Van’s Unveils RV-15 High-Wing Prototype In YouTube Video

Van’s unveiled its new RV-15 prototype Saturday in a YouTube video that gathered 7,000 views in the first few hours. The company’s first high-wing design took off in a few hundred feet and climbed briskly in the video. It’s not being billed as a “first flight” but it is the first public release of details of the program. “The cat's out of the bag -- and here's what our team has been working on lately,” Van’s said in the YouTube description, “Introducing the RV-15 Engineering Test Prototype aircraft.”

The company has been working on the project for some time and the aircraft in the video is the test bed for the kits that will follow. “This airplane was built to evaluate and test the design, and what we've been learning from this engineering 'tool' test airplane will result in refinements and changes that will appear in the final 'kit' aircraft design.” The plane will be officially unveiled at AirVenture on July 26.