Paul Dye
Paul Dye, KITPLANES® Editor at Large, retired as a Lead Flight Director for NASA’s Human Space Flight program, with 40 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.
Torsion
Well, we have a plan for getting our Tundra back into the air, and I think it is a good one--partly because we think...
Grounded! (Well, sorta…)
Continuing the theme of flight testing--one of the hardest things for a builder/pilot to do, especially when their airplane is new and they are...
Tweaks
No airplane is perfect right out of the box--that is, really, why we test them isn't it? Of course, there are lots of kits...
Phase 1 Complete – Testing Continues
With a marathon fight of nearly four hours to gather cruise performance data (take advantage of the smooth air when you can get it!),...
Spars – The Heart of the Wing
I haven't reported much recently on our Xenos Motor glider project, mostly because the past half year the push has been to get our...
The Inexpensive Glass Cockpit
I spend a lot of my time installing and flying behind the latest in top end experimental avionics - full touch screen EFISs, advanced...
Celebrating the RV-6
This month, along with the EAA, we celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Van's RV-6, the most popular kit design to hit the...
Making Dreams Come True
First liftoff of the Dream Tundra flown (Photo: Georgia Kinninger)
When the Homebuilding movement began in earnest (I'm not talking about all the flying...
The Magic TBO
You see, up until that point, most airplane engines needed to be tinkered with and torn down at laughingly short intervals. A few good weeks of barnstorming could mean it was time for a pilot to quit for months while his engine was rebuilt.
In Case You Missed It
Oil Pressure Problems
Oil pressure is always a concern to anyone who flies a powered plane. Everyone...
The Home Machinist, Part 7
This milling project offers home machinists a great way to get the feel of their equipment and gives them a plug protector for their in-cockpit iPaq as well; by Bob Fritz.
Home Shop Machinist
Conrad Norquist shows how the 6061 tubes supplied with Airdrome Aeroplanes kits are...
Aero ‘lectrics
This month, we look at how an airspeed indicator works and rig up a simple calibration tool for it;