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Waiting on Empennage Kit.....Are you?

Anyone know what the -2 stands for?

It just indicates major revision number 2 of that kit's bill of materials (the list of stuff that's in that kit). The most recent revision to the RV-10 standard fuse and wing kits (I believe it happened in late 2020) was when we moved the spar center section assembly from the RV-10 wing kit to the fuselage kit.
 
It just indicates major revision number 2 of that kit's bill of materials (the list of stuff that's in that kit). The most recent revision to the RV-10 standard fuse and wing kits (I believe it happened in late 2020) was when we moved the spar center section assembly from the RV-10 wing kit to the fuselage kit.

Thanks for the clarification, Greg!
 
Crating date just updated on wing kit in the portal. If you were part of the batch who got that notification, I’d go check the kit portal.
 
Kit Portal Usage

I read somewhere -perhaps here - that the kit number and email work for the kit portal. I think it depends upon how the kits were entered into VANS system. The email does not work for me, the zip code does.

Just a data point.

Best regards,
Mike
 
I got the wing notification and the payment has been made and cleared bank, but the portal has not yet been updated.
 
Empennage order 10/18/2021. Timeframe was 6 months when ordered. Obviously, that is no longer valid. I am beginning to wonder if I am going to be able to start this year. Tough to make plans while hanging in limbo. Getting a glimmer of hope based on some of the responses above but still skeptical.

UPDATE - Just watched the youtube video update. Feeling a little more optimistic but the process is still developing so I am sure we can expect a few more bumps in the road.
 
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Empennage order 10/18/2021. Timeframe was 6 months when ordered. Obviously, that is no longer valid. I am beginning to wonder if I am going to be able to start this year. Tough to make plans while hanging in limbo. Getting a glimmer of hope based on some of the responses above but still skeptical.

UPDATE - Just watched the youtube video update. Feeling a little more optimistic but the process is still developing so I am sure we can expect a few more bumps in the road.

Based on todays update it sounds like the Empennage kits are next in the "train" So I'm hoping we all hear more about these in Late March, April, or Early May possibly. I ordered my wings and fuselage together due to the original estimates and now will be starting the wings first as a result of the delays.
 
Talked to a very nice lady at Vans over the last few days and she has passed along this info:

Crating department is currently working through packing a large quantity of RV-10 and 14 standard wing kits. The next kits to be packed will be the RV-10 emp. She estimated that it may be mid April for my kit (ordered June 1, 2021) to be ready to ship.
 
Just Paid Shipping

Repeating earlier info for SB Wings (-10)...

Ordered late July 2021.

Paid for shipping today, March 1, 2022.

FYI,
Mike
 
Just received "Straight Bill of Lading" from ABF. Nothing from Vans about this. Is this a bill, shipping notification, or what? It says $1,500 due upon arrival.

Am I to expect a call from shipper?
 
I am expecting my SB wing (will call pickup) towards the last week in March. Just made final payment for SB fuselage. Not in crating yet. The Van’s video update indicated us SB wing/fuselage builders are benefiting from the shipping delays to the QB vendors. I’ll probably get all my kits at about the same time. The dilemma will be which kit to start on. I’ll have the wing first, but they take up the most room. It will be a race between the fuselage and empennage.
 
Just received "Straight Bill of Lading" from ABF. Nothing from Vans about this. Is this a bill, shipping notification, or what? It says $1,500 due upon arrival.

Am I to expect a call from shipper?

We're working on setting up some standard communication to send to customers prior to the bill of lading being sent, specifically on this topic.

Meanwhile, this is pulled from our Kit Ordering Policies page on our web site:

You will receive a Bill of Lading or other appropriate shipping documents when we ship your kit, typically via email from the shipping company, which will indicate whether that shipment is Prepaid or Collect. The freight carrier will contact you to make delivery arrangements and to arrange payment as required when the freight items arrive at the closest terminal or depot, and before they deliver to your address.

Hope that helps. We'll find a good place to communicate this info to customers shortly before it actually happens.
 
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We're working on setting up some standard communication to send to customers prior to the bill of lading being sent, specifically on this topic.

Meanwhile, this is pulled from our Kit Ordering Policies page on our web site:

You will receive a Bill of Lading or other appropriate shipping documents when we ship your kit, typically via email from the shipping company, which will indicate whether that shipment is Prepaid or Collect. The freight carrier will contact you to make delivery arrangements and to arrange payment as required when the freight items arrive at the closest terminal or depot, and before they deliver to your address.

Hope that helps. We'll find a good place to communicate this info to customers shortly before it actually happens.

Thank you Greg! So it sounds like this means one of my kits has shipped. Good news!
 
Thank you Greg! So it sounds like this means one of my kits has shipped. Good news!

It means the bill of lading has been issued, which is the precursor to the truck coming to pick up the kit so they can take it to you! Every shipper is a little different, and that's part of what we want to try to find a good way to communicate without having to manually send a bunch more emails every day (we're swamped, so trying to strike a balance and also work on some automation options for communication).

