Everyone in the RV Community was shocked when Van’s Aircraft announced a cash flow problem on October 27, 2023. On December 4, 2023, Van’s Aircraft announced they are filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. While this is an initial shock to the community, we believe that they have their plan together to remain the key supplier of airplane kits, they have a good plan to get through this rough financial period, and that Van’s will emerge as a stronger and more reliable supplier.

A point of interest for all current and future RV Airplane Kit customers is our recent experience of tool kit orders for RV airplanes. Within the last three weeks we received calls from RV builders stating that Van’s had shipped their airplane kits and they needed a tool kit quickly. We shipped out two RV-14 tool kits, one RV-8 tool kit, and one RV-10 tool kit. It is apparent to us that Van’s is still shipping airplane kits! They realize protecting their existing and new customers is their number one priority to emerge from this Chapter 11 successfully.

Their Chapter 11 plan is available to download at this link: https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?p=1729539#post1729539

Review of their filing shows they have the right professionals on their team and have a plan that should be totally successful. The filing includes that any deposits made after October 6, 2023 for airplane kits are held in a separate trust account. This will protect any airplane kit customers that place a new order with Van’s Aircraft.

Existing airplane kit orders with deposits made prior to the Chapter 11 filing will be subject to a price adjustment. Each customer will have the ability to accept or reject the new adjusted kit price in effect after the filing. Obviously, the kit prices are going to increase. Van’s learned that it was selling their airplane kits below cost which is a major cause of their initial cash flow issue.

Since 1972 there have been over 11,000 RV airplanes completed and thousands of more under construction. This means that 1/3 of all homebuilt airplanes certified by the FAA are Van’s RV’s. There are more Van’s RV’s than any other kit-built airplane in the world. Van’s has a great product and they are taking the right steps to ensure their future will keep them as the world leader in home-built airplanes.