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Paul Dye

Paul Dye
916 POSTS 27 COMMENTS
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.

More Soaring

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Meet Chad Sanders - Chad took an inexpensive (and ubiquitous) Schweitzer 1-26 sailplane and built a beautiful mount for a pair turbojets - and...

Soaring Tidbits

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At the 2018 Soaring Society of America convention this week, I attended a session on "Safety Considerations for Soaring in Northern Nevada," which covered...

Homebuilts Soar!

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The annual Soaring Society of America convention is underway in Reno, Nevada, and since there are (and always have been) homebuilt sailplanes, we felt...

Experimental Roots

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I got a chance to fly a new airplane that - while not experimental itself (it's a production SLSA), its roots run deep in...

Large Hydraulics

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Oh heck--no, it's not an airplane part, and I wasn't cruising along at altitude, trying to stay awake - but it is definitely aviation...

Fast and Smooth

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The Tarragon invades America!

Spars-The Heart of the Wing

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Riveting the assembly, part 3.

Traveling Machine

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If you made clever design decisions when building your plane, did you make sure it can still be maintained away from home without special tools?

What's in YOUR Cockpit?

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I spent most of my life living - and flying - in the middle of the country. It's hard to find places between the...

HUD's Up!

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I spent some time this weekend testing a new Heads Up Display product from Grand Rapids Technologies, and I think that folks who have...

In Case You Missed It

Light Sport’s Next Steps

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At AirVenture this year—just before it, actually—the FAA released the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking...

Dollars and Sense

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In my decades in aviation, I have come across individuals representing a wide financial...

Dimple Tokens

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Sooner or later a part will need to be countersunk for a dimple....

Build a Calibrated Tensiometer

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An accurate, inexpensive, cable gauge thats easy to make.