Richard VanGrunsven
{{short description|American aerospace engineer}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Richard VanGrunsven
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|birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1939}}
|birth_place = Forest Grove, Oregon, US
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|known_for = Van's Aircraft founder
|alma_mater = University of Portland
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|occupation = Engineer, aviation entrepreneur
| years active = 1961–present
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|spouse = Diane VanGrunsven
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Richard E. "Dick" VanGrunsven{{refn|Although commonly known as "Dick" by the media and public, VanGrunsven primarily uses "Richard".|group=}} (born 1939) is an American aircraft designer and kit plane manufacturer. The number of VanGrunsven-designed homebuilt aircraft produced each year in North America exceeds the production of all commercial general aviation companies combined.{{cite journal|journal=Sport Aviation|date=June 2012|author=Lane Wallace|title=Van's Air Force}}
In 1973 VanGrunsven founded the aircraft manufacturing company Van's Aircraft, and in 2012 became the founding president of the Aircraft Kit Industry Association (AKIA), an American aviation advocacy association.{{cite news|url = http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/AKIA_experimental_homebuilt_kit_aircraft_association_FAA_NTSB_206938-1.html|title = AKIA -- The Kit Manufacturers' Association|access-date = 9 July 2012|last = Pew|first = Glenn|date = 6 July 2012| work = AVweb}}{{cite news|url = http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2012/120629aircraft-kit-industry-forms-new-association.html|title = Aircraft kit industry forms new association |access-date = 9 July 2012|last = Hirschman|first = Dave|year = 2012| work = Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association}}{{cite news|url = http://www.generalaviationnews.com/2012/07/05/kit-manufacturers-form-new-association/|title = Kit manufacturers form new association|access-date = 9 July 2012|last = Wood|first = Janice|date = 5 July 2012| work = General Aviation News}}{{cite news|url = http://www.avweb.com/news/airventure/akia_experimental_safety_ntsb_aircraft_airventure_207094-1.html|title = Kit Association Responding To NTSB|access-date = 28 July 2012|last = Pew|first = Glenn|date = 27 July 2012| work = AVweb}}Bernard, Mary and Suzanne B. Bopp: Q&A with AKIA President Dick VanGrunsven, Kitplanes, Volume 29, Number 12, December 2012, page 28-29. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851
Life and career
File:Vans RV-8A N98VR Hondo TX 2007 Jun 02.jpg]]
Richard VanGrunsven grew up on a farm near Cornelius, Oregon and is the son of a Portland area farmer. He has seven brothers and sisters.{{Citation needed|date=January 2018}} His father had taken flying lessons prior to getting married and his stories inspired Richard and his older brother Jerry to acquire an old Piper J-3 Cub, and later a Taylorcraft. Richard learned to fly in 1956 from a 670-foot airstrip on the farm, acquiring his pilot certificate at age 16. His first aeronautical business was providing wheel pants for Taylorcraft.{{Citation needed|date=October 2017}} He graduated from the University of Portland in 1961 with an engineering degree.{{cite journal|journal=University of Portland Magazine|date=Spring 2008|title=A Creature of the Air}}{{Cite web | url=https://www.up.edu/news/2016/02/vangrunsven-professor-of-engineering.html | title=Gift from University of Portland engineering alumnus establishes Richard and Diane VanGrunsven Professor of Engineering | date=2016-02-23 | access-date=2017-10-26}} He then joined the United States Air Force that same year. VanGrunsven originally planned to become a fighter pilot, but a minor color vision problem that would have been acceptable in civilian aviation, but not to the Air Force, led instead to him serving three years as a communications officer. After serving in the Air Force, he worked as a designer for Hyster, an Oregon manufacturer of lift trucks. His free time was devoted to learning more about aviation.{{cite web|title=Van's Aircraft, Inc. History|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/van-s-aircraft-inc-history/|access-date=27 September 2015}}{{cite web|title=A Creature of The Air|url=https://www.up.edu/portlandmag/2008_spring/creatureair_txt.html|access-date=27 September 2015}} He now has earned Certified Flight Instructor, multi-engine, and Airline Transport Pilot ratings and has logged over 12,000 hours of flight time.{{cite web|title=Richard VanGrunsven|url=http://www.vansaircraft.com/public/pers-van.htm|access-date=9 June 2012}} He is also an avid glider pilot.{{cite web|url=https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2022/april/12/vans-aircraft-celebrates-50-years|title=Van's Aircraft Celebrates 50 Years|publisher=AOPA|date=2022}}
Towards the mid-1960s, VanGrunsven purchased a Stits Playboy homebuilt aircraft and modified it by installing a larger engine. Later, he modified the aircraft by installing cantilevered aluminum wings with flaps, creating the RV-1 in 1965. A few years later he started a clean-sheet design, the all-aluminum RV-3 single-place aircraft, which VanGrunsven introduced at the 1972 EAA AirVenture Airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he won the "Best Aerodynamic Detailing" award for the RV-3. The aircraft set new standards of aircraft performance in the homebuilt industry, and became the genesis design for the rest of the RV-series, all which strongly resemble the RV-3.
