Van's Aircraft RV-6A
These figures describe a typical build. Each aircraft of this design was built by its owner, and the one you are looking at may differ.
The RV-6A is the tricycle-gear RV-6, introduced alongside it in the late 1980s (Van's dates the first RV-6A to 1988) and replaced with it by the RV-7A in 2001; Van's tabulates it separately at 985 lb empty, 1,650 lb gross, 170 knots at 75% power on 180 hp, 613 nm of range and 1,740 fpm of climb. It is the version that put many pilots with no tailwheel experience into an RV, with a free-castering nosewheel on a steel-rod leg.
Easier landings and generally cheaper insurance are the gains over the RV-6; the costs are 20 lb and a couple of knots. The known weak point is the nose gear, which has gone through three generations: Van's mandatory Service Bulletin 07-11-09 (November 2007) requires every RV-6A whose finish kit shipped before February 2005 to have the fork replaced and the leg replaced or shortened, giving more clearance between the fork axle and the ground when the gear is overloaded, and a 2.8-inch fork height is the sign it was done; a 2019 elastomer engine-mount upgrade exists for the RV-7A and RV-9A, but Van's has never fitted one to an RV-6A and warns the cowl will probably not fit. Bounced, hard landings on rough strips are what have turned these into nose-over accidents, so ask how and where the aircraft has been operated. Since every RV-6A was finished by its builder, the engine (commonly a 150-180 hp O-320 or O-360), the propeller, the wiring and the paint are individual choices, and the published empty weight is a starting point rather than a fact about the aircraft in front of you — weigh it, or trust only a recent weight-and-balance. The owner may maintain it and an A&P may inspect it annually without an IA, which keeps running costs low. Van's stopped selling RV-6 kits in 2025 but still supplies replacement parts and technical support; the owner community covers the rest.
Variants of the Van's RV-6 / RV-6A
- RV-6 · 1986 · 862 active
- RV-6A · 1986 · 865 active · this page
Also consider
- Van's Aircraft RV-7AScore 26.4/50 · 2 seats · 171 kt
- Game Composites GB1 GamebirdPartial 17.9/30 · 2 seats · 178 kt
- Van's Aircraft RV-8AScore 19.5/50 · 2 seats · 175 kt
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- Van's Aircraft RV-6A
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What it is
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | — |
| Engine | Lycoming O-320/O-360 (150-180 hp approved) |
| Horsepower | 180 hp |
| Fuel | — |
| Certification basis | amateur-built |
| Production start | 1986 |
| Production end | — |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 170 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 613 nm |
| Service ceiling | 19,700 ft |
| Climb rate | 1,740 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 48 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 665 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | — |
| Max takeoff weight | 1,650 lb |
| Empty weight | 985 lb |
| Usable fuel | 38 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | — |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | — |
|---|---|
| Price, high | — |
| Prices as of | — |
| Engine TBO | — |
| Overhaul cost, low | — |
| Overhaul cost, high | — |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 1,089 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 865 |
| Median year built | 2003.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 39 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 9 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 45.091 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 39.312 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 175 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 20.233 |
| Airworthiness directives | 7 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | ok |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 865 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 865 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 865 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 3.5 of 101 |
| Severity | 2.6 of 102 |
| Access | 6.3 of 103 |
| Support | 9.5 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 5.1 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 27 out of 506 |
- Accident record: class median 31.56 · 197 models in class.
- Severity: class median 10.
- Access: class median 1,000.75.
- Support: class median 89.
- Liquidity: class median 19.74.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories. When accident record and severity cannot be scored because the model has too few records, the other three give a partial score out of 30, labelled as such; it is never set against a full score.
Data as of: FAA registry Sep 28 · NTSB Oct 2 · ADs Oct 6 · scores Sep 30