Richard VanGrunsven, founder of Van's Aircraft Co., will be the featured speaker at the Aviation Museum's annual fundraising Gala on Oct. 10. Courtesy photo/Aviation Museum of New Hampshire

LONDONDERRY — When high school students began building planes, they didn’t expect the aircraft’s designer to be available for questions.

But that’s what will happen when Richard VanGrunsven, founder of Van’s Aircraft Co., travels to the Granite State next month to visit student plane-building workshops in Manchester, Lebanon and Farmington.

VanGrunsven will also be the featured speaker at the Aviation Museum’s annual fundraising Gala on Oct. 10 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton, 700 Elm St., Manchester.

Tickets to the event are $125 per person and tables of eight are $800. Tickets may be purchased online at aviationmuseumofnh.org or by calling 603-669-4877.

VanGrunsven, 85, designed the Van’s RV-12iS, the two-seat all-metal airplane used in the state’s plane-building programs, as well as all other airplanes produced by the Van’s Aircraft Co. of Aurora, Ore. He continues to be actively involved in the company he founded in 1973.

“He’s literally the ‘RV’ in the RV-12iS airplane, which is used in all three of our high-school student plane-building programs,” said Jeffrey Rapsis, executive director of the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire.

Hailed as an innovator, VanGrunsven is credited with transforming the “homebuilt” aircraft category from a small hobbyist niche in the 1970s into a major and growing industry.

Under his leadership, Van’s Aircraft has grown into the world’s leading manufacturer of kit-based aircraft through modern designs, superior construction, quality materials as well as an emphasis on aircraft safety, reliability and performance.

The Aviation Museum launched student plane-building programs in partnership with local school districts and Tango Flight, a nonprofit organization that facilitates student plane-builds around the nation.

Students from all three plane-building programs will be in attendance, as well as adult volunteer mentors and school faculty. A fully assembled RV-12iS aircraft completed by Manchester students will also be on display.

During the gala, VanGrunsven will speak about designing some of the world’s most popular aircraft in the “home-built” category, meaning aircraft produced in kit form and designed to be assembled and flown by individuals. In the past half-century, more than 11,000 aircraft of VanGrunsven’s design have been completed by builders in dozens of countries. On average, 10 Van’s airplanes are completed every week by aircraft enthusiasts around the globe.

In recent years, kit-based airplanes have proven to be an effective learning experience for high school students, prompting the Aviation Museum to set up programs at the Manchester School of Technology in 2019, at Lebanon High School in 2024 and at Farmington High School earlier this year.

The two-seat Van’s RV-12iS is a popular recreational airplane, and so enjoys a robust buyer’s market; upon completion and FAA certification as airworthy, each aircraft built by students is sold on the open market, with the proceeds used to fund subsequent student-build kits at no cost to local taxpayers.