With our short Christmas break just around the corner, the team at Van’s Aircraft packed a very special gift box: The first RV-15 wing kit for delivery to a customer. In fact, not just one but two RV-15 wing kits were trucked away on the afternoon of December 23rd.
Successful Reno racer Kevin Eldredge was first in line at EAA AirVenture 2025 to place a deposit on the RV-15 wing kit, and was the first to pick up his kit at the factory this week. The second kit was originally purchased by Eldredge for his wife, but will now be built by Spanky Melton.
Eldredge and company arrived in time for a tour of Van’s Aircraft, a quick visit with Van’s leadership team and CEO Mikael Via, and even a brief chat with founder Richard VanGrunsven. Since he arrived early, Kevin was able to see a few of the vinyl-protected parts before the lid was screwed down and got to open one of the new “RV Tackle Box” parts-bins debuting with the RV-15. In place of commingled parts, the new system places all kit components into segmented stackable plastic boxes that come with a “placemat” guide including a photo of the actual part, part number, and a QR code that points to our webstore in case additional or replacement parts are needed.
A quick ceremony where all the Van’s employees signed the top of the first crate was followed by loading of the precious cargo onto Eldredge’s flat-bed trailer. His next stop is Spokane, Washington, where his build will take place. Kevin told us that he plans to start on the project soon after Christmas.
RV-15 wing kits will continue to roll out of the factory through the end of the year and deliveries will accelerate in January. Sales of the RV-15 wing kit continue to be above expectations.
With capricious weather disrupting our final flight tests of the RV-15’s horizontal tail, sales of the tail kit will move to the end of January, with deliveries still expected to begin around the end of March. Builders with wing kits already delivered or on order will receive priority when the tail kits are released for sale.
