Vans RV14

Building, Flying and Maintaining

What’s this site all about?

These pages record the construction in the UK of a Van’s RV14 aeroplane from a kit of parts, registered as G-STRV. The kit is produced by Van’s Aircraft of Oregon, USA.

The site contains photographs and notes about the entire build process, and can be accessed via the BUILDING menu. Options on the left side of each page allow builders to easily navigate to the various build sections of the manual. Many pictures can be viewed in higher resolution by clicking on them.

G-STRV is now flying, and operating topics can be viewed by selecting the OPERATING menu. These highlight various aspects of flying and maintaining the aeroplane.

All the building topics available on this web site were composed at the time of the relevant build stage. Obviously as time passed, and the build advanced, sometimes it became evident that either an alternative process might have been preferable, or maybe an aspect over which doubt was mentioned has subsequently proved sound. I have tried to review all the information and add updates to those topics. The menus on the left side offer a link to easily view these updated topics.

My name is Steve Hicks, and I’m a retired airline captain living in Shropshire, UK.My lifelong friend Tim Nicholas, a professional helicopter pilot, has also provided invaluable help during the building. We have shared flying adventures for more than 40 years, owning a Hang Glider, a Highway Demon Skytrike microlight, a Streak Shadow and a Jodel D120.

Why am I maintaining this site?

During the preparation and research for this project I very much appreciated browsing other builder’s web sites, which provide a wealth of information and inspiration. I hope these pages will provide similar help and provide an insight into what’s involved in building a Vans RV14.

But please remember that there may well be different or better ways to accomplish the various tasks. There is a wealth of information available on the internet about building these aeroplanes, just be selective and use your own judgement whether to follow advice.