Rans Designs (often stylized RANS) is a Kansas-based manufacturer of aircraft and bicycles. If that seems an odd combination, probably an aviation history lesson is in order.
Since its founding in 1973, Rans has developed and marketed contraptions as weird and diverse as pedal-powered sail-trikes, hang-gliders, sail-planes, ultra-light powered aircraft, and finally, light-sport aircraft. Year in and year out, Rans products have sold briskly and consistently. By the early 2000s, the company was producing a dozen different aircraft models.
In 2006, however, Rans mastermind Randy Schlitter binned several designs and refocused his considerable energies and expertise on the increasingly relevant and profitable light-sport aircraft market. Numerous memorable machines ensued: the S-18 Stinger II, the S-19 Venterra, the S-20 Raven, and today’s S-21 Outbound.
In 2022, after 48-years of inspired work and a legacy of innovative aircraft, Mr. Schlitter is stepping down from overseeing Rans’s day to day operations and turning the company over to twenty-year employee and former sandblaster, welder, and general go-getter Tony Dopita.
"We're just very confident that Tony will lead the company into a bright future," Schlitter remarked. "It has already had a positive effect on our buying audience. They see me as the aging founder, and it gives them the security that the company is more than just me."
Mr. Schlitter’s “aging founder” credentials will serve him well as he ascends to the lofty station of Rans CEO—from which he plans to guide the research and development efforts upon which future Rans designs will be predicated.
Notwithstanding the overall shaky U.S. economic outlook, demand for Rans aircraft—particularly the S-21 Outbound—remains strong. The company’s order books are scheduled out one-year for the S-21 kit and a whopping four-years for the ready-to-fly airplane. The protracted lead-times speak to Rans’s nonpareil reputation among aerophiles, and the quality, utility, and flat-out enjoyability of its two-place, 985-pound (empty), +6/-4G-rated, STOL, tail-dragging, S-21 Outbound.
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