Van's Air Force
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Commentary: Why Van’s Shouldn’t Kill the RV-15
- Thread starter DeltaRomeo
- Start date
rocketman1988
Well Known Member
Two words
Revenue Stream
I would gladly invest in my -15 right now…
Revenue Stream
I would gladly invest in my -15 right now…
I think the -15 looks awesome and I hope it comes to fruition... I'm sure they have a couple guys continuing to work on it, but it should be on the backburner.
But I don't think your "investment" would help Vans right now. All order deposit money is going into a separate bank account not to be used for parts (unlike their old way). What Vans needs is to deliver kits (at I assume a new higher price).
Personally I would think it would be appropriate to make current customers who are waiting for kits/parts a priority.
PilotjohnS
Well Known Member
Not Now
I cant see the judge allowing the 15 to proceed. Starting of production must be a drain on capital, and the company has none, it is bankrupt. I dont think we will hear anymore about the -15 until the LCP issue is completely resolved and they are out of bankruptcy.
In fact, it would be a good time to sale the RV-15 to another company, "Nike aircraft?" and let a startup get that going. Unlike the other RVs, I think the RV15 does not have a lot of parts in common with the current offerings.
I cant see the judge allowing the 15 to proceed. Starting of production must be a drain on capital, and the company has none, it is bankrupt. I dont think we will hear anymore about the -15 until the LCP issue is completely resolved and they are out of bankruptcy.
In fact, it would be a good time to sale the RV-15 to another company, "Nike aircraft?" and let a startup get that going. Unlike the other RVs, I think the RV15 does not have a lot of parts in common with the current offerings.
2theskyy
Well Known Member
rocketman1988
Well Known Member
speculation
Again, speculation. If that is the case, then the RV-10 kits will be $300k, and $600k to finish...
Again, speculation. If that is the case, then the RV-10 kits will be $300k, and $600k to finish...
rocketman1988
Well Known Member
not sure
Not sure you understand how Chap 11 works; they are reorganizing and will need a viable revenue stream to continue operation to fund the reorganization. That means they will NEED to continue selling new kits and NOT stop everything to fulfill waiting orders. Should they be given priority? Absolutely. They business, though, needs to STAY in business for that to happen and selling kits is the way they stay in business.
As for my "investment", I am not the only one. People are beating on their door to give them money for the -15. Sounds like a revenue stream to me...
Not sure you understand how Chap 11 works; they are reorganizing and will need a viable revenue stream to continue operation to fund the reorganization. That means they will NEED to continue selling new kits and NOT stop everything to fulfill waiting orders. Should they be given priority? Absolutely. They business, though, needs to STAY in business for that to happen and selling kits is the way they stay in business.
As for my "investment", I am not the only one. People are beating on their door to give them money for the -15. Sounds like a revenue stream to me...
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rocketman1988
Well Known Member
2theskyy
Well Known Member
It definitely is just speculation at this time.
I thought you’d already spoke of sending in deposit on the 15 a few months ago.
rocketman1988
Well Known Member
Agreed, though the pro forma projections just show $10k a month dedicated to the program.
That's enough for a test pilot and an engineer, they can both pull rivets
Seriously, this is great news to hear. I'm excited about that airplane, it was in my plans.
Kyle Boatright
Well Known Member
Obviously, they can use much of their existing punch, shear, brake, and press equipment, but there are unique tools involved for each new model.
Does anyone have a sense of what it costs to put together the dedicated tooling for a new kit? Presumably dies so you can hydroform ribs and all those other custom parts, plus molds for the windshield, cowling, etc? I'm just trying to understand if the additional tooling is $500,000 or $5M...
Anyone??? Bueller?
I think their biggest problems is how to get the supply chain, production and QC in place for the 15. They have demonstrated over the last two years as is readily apparent reading the bankruptcy filing that they have not been able to scale their supply chain and production to match demand in a financially beneficial manner (uneven production leading to incomplete kits). So making the supply chain more complex right now is the wrong direction. First they need to simplify the supply chain while racing prices on the existing well understood products to make the "easy" money. Then they can think about the 15.
Oliver
Oliver
Pay $25,000+ more for an engine than the ancient Lycoming the RV-15 is designed around, do all the development work for the installation of said different engine, new mount, cowling and all of the other installation details required, and you could probably be in business to sell a half a dozen firewall forward kits to the small number of other people that would be willing to pay a huge premium just to have a kerosene burning engine on the front of their airplane.
My thoughts as well. I don’t think the -15 will be “killed” but it will most likely be delayed due to supplier capacity.
Let's not forget there is a lot of work still to do on the prototype RV-15, which needs to have the new wing structure and the new fuselage mated then flight tested. This gives Van's sufficient time to work through supplier needs. Remember, too, that a bunch of stuff on the airplane is CNC machined and the company has significant internal resources for that.
It's also very likely that any of the initial kits would be made up pieces they could do in house with existing equipment.
All of that is likely to get in line behind getting replacement parts to existing builders, as I understand the situation.
It's also very likely that any of the initial kits would be made up pieces they could do in house with existing equipment.
All of that is likely to get in line behind getting replacement parts to existing builders, as I understand the situation.
AeroEngineer
Active Member
At Oshkosh, Rian announced that Robin Coss is developing a diesel firewall-forward installation for the RV-14. If he puts in enough work to iron out the kinks, it would probably be a relatively small amount of work to then adapt that installation to the RV-15.
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