcy restructuring and confidence in the company’s most ambitious new design in decades.
Van’s is shipping wing kits now, and Van’s says sales are exceeding expectations. The $21,000 wing kits—featuring Van’s fastest-building wing to date, factory-built fuel tanks, and innovative vortex-generator-equipped flaps—arrive in stackable plastic boxes with each component identified by photo, part number, and QR code for easy reordering.
For builders who weathered Van’s 2023-2024 financial crisis and the company’s May 2024 Chapter 11 emergence, the RV-15 production launch signals the dawn of Van’s second act. The past four months—October 2025 through February 2026—demonstrate a company executing systematic transformation while maintaining the engineering excellence and builder support that enabled the creation of 11,000 RVs over five decades.
The High Wing Gambit
The RV-15 represents Van’s first high-wing aircraft and its boldest market expansion since the four-seat RV-10 debuted in 2003. Designed for backcountry operations while retaining RV cross-country capability, the RV-15 targets the growing utility/STOL segment where Kitfox, Just Aircraft, and Rans designs dominate…