Paul Dye
Paul Dye, KITPLANES® Editor at Large, retired as a Lead Flight Director for NASA’s Human Space Flight program, with 50 years of aerospace experience on everything from Cubs to the Space Shuttle. An avid homebuilder, he began flying and working on airplanes as a teen and has experience with a wide range of construction techniques and materials. He flies an RV-8 and SubSonex jet that he built, an RV-3 that he built with his pilot wife, as well as a Dream Tundra and an electric Xenos motorglider they completed. Currently, they are building an F1 Rocket. A commercially licensed pilot, he has logged over 6000 hours in many different types of aircraft and is an A&P, FAA DAR, EAA Tech Counselor and Flight Advisor; he was formerly a member of the Homebuilder’s Council. He consults and collaborates in aerospace operations and flight-testing projects across the country.
Slack Time – Part 4
So about welding…
I have spent 50 years working on airplanes of all types and materials—from tube and rag to metal plus a bit of...
Parked Props
As anyone who studied for their private pilot exam 50 years ago should know, airplane propellers should be parked horizontally—that's so that when it...
Slack Time – Part 3
Flying airplanes need attention, even when they aren’t flying and especially when the factory issues a new service bulletin! This winter, Van’s Aircraft put...
Conflicting Cues
Many years ago, after a visit to my snowbird parents, I was IFR and climbing to my eastbound altitude of 9000 feet. We all...
Slack Time – Part 2
So about that lathe and how it begat the need to learn welding. A recent addition to our airpark neighborhood is KITPLANES Home Shop...
Slack Time – Part 1
There’s no doubt about it—this has been a strange winter. Here in northern Nevada, we have gotten weather (and snowfall) in the lee of...
This is How I Spent My SnF
The only Sun ’n Fun I have missed since I have been working with Kitplanes has been the ones affected by COVID—but this year,...
What’s It Like to Fly With Angle of Attack?
KITPLANES editor at large Paul Dye takes you on a flight in his wife's Van's RV-6 to show what it's like to fly primarily...
Almost an Airplane!
After almost eight and a half years of on-again, off-again building (other airplanes and projects seem to keep getting in the way), we finally...
In Case You Missed It
Avoiding the Traps of Bad Engineering and Construction
There's a large body of knowledge of good engineering practice for aircraft. Most of this knowledge was gained the hard way, and it should not be ignored lightly.
Light Stuff
As Light Sport Aircraft become more popular, so too will the desire to learn more about maintaining one of the most common engines used in these designs, the Rotax four-strokes. Columnist Dave Martin goes back to school to learn about routine Rotax maintenance as well as safe operation of the popular engine.