14 Facts About Richard VanGrunsven

Richard E "Dick" VanGrunsven was born on 1939 and is an American aircraft designer and kit plane manufacturer.

In 1973 Richard VanGrunsven founded the aircraft manufacturing company Van's Aircraft, and in 2012 became the founding president of the Aircraft Kit Industry Association, an American aviation advocacy association.

Richard VanGrunsven grew up on a farm near Cornelius, Oregon and is the son of a Portland area farmer.

Richard VanGrunsven's 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 VanGrunsven learned to fly in 1956 from a 670-foot airstrip on the farm, acquiring his pilot certificate at age 16.

Richard VanGrunsven graduated from the University of Portland in 1961 with an engineering degree.

Richard VanGrunsven then joined the United States Air Force that same year.

Richard 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.

Richard VanGrunsven now has earned Certified Flight Instructor, multi-engine, and Airline Transport Pilot ratings and has logged over 12,000 hours of flight time.

Towards the mid-1960s, Richard VanGrunsven purchased a Stits Playboy homebuilt aircraft and modified it by installing a larger engine.

Richard VanGrunsven's company has sold over 18,000 kits or sets of plans, with over 7,500 aircraft completed.

In 2006 Richard VanGrunsven was inducted into the Oregon Aviation Hall of Fame.

At the 2012 AirVenture convention, Richard VanGrunsven announced the now-defunct Aircraft Kit Industry Association, 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 Richard VanGrunsven was appointed to the board of directors of the Experimental Aircraft Association.