Ken joined the Van’s engineering team in 1996. His first project was the RV-8 and since then Ken has also participated in the detail design of the RV-9, RV-7, RV-10, and RV-12. During his free time, Ken has also designed, built, and flown a single-seat VW powered aircraft.

Ken’s interest in aviation started very early. "Both my mom and dad were pilots and for my dad owning an aircraft was almost as much a necessity as a car. Family vacations often revolved around trips in the airplane. Flying has been my only interest for as long as I can remember. I’m sure my strong interest in aircraft was sparked by having been around airplanes since childhood."

"I built and flew model airplanes as a child. Math and Science were my favorite subjects in school so I had a good foundation for an engineering education. While I would have loved to have had the opportunity to fly military aircraft, my poor vision eliminated that possibility. I knew even before I started high school that I wanted to earn a university degree in aeronautical engineering; the thought being that if I won’t be able to fly high performance military aircraft, I will be able to participate in their design."

Ken earned his degree in Aerospace Engineering from San Diego State University.

Undeterred in his quest to fly, Ken started flight instruction at 17 and earned his license at 19.

About the time Ken left home for college, a pilot friend from his home-town began building an obscure airplane called an RV-4. "While home during breaks and summers from SDSU, I was able to drop by his shop and monitor the building process. It was neat to put what I was learning at university together with what I was seeing as the RV-4 took shape over the period of a couple of years."

To scratch his flying itch, Ken began hanging-out at Gillespie field in El Cajon and rented a Citabria for occasional local flights. "After I got to know the owner, he offered to pay me to help restore an Aeronca Chief. This was a great "hands-on" experience that complemented the theoretical foundation I was getting at SDSU."

While at college Ken found more than an engineering degree. "There was a very sweet and pretty girl named Susan who lived in the same dorm building as me. One of our first outings together was a sightseeing drive to a local airport. I don’t remember this, but Susan likes to tell people that early in our relationship, we were talking and she says I stopped the conversation and told her, 'Aviation is a major interest of mine, if we are going to have a long relationship, you will need to know that I’m going to be involved in flying or we might as well end this right now.’ I’m glad she decided to let me stay around and that she has been so supportive of my aviation exploits."

Susan and Ken were married just before Ken finished his Aerospace Engineering degree. Their daughter Amy has been flying with her dad since she was about 1 year old. Except for airliners and one flight in a Cessna, all her flight time is in RV’s. Amy’s favorite summer vacation destination: AirVenture fly-in at Oshkosh.

After graduation from SDSU, Ken got a job at Douglas Aircraft Company working on the C-17. "Douglas was a great place to start my engineering career. Because I was new to the Aerospace Industry, everything was very interesting. The C-17 is a neat aircraft with unique capabilities and I’m glad to have participated a tiny amount in its development.

Another nice thing about having a "real" job was that it provided enough extra income to allow Ken and Susan to join the ranks of aircraft owners. "We looked at a few aircraft and ended-up buying a Citabria. We used that aircraft to travel around Southern California."

"About the time I began working at Douglas, I got a ride in my friend’s now completed RV-4 and was very impressed. I knew that as soon as I was able, that I would build an airplane and my first choice was an RV-4.

"While I very much enjoyed working at DAC, the cost of housing in Southern California and the declining quality of life made me seek an aerospace job at Boeing so that I could be in a place where I could afford to buy a house rather than simply rent an apartment. I spent almost six years at Boeing. While there I worked on the B-2, a proposal for a Navy attack aircraft, and moved over to F-22 after the Navy chose to buy the Super Hornet rather than the proposal aircraft I had been working on."

Finally located in their own home with a garage, Ken began building an RV-6 in 1990 and first flew it in September of 1993. "Again, it was a neat contrast to see what I had going-on at work with what I was building during my off hours. Suddenly, the idea of designing for ease of assembly and ease of maintenance took-on a new importance to me." The RV-6 final assembly and early test flights were conducted out of the Arlington, Washington airport, and Ken was well looked after by members of the Blackjack Squadron…very helpful!

"So I’m building this airplane at home and thinking that this would put me in good standing at work. Surprisingly, my supervisor at the time seemed rather uninterested in this. I knew that I was bringing a lot of beneficial outside experience to my work. This incident, plus many others, convinced me that I wasn’t a good fit in the corporate culture of Boeing. I found another job in Seattle with a company called Claircom where I helped develop installations of telephones on airliners.

"After a little more than a year working with Claircom, I saw an ad in the Rvator stating that Van’s was looking for someone to work in the R & D shop. On a whim, I sent a resume to North Plains, Oregon not really expecting to get a response. Imagine my surprise when, one night the phone rings and the voice on the other end says, ‘Hi. This is Dick VanGrunsven…’ Van is calling me and he wants to talk. Cool! One thing led to another and Susan and I pulled-up stakes and moved south to Oregon. Though many years have passed since I started work Van’s Aircraft I am still having fun as part of a team of folks who share a love for designing, building, and testing aircraft."