So - yep. :)
 
The communication lately from Vans has been fantastic. Thank you Greg and Rian for the video updates and regular posts on the forum.

I am hoping the next update would help those of us waiting on our first kit. Will we be in the upcoming "train" of RV-10 emps, or will we wait a cycle? I think most of us dont even need hard dates or estimates, but to know if we are "soonish" or "not-so-soonish" (5 months cycle estimate) might be nice.

I am personally debating finishing off my basement with drywall and HVAC for the workshop, but dont want to start on that project if my kit will arrive mid-project.

Thanks again Vans!
 
Emp ordered 8 July 21. Kit status page updated this evening with estimated crating dates May 6-27.

Slow build Wings and fuselage ordered mid December 21. Wings updated with estimated crating date June 27-July 25. No update on fuselage as of yet.

Glad to see an estimated date for crating at last. Movement, progress. All good.

Patrick
 
Empennage ordered December 7, 2021. Estimated crating May 6-27. Must have got lucky on the empennage train.
 
Ordered all kits 7/14/21. Received email tonight with estimated dates of May 6-27th for empennage. QB fuse and wings have a date range of Sep 28th thru Jan 10th 2023. It sounds like another train full will be departing soon! It's all good, can't wait to get started! :):)
 
We just sent out more than a thousand update emails through the Kit Status portal with updates for customers. Those updates happen almost daily, so as we continue to plan we will send more updates. Today was a significant load of data from the first "train." We will keep focused on our planning work each and every day.

These email notifications are (mostly) new, and we've enhanced the system to communicate some useful info when certain things change, and to let you know what's coming up in the next steps of your kit's fulfillment lifecycle. We hope this helps somewhat with communication and overall context.

We know that the notifications don't all contain the news people are hoping for. Some customers have been waiting quite a while for their kits, and our new large-batch production process - which has us focused on manufacturing and delivering a large number of the same kit all at once - results in some kits being delayed more than we'd like.

Getting through this change phase - which is a difficult one, to be sure - is necessary in order to come out the other end of this situation in a better place operationally, so we can best deliver and support everyone over time. That doesn't make it any easier for people who have been waiting for their kits, I realize. Despite the frustration, I'm confident that when you finish your airplane you'll love flying it for many, many years.
 
Emp ordered 8 July 21. Kit status page updated this evening with estimated crating dates May 6-27.

Slow build Wings and fuselage ordered mid December 21. Wings updated with estimated crating date June 27-July 25. No update on fuselage as of yet.

Glad to see an estimated date for crating at last. Movement, progress. All good.

Patrick
Ordered emp July 21, just before Osh. Got the same message today. Ordered QB kits at the same time, Wing crating window starts in Sept, Fuse in Dec.
 
So 5 months (or more?) of RV-10 empennage kit orders are all scheduled to be crated in the same month? Is this possible?

Jim

Their last video did say something like 100 units worth were redirected from going to Brazil, to SB orders.
I received the same message about mine, ordered in Nov, that almost gets back to the original expected readiness date. :)

So (newbie wonderings) guess that means somewhere in that time frame I get the call for the last of the money. (So's my friend Guido here doesn't has to pays yous a visit :cool: )
then a monthish later a call to get 'this box out of our way' (will call)
 
Their last video did say something like 100 units worth were redirected from going to Brazil, to SB orders.
I received the same message about mine, ordered in Nov, that almost gets back to the original expected readiness date. :)

So (newbie wonderings) guess that means somewhere in that time frame I get the call for the last of the money. (So's my friend Guido here doesn't has to pays yous a visit :cool: )
then a monthish later a call to get 'this box out of our way' (will call)

All RV-10 empennage kits are SB so none should have been destined to the QB plants. SB wings and fuselages are what you're referring to and, indeed, its been reported here that customers are getting SB wings before empennages.
 
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All RV-10 empennage kits are SB so none should have been destined to the QB plants. SB wings and fuselages are what you're referring to and, indeed, its been reported here that customers are getting SB wings before empennages.

That would be my situation as well. Emp and wings ordered same day; wings now projected to crate first by about 4 weeks.
 
My kit status was updated today with some encouraging news. QB fuselage crating window actually moved up a month!
 
Another update- my fuselage order now also has crating window. It is substantially earlier than what lead times indicated when I ordered. I expected to see it crated in October/November 2022. It now shows crating window in June 2022. The order was placed in December 2021. Good to see that Vans is getting ahead of the backlog.
 
-10 Wings

Excited to report -10 wings that were ordered in February are expected to crate in July timeframe.
 
Another update- my fuselage order now also has crating window. It is substantially earlier than what lead times indicated when I ordered. I expected to see it crated in October/November 2022. It now shows crating window in June 2022. The order was placed in December 2021. Good to see that Vans is getting ahead of the backlog.

Excited to report -10 wings that were ordered in February are expected to crate in July timeframe.


