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.
It’s Not Your Old 1917!
One of the traditions at the Reno Air Races is the Fire Truck ride given to race winners and their crews. Traditionally, the winning...
Racing Tweaks and Tricks
Sport Class racers are an inventive bunch, and they are always tweaking during race week to get the most performance out of their machines....
Learning Glass
Old dog, new tricks. We see the discussion of EFIS digital instruments versus round steam gauges on homebuilders forums every week. There are all...
Same Faces….More Nitrous!
The early part of the week at the Reno Races is mostly spent chatting with old friends as they get their race planes dialed...
Good Fundamentals
I am often asked what it takes to fly many different airplanes, especially when some are prototypes for which very little data exists. My...
Javron Cub Double Take
One of the dangers of walking through AirVenture is the possibility of whiplash as you suddenly see something out of the corner of your...
It’s About the Friends You Meet
I’ve written this once or twice in the past, but it’s worth repeating—the longer you go to Oshkosh, the less it becomes about airplanes,...
In Case You Missed It
The Dawn Patrol
Dick and Sharon Starks help a fellow member of The Kansas City Dawn Patrol ready his WW-I replica aircraft—a Mariner amphibian in 1918 Curtiss Seagull livery—for its FAA airworthiness inspection.
