Éditorial LightPlaneDex · 20 May 2026
Why people still build an RV-14 in 2026
A kit, a garage, and two thousand hours. Van's formula has not gone out of fashion — it has just become more expensive, and more considered.
Nobody accidentally builds an RV-14. You choose it because you want to know the aeroplane, or because certified two-seat performance at this speed still costs more than a house in a lot of places, or because aerobatics on a Sunday is a specific kind of joy.
The kit is mature. Matched-hole tooling, a huge builder community, and a Lycoming that every shop understands. What has changed is the avionics bill and the patience required. Glass panels, ADS-B, paint — the flyaway number is no longer a back-of-napkin fantasy.
And yet the hangars keep filling. A finished RV-14 is not a compromise Cessna. It is a different idea of ownership: slower to obtain, faster once it is yours.
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