These are standard build kits, right?
 
Standard builds on mine. Wings also have a July crating window, though they were ordered prior to the fuselage which is now 2 weeks sooner than the wings.
So be ready to pay for the kits you have on order. Quoted lead times did in fact over estimate in my case (save for empennage that will have been almost 11 months when it goes to crating in May).
 
I ordered my quickbuild wings in October 2020. They are supposed to be here in June, last update I got.
 
Purchased -10 emp kit in Sep '21. Just received email saying crating should happen sometime in May '22.

-Steve W.
 
Ordered all kits 7/14/21. Received email tonight with estimated dates of May 6-27th for empennage. QB fuse and wings have a date range of Sep 28th thru Jan 10th 2023. It sounds like another train full will be departing soon! It's all good, can't wait to get started! :):)

Received email yesterday stating empennage was preparing to be crated and requested final payment.
 
In the first half of this week, many customers who are waiting for their tail/emplennage kits will be receiving emails asking for the final balance due payment on their kits, because we are gearing up to ship a whole bunch of these kits soon. Here’s what we anticipate will be included in these manufacturing batches and shipping out to new builders in the near future. We may have to vary slightly from this list, but it reflects the current production plan.

all RV-14 tail kits ordered before 11/18/21
all RV-10 tail kits ordered before 12/16/21
all RV-9 emp kits currently on order
all RV-8 emp kits currently on order
all RV-7 emp kits currently on order

We anticipate we may have a few extra -9 and -7 emp kits available in this batch, so if you or someone you know are thinking about placing an order for one of those, it might be good timing, from a lead-time perspective.

We will also be shipping a variety of other kits of course, and know that we’re working hard on all of them. As we’ve described in our video updates, we have made some changes to our production planning and execution methods to optimize production and get things back toward more reasonable timelines. This takes some time to fully execute, and we appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding during a frustrating time for the industry. While we cannot prevent every form of disruption, the changes we have made and continue to make will help limit some of the risks associated with supply chain and materials shortages, as well as a variety of other potential disruptions.

We will share more again soon!
 
In the first half of this week, many customers who are waiting for their tail/emplennage kits will be receiving emails asking for the final balance due payment on their kits, because we are gearing up to ship a whole bunch of these kits soon.

Greg, when we receive this shipping notice, is the usual crating period still included (4-6 weeks, then shipping?)
 
As we’ve described in our video updates, we have made some changes to our production planning and execution methods to optimize production and get things back toward more reasonable timelines. This takes some time to fully execute, and we appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding during a frustrating time for the industry.

Counting myself lucky to be in the aforementioned group that was just asked to hand over a bunch of cash :). still would like to see the vid about the laser cutting process and curious if this coming batch of kits will include what kind of percentage of lasered parts?
 
Greg, when we receive this shipping notice, is the usual crating period still included (4-6 weeks, then shipping?)

Typically, yes. Although the crating windows that are communicated are typically shorter than 4-6 weeks on our new batches. Shipping happens asap following crating. With the current volume of crates, we have little room to store things once crated!
 
Thanks for the reply and we understand. We, too, need to make room :) so knowing whether it's a week out or 5 helps tremendously.
 
Received Fuselage and Wings

I received my slow build Fuselage and Wing kits this week. Drove to Aurora to pick them up and went on a factory tour and took a demo ride. Everybody at the factory was really nice. The factory is absolutely amazing. I saw Van arrive to work in an RV-12, went out on the ramp and introduced myself and chatted for a while. Very nice guy.
While I was in Oregon, received an email that said my Empennage crating was to be delayed another three weeks. I placed the Empennage kit order June 7, 2021.
Now I have two kits to inventory and store while I wait for the Empennage.
 
Gregory, thanks for sharing your story and timing info. I would love to get out to Aurora some day myself.
 
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Empennage kit shows assign to crating, may23-27th. That’s a week ahead of the earliest date most recently given after the parts delays. Great job Vans on putting the pieces back together and flexing to the situation!

Can’t wait it’s finally getting close.
 
Got my 7 empennage today!

Ordered the emp. beginning Nov. 2021. Got the kit delivered today!!! So ready to start!
 
On the May23-27th crating train

I ordered my RV10 emp kit last July, and got an update that it's part of the May 23-27th crating run. Tough part is I'll be in Italy all of June, so the timing couldn't be better. It's not that big of a deal, I have friends and fam who can sort it out, just wanted to be here when it arrives. Awe well. Onwards and upwards!
 
I ordered my RV10 emp kit last July, and got an update that it's part of the May 23-27th crating run. Tough part is I'll be in Italy all of June, so the timing couldn't be better. It's not that big of a deal, I have friends and fam who can sort it out, just wanted to be here when it arrives. Awe well. Onwards and upwards!

I ordered in Aug 2021, and my KitStatus was just updated to "May 30 2022 - Jun 20 2022". I guess one month pushed me to the next "train".
 
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