Ann & I stopped by Van's Aircraft in Aurora, OR for the 2 PM tour to see the factory and check out the RV-12 Experimental Light Sport Aircraft (ELSA) kit. After all, we agreed, "it wouldn't hurt to look"..............words that have cost us a lot of money through the years!
Joe Blank was our tour guide. After the tour he showed us their demo RV-12 and then offered to take me up for a demo flight. That was totally unexpected. Anyway, wanting to be polite, I readily accepted................duh! I came back from the flight with a serious case of what they call, at Van's, the "RV grin"!
I had taken flying lessons at the Aurora Airport back in the summer of 1969 and this was the first time I'd been up in a small plane since then. The RV-12 flew great..........................much more responsive than the Piper Cherokee 140 that I had soloed in back in 1969.
