9,000th Customer-Completed Van’s Airplane Flies in Denmark

April 14, 2015 - Van’s Aircraft, Inc. has announced another major building milestone this past week as Thomas Damm, EAA 534298, of Billund, Denmark, flew his newly finished RV-8 Mistress II for the first time on Thursday, April 8. That was the 9,000th customer-completed RV to fly, according to Van’s.*

A pilot for the Scandinavian Airlines, Damm acquired the kit from a friend and spent the last nine years, three months building the airplane. “On the first flight I saw 170 KTAS at 5,000 feet at only 24'/2400 rpm,” Damm wrote in his first flight report. “You guys produce great airplane kits!” Damm is a member of EAA Chapter 655 located in Stauning, Denmark.

The airplane is powered by a Superior XP IO-360 turning a Whirlwind 200RV constant speed prop. On the panel, according to Van’s, is a mix of round gauges and a small Dynon D1, with a Garmin 296 and a SkyDemon MD GPS. Damm added custom Grove airfoil-shaped gear legs and Show Planes’ Fast Back canopy kit.

According to Van’s, 9,000 RVs with an average wingspan of 27 feet parked wingtip to wingtip would form a line of aircraft 46 miles long, occupy a rectangle measuring about 151 acres, and generate 1,620,000 hp (at 180 hp each).