Virtual Event: Van’s Aircraft COO on Their Next-Gen Aircraft

FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Van’s Aircraft CEO Greg Hughes updates us on the next-gen aircraft for this iconic experimental and light-sport aircraft manufacturer.

DETAILS: FLYING’s Thom Patterson talks with Hughes as he shares a few metrics from the company—and tells us how Van’s has become such a beloved brand.

SPEAKER: Hughes is Van’s Aircraft’s vice president and chief operating officer.

BIO: Hughes came into aviation through an organic path. He started off while going to college, pursuing photojournalism, moved into law enforcement, then delved into cyber security and IT, where he worked for many years. He’d always wanted to learn to fly, and did so at Twin Oaks Airpark in Hillsboro, Oregon. He joined the Experimental Aircraft Association’s local chapter 105 there—where Dick VanGrunsven, founder of Van’s Aircraft, is a member. The chapter worked on a Teen Flight build of a Van’s RV-12, and that led to him taking on his own RV-8A project. About three years ago the position came up with Van’s that was suited to him, and he joined the team in a marketing and media role at first.

KEY QUOTES FROM HUGHES:

“A lot of really great people design, and build, and make parts for, and support—and the whole nine yards—these airplanes that we make. And the company’s almost 50 years old.”

“Just a small handful under 11,000 [Van’s] airplanes are currently flying right now, that have actually flown, that we’re aware of. How many kits have gone out the door is definitely a multiple of that, thousands and thousands more than that. The industry as a whole [has seen] a significant upswing in orders over the last couple of years. A lot of people have found themselves with the time and opportunity to do some research…a large number of folks have put in the time and effort to do the research to find out, ‘I can build a really amazing airplane from one of these kit manufacturers’—Van’s or any other—and have said, ‘I’m gonna do it!’”

“Our rate is at about 250 percent of what it was just two years ago, which is great—it’s also extremely challenging, I mean, from a business perspective. That kind of growth is really hard to deliver on, and all of the kit manufacturers are seeing similar types of numbers, and similar types of challenges in the business.”