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.
Error Chain
Forty-amp Catch-22. Accidentally bumping the alternator switch uncovered a circuit-breaker problem.
Sorta' Old School
It turns out that next week I am going to do some flying with an old friend in his old Twin Comanche. No, it's...
Awww Nuts!
The picture sort of speaks for itself, doesn't it? A long-ago completed stabilizer for our Xenos motor glider project, carefully stored in the hangar...
Now THAT's a compressor!
OK shop-hounds, we all like to talk about the size and quality of our air compressors, but I am humbled by what I found...
The After-Race
Reno Racing ends every day about 4:30 or 5:00 pm, but that doesn't mean that everyone (or anyone) goes home! Teams have pop-ups and...
Old Friend – New Look!
Back in 2014, we got a chance to fly "Last Lap Player", a Cassutt 111M owned by Creighton King, owner of the rights to...
Reno Report – Blue Thunder Emergency Landing
Things don't always go the way we want them to in aviation, and at the Reno Races, with metal pushed to the limit, it...
In Case You Missed It
Down to Earth
A month after the engine was first started on the RV-10, author Amy Laboda and her husband, Barry Marz, scheduled a visit from DAR Ray Howell, received the airworthiness certificate, and commenced ground runs. It sounds simple, but so much effort went into getting that little piece of paper.
Barefoot Flying
A relative newcomer to the U.S. kit aircraft clan, the Sport Air Corsario import from Rio de Janeiro borrows characteristics from other amphibians while displaying a personality and pleasurable flying qualities uniquely its own; by Dave Higdon.
Reinventing the Wheel
Do you really need to spend your time coming up with a better solution when the one provided is more than good enough?