General Aviation

Vans RV-3A

Manufacturer: Vans Aircraft

The RV‑1 is the first aircraft built by Van’s Aircraft, a modified Stits SA‑3A Playboy that Richard VanGrunsven upgraded with a 125 hp Lycoming O‑290G engine. It is a single‑seat, low‑wing, strut‑braced airplane with conventional landing gear and a bubble canopy. The RV‑1’s aluminum wing with flaps and Horner wing tips lowered its stall speed to 50 mph, giving it good performance for a homebuilt aircraft. The fuselage is made of welded steel tube, a construction method that later models abandoned for all‑aluminum frames.

Aircraft Facts

Type Key
vans-rv-3a
Class
General Aviation
Registry Count
24
Example Registration
N102KC

Specifications

Wingspan
6.1 m / 20 ft
Length
5.5 m / 18 ft
Max Speed
80 km/h / 50 mph
Cruise Speed
80 km/h / 50 mph

Variants

  • RV-3A- 24 registrations - Example N102KC

Machine-Readable Resources

Sources