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.
ScaleBirds P-36 Hawk
ScaleBirds, a newcomer to the kit manufacturing scene, chose to start their line of replica fighters with one of the first all-metal U.S. military pursuit ships of WW-II—the P-36.
PolyGone – This Stuff Works!
I am usually disappointed when I turn to chemicals to try and ease the process of building or working on airplanes.
Reverse Engineering Heated Seats
How to they make it “high” and “low” with just a single SPDT switch and SPST relay?
Eating the Elephant
One person can’t imagine eating a whole elephant. It’s simply impossible. But the answer to the idiomatic question remains: one bite at a time!
Dummy Loads
You may have heard horror stories of blowing up your radio if you hit that PTT without an antenna installed.
Trimming a Tube Square
We’ve been fitting the canopy frame to the F1 Rocket project this week, and one of the tasks (after getting all the hoops properly...
Easy Servo Wiring Trick
If you are wiring up a typical Ray Allen trim servo, you know that the two “power” wires to the motor are both white.
Hand to Hand with a Bending Board
You’d think that with a quick-build fuselage, the factory could have made a frame that matched.
In Case You Missed It
Ye Olde Slip Roll
This month’s project is a follow-on to the Pietenpol muffler that was the subject...
What You Don’t Need to Know Can Hurt You
Building an airplane should be mostly fun, sometimes challenging, and infinitely rewarding, but confidence...