EAA’s AirVenture 2018 One Week Wonder completed its first successful flight on Monday evening just one day after the show ended. At the beginning of the week, the Van’s RV12iS was nothing more than a pile of parts. During the seven days of the show, volunteers—ranging from experienced builders to show attendees who had never touched a rivet before—worked together to assemble the aircraft. In addition to being a lot of fun, EAA says the purpose of the project is to highlight the accessibility and possibilities of homebuilt aircraft.
The RV was completed on schedule and taxied in front of the Oshkosh crowd on the final day of the event. “I developed the RV series of aircraft 40 years ago to give people a pathway to safe, enjoyable flying in an economical way,” said Van’s Aircraft founder Richard VanGrunsven. “To showcase the possibilities of the RV-12iS in such a public way as at Oshkosh is extremely exciting.” The first flight, which, according to pilot Vic Syracuse, went just about perfectly, was purposefully scheduled for after the crowds had gone home.
Numbers haven’t been tallied for the project yet, but it has been estimated that approximately 3,000 people participated in building the 2018 One Week Wonder. Each participant was allowed to sign their name on the aircraft and went home with a badge and a commemorative pin. This is the second time EAA has undertaken a project like this at AirVenture. The first was a Zenith CH 750 built at AirVenture 2014.
