The Van RV-12 is the Otago Aero Club’s latest acquisition, and will be used to train new pilots.
The kitset two-seater light sport aircraft is named after its creator, Richard VanGrunsven, an American aircraft designer and kitset plane manufacturer.
Otago Aero Club president Colin Chalmers said the plane was bought from a private owner in Hastings, who built it from a kitset.
Mr Chalmers said the RV-12 had a top speed of about 220kmh, it could take off in 213m, land in 160m and had an altitude ceiling of 13,800 feet.
And its side-by-side seating configuration, with large cabin providing superb visibility, made it ideal for pilot training, he said.
The plane had been repainted and the layout of the cockpit dash had been reconfigured to match standard aircraft layouts.
"It’s been made more user-friendly.
"It’s very light on the controls, very responsive. It’s more of a sports plane than a cruiser.
"It’s much easier to control this aircraft. The ground control is much easier.
"Flying is easy. Handling planes on the ground is the tricky bit. Being a trike, it just sits there and you steer it on the ground. It’s really easy.
"I love it. I’m very, very pleased with it."
Mr Chalmers said the club bought the plane for about $80,000, but believed it would have cost the club about $130,000 to build from scratch.
"It’s only got 200 hours on it. It’s pretty much brand new.
"It was much cheaper than building our own."
The Van RV-12 replaces the club’s Rans microlight, which had been sold to one of the club’s students, he said.
"They are two different styles of aircraft. The Rans was what we call a tail-dragger. The RV-12 is a trike.
"There’s always been a question in the club about which is better for training new pilots.
"So we’ve tried one, we’ve had success with it, and now we’re trying the other.
"Eight years down the track, when this [the RV-12] is due to be replaced, we will know which one is best."
The plane was put through its paces above the Taieri on Thursday afternoon, to ensure it was ready for training flights, the first of which in the new plane were expected to take place yesterday, weather permitting.
