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.