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.
Hunkered Down and Studying
Yes, I've been wrenching on airplanes for nigh on 45 years now, so you'd think I'd know all of this stuff - but as anyone who has ever taken an FAA knowledge exam (of any kind) knows that what you learn and use in the real world has no bearing on what you will find on the test.
Always Learning!
For the first time in many years, I find myself studying for some FAA written exams - sure, I've done license upgrades and type...
Ballast Box
One of the things we all have to do when fight testing an airplane is to fly it across the entire CG range - from full forward to full aft. In the case of a side-by-side two-seater, this generally isn’t too hard, because the CG range is actually fairly short. With a large four-seater (plus baggage), it can take a little more creativity to safely hold enough weight to get to the aft limit.
Getting a Grip
Cockpit ergonomics are a big deal to me - and they are a slippery problem. I spent much of a career helping designers refine designs for man-machine interfaces, and part of the problem we had is that everyone had different opinions of what was "good."
Tundra: Return to Flight!
The Monday after Christmas dawned clear, calm , and cold here in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains of Nevada - perfect for flight testing (assuming you have thermal underwear and gloves)! It was time to get our Dream Tundra back in the air after significant belly skin upgrades.
It’s Not That Bad…
I've written a couple of notes in the past few months about repairing the minor skin buckles in our Dream Tundra. It turns out that Dream has re-designed the belly skin, doubling the thickness, then adding another doubler over that. We asked them to double the skin thickness for the chin skin - and when all three part showed up, the number of holes to be matched, and the number of rivets that had to be drilled out and replaced was daunting.
Meeting your Heroes
Meeting your heroes can turn out to be a disappointment, a let down. But this is not always the case. And the news of John Glenn's passing reminded me that yes, indeed, there are heroes that live up to the name.
Drill, deburr… repeat!
After several months of waiting on new pre-punched parts to be made and delivered by Dream Aircraft for our Tundra, we finally received a big box of belly skins and repairs are underway!
In Case You Missed It
Design Process: Aileron Types
The size and planform of the ailerons are set by the roll-control power needed...
Good Fundamentals
I am often asked what it takes to fly many different airplanes, especially when...
Wind Tunnel
This month Barnaby Wainfan turns his attention to the control system and how various aspects such as linkages, the elevator planform and tail aspect ratio, and trailing-edge treatments affect pitch control.