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.
No Two Rivets Alike
It's a first-world problem—I admit it. With too many airplanes in our little fleet, there is always something to be worked on, or an...
Paul Dye’s Notes from Lycoming Class
Ed. note: These notes are part of Paul Dye's article about attending Lycoming's engine assembly school.
For such “simple” engines, Lycoming type power plants, there...
Dropping in (and getting Airborne) at Sonex
Whenever I find myself in Oshkosh in the "off-season" for EAA meetings and vents, I try and drop in on our friends at Sonex...
Drill Straight!
We've finished up the left spar for our Xenos motor glider, and that means starting what seems like a whole new airplane project to...
Tundra Progress
I keep getting asked how our Tundra repair project has been coming along, and since I've talked about it here before, it is only...
Something Different
No, it's not experimental - but it is a little different. It's not often I find a J-3 Cub with a 100 horse C-85...
2017 Homebuilt Aircraft Directory
Pick a plane, any plane-an overview of kit and plansbuilt fixed-wing aircraft and rotorcraft. Introduction Directory compiled by Omar Filipovic.
Discretion… and all that
Sometimes discretion really is the better part of valor. I'm sitting here in my home on the east side of the Sierra, just down...
In Case You Missed It
Using Level Accelerations to Determine Climb Performance
A faster way to gather data over a wide range of conditions.