RANS S-20LS Raven Gets FAA Approval as Factory-Built SLSA

The FAA has signed off, and RANS Designs will now supply the Raven, factory-built and ready to fly, with engines from 80 to 180hp, as a SLSA. The S-20LS Raven carries pricing starting at $119,000. (Photo: Awarding the acceptance paperwork. Left to right are Tony Dopita, Assembly Forman; Randy Schlitter, CEO RANS Designs; Derrick Jones, FAA; Ed Schwab, RANS Designs Aircraft Technical Specialist; Sheldyne Brown, RANS Designs Assembly Specialist)

The SLSA Raven is already in production, with an order book that’s filling fast. And, like its Experimental-category sibling, the S-20LS doesn’t lock buyers out of the options book. Panels include traditional analog, Dynon, and Garmin components; engine choices include Lycoming 0-233, Titan 0-340, and the venerable Rotax 912ULS, 912iS, 914; and the 915, as soon as it’s available.

Says Randy Schlitter, designer and President of RANS, “We have worked hard to bring the S-20LS Raven into our line of SLSA offerings. The Raven expands the RANS lineup into the fast-growing market for light sport STOL planes.”

The decision to offer a ready-to-fly Raven was made just a few months after the S-20 Ravens in kit form started shipping from the RANS factory in Hays, Kansas, in early 2014.

RANS currently delivers seven different designs as kits; the S-20LS Raven joins the ready-to-fly S-6LS Coyote II, the S-7LS Courier, and the low-wing S-19LS Venterra.

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Kim Stevens

Kim Stevens is the publisher of State Aviation Journal, which he founded in 2009. A longtime commercial-rated pilot, he was introduced to state aviation in 1992 as Director of the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics, later serving as Deputy Division Director for the Arizona Department of Transportation's Aeronautics Division. From 2013 to 2018, he was Director of Communications and Operations for the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) in Washington, D.C. Relocating to North Carolina, Kim worked for the Raleigh-Durham International Airport for two years and now concentrates solely on the Journal. Prior to his aviation career, Kim spent a decade in the newspaper and magazine business.