In 1973 he founded Van's Aircraft.{{cite news|newspaper=The Portland Tribune|author=Joseph Gallivan|title=Olinger?s DIY pilots love to go RV-ing|date=17 July 2007}} The RV-3 was followed by the RV-4 tandem aircraft in 1979. Van's Aircraft continued to produce new designs with good all-round performance, reasonable costs, and continuous improvement in kit quality, developing the RV series all the way up to the latest aircraft, the 2012 RV-14.
VanGrunsven commutes regularly to his company in Aurora, Oregon using aircraft of his own design. His company has sold over 18,000 kits or sets of plans, with over 7,500 aircraft completed.
Van's homebuilt designs are built in enough numbers that several groups, such as "Freedom Flight" and the thirteen-member "Team RV", have organized all-RV formation demonstration teams.{{cite news|newspaper=Houston Chronicle|title=Group takes to the air to celebrate Independence Day|author=TARA SULLIVAN|date=22 June 2009}}{{cite news|newspaper=The Dispatch|author=Brandon Thalor|title=Team RV Puts On Aerial Show For The Dispatch Writer, Photographer|date=17 June 2011}}
In 2006 VanGrunsven was inducted into the Oregon Aviation Hall of Fame.{{cite web|title=Oregon Aviation Historical Society |url=http://oregonaviation.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/2006_09.pdf|access-date=9 June 2012}}
At the 2012 AirVenture convention, VanGrunsven announced the now-defunct Aircraft Kit Industry Association (AKIA), an organization that promoted the kit aircraft industry and advocated for allowing flight training in amateur-built aircraft as a means of reducing accidents in that sector of aviation.
In November 2013 VanGrunsven was appointed to the board of directors of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA).{{cite news|url = http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/EAA-Adds-Recognized-Names-To-Board221022-1.html|title = EAA Adds Recognized Names To Board|access-date = 25 November 2013|last = Pew|first = Glenn|date = 22 November 2013| work = AVweb}} That same year he, along with Dale Klapmeier, Burt Rutan, Bob Hoover and others, launched a campaign and website made for honoring EAA's former long-time president Tom Poberezny.{{cite web|url=http://generalaviationnews.com/2013/10/15/honorpoberezny-com-launches/|title=HonorPoberezny.com launches|author=General Aviation News Staff|work=General Aviation News}}{{cite web|url=http://www.flyingmag.com/pilots-places/pilots-adventures-more/petition-urges-eaa-honor-tom-poberezny|title=Petition Urges EAA to Honor Tom Poberezny|author= Pia Bergqvist|work=Flying Magazine}}
Flying magazine ranked VanGrunsven 22 on its list of the "51 Heroes of Aviation" and has labelled him the "undisputed leader in kit aircraft manufacturing".[http://www.flyingmag.com/photo-gallery/photos/51-heroes-aviation?pnid=41832 "51 Heroes of Aviation."] Flying. July 24, 2013. Retrieved: January 12, 2018.
On December 4, 2023, Van's Aircraft filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as part of a company reorganization plan.{{Cite web |last= |date=2023-12-04 |title=Van's Aircraft Announces Chapter 11 Reorganization |url=https://www.vansaircraft.com/2023/12/vans-aircraft-announces-chapter-11-reorganization/ |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=Van's Aircraft Total Performance RV Kit Planes |language=en-US}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.akia.aero/ AKIA official site]
- [https://www.vansaircraft.com/ Van's Aircraft official site]
- [http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/kitspages/monbuild.php?clickkey=2258228 2012 article from Aircraft Spruce]
- [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9ZwgzK6uWI 2020 video interview with VanGrunsven]
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Category:American aerospace engineers
Category:American aviation businesspeople
Category:Military personnel from Oregon
Category:People from Cornelius, Oregon
Category:People from Forest Grove, Oregon