Van’s Aircraft has initiated the process of phasing in the production of final-size, matched-hole RV-10 parts. Until now, all parts for the RV-10 have been produced with slightly undersized holes, which the builder must up-size with a drill and then debur prior to assembly. We will be transitioning the RV-10 kit to final-sized holes, much like the RV-14 and RV-12iS kits. There is no increase in kit prices associated with this planned change.
We are excited to remove a portion of the initial work that builders need to perform on certain parts of the RV-10 airframe assembly with this change. Aircraft parts with final-size holes may be dimpled and then assembled right out of the box, after deburring the edges of each part as needed. This removes the need to first cleco the parts together, drill them to size in assembly, then disassemble and debur.
This manufacturing transition will take place over the next several months (we anticipate completing the transition sometime in early 2021). During the transition period, customers may receive some portion of their parts with final-sized holes and others without. Van’s will mark delivered kit parts to make the builder aware whether each part needs to be final-drilled and deburred, or not. We will also include instructions for the builder explaining how to identify which kit parts are/are not final-sized.
Q&A:
“Can I specifically request final-sized hole parts when I order my kit during the manufacturing transition?” Due to the timeframes and complexity of managing inventory, we will not be able to accept special requests for specific parts.
“Can I return my RV-10 part(s) to exchange for final-sized parts?” We will not be accepting returns for exchange of delivered RV-10 parts for final-sized versions.
“When will part number XXXXX be final-sized, and how will I know?” Parts will be transitioned to final-size based on existing inventory and manufacturing schedules. We will label parts in the RV-10 kits so builders will know whether each part is final-sized or not while we work through this transition period.
“Are you going to do this for the RV-7/RV-9/RV-8?” At this time we are not making any hole-size changes to these kits. We may consider the possibility of making this complex change for other kits at some point in the future as priorities, time, and workload permit.
