Welcome, once again, to our annual directory of kit- and plansbuilt aircraft, featuring both fixed-wing and rotorcraft that you can (and should!) build. This guide is the one place where this information appears together in print. Why? Because we care.
There are changes to this year’s format that should be obvious. But before we get into that, a reminder about our methodology. The information that underpins this guide is updated not just once a year but in an ongoing manner through our website. Manufacturers send us their updated info and we change it in the database first, extract it as late as we possibly can for this issue and then print it here. Still, we have a hard deadline for companies to respond, and those that do not are slated to be moved into the “inactive” section. We then try multiple times in multiple ways (phone, text, email, web contact forms, possibly carrier pigeon) to reach the companies we have not heard from. When we can’t establish any kind of contact, we assume the company is no longer a viable business. Think about it: If we have this much trouble offering them a free service, how are they going to treat paying customers?
One change this year is to separate inactive companies from the active ones—we had them intermeshed as recently as last year. In case you were wondering, we keep information on so-called defunct designs for your quick reference—should you find a kit to complete or a finished airplane to buy. But, this year, we decided to clean up the active list by setting inactive companies aside. Please note that you will still see some inactive designs (marked in red) within the ranks of active companies.
Finally, while this printed guide is a good place to start, you really should take a look at the fuller data set on our website. It’s more detailed, up to date and offers the ability to filter the entries and set up side-by-side comparisons. Access to this part of the site is free for a limited time—but is available year round to subscribers. Dig in and enjoy.
