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.
And Just Like That… It's Done
It's finished! Well, mostly finished... as finished as an airplane, or a paint job, can ever be. Painter John Stahr put the final touches...
Fine Print
When I was young, dreaming of being old enough to solo, then old enough to get my private, I carried around an FAR/AIM book...
Details, details, details…
The fifth day started bright and early with the limbering up of the spray gun and the deployment of white - the final major...
Now–In Living Color!
Work continued on the jet's paint job on Tuesday--and a long day it was. The detailed layout was completed the day before, so it...
Ready for Paint!
With the first engine start and initial taxi testing out of the way (see and hear it below), the little jet is cocooned in...
Graduation Day
OK, so you've driven the last rivet, and hung the last hinge. The airplane is ready for inspection, and all you have to do...
Making Chips for a Purpose!
It's nice to have a milling machine, and even nicer to have a specific task for which it is well suited!
The flaps in the...
Dotting the I's, Crossing the T's…
I worked for the Federal Government for 34 years, and back in my college days, I spent two summers as a clerk in our...
How Many…How Much?
When you reach the end of a project (an airplane is never really finished, so we just say "the end of a project"), you...
