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.
Dropping in on Synergy
Synergy Air started out as a Builder Assist facility in Eugene Oregon, and now is the builder for Van's Aircraft of their SLSA RV-12s....
Skyview Install – Piece of Cake!
One of the projects we have going on right now is to finish up a Dream Tundra that we partnered in early this year....
Gusting to WHAT?
We were on our way back from Oshkosh a few weeks ago, headed from Minnesota to Western Nevada in one day. The forecast was...
Long-Distance Drop-in
Living at an airpark has a lot of advantages - easy access to your plane (and shop), the ability to go flying for a...
Smoke and Haze
It is the time of year out west that brings fires - lots of fires. The forests and mountains of the west are part...
Not – So Great Wall of the Pine Nuts
Just south of our airpark in Dayton, Nevada, we have a small north-south range of mountains known as the Pine Nuts. Topping out in...
BD-Micro – Helping People Perfect the BD-5
We recently got a chance to drop in on "Skeeter" and "Richard" Karnes – the principals of BD-Micro of Siletz, Oregon. BD-Micro is a...
Trying and Flying the Avidyne IFD
For many years now, having an IFR-capable navigator has meant installing and using a Garmin GNS 430, 530, or their WAAS versions that end...
Kneeboard Notes
One of the frustrating things about editing a print magazine is the long lead-time required to bring ideas from the field into the actual...
In Case You Missed It
Designer Spotlight: Lawrence B. Sperry
Amy Laboda takes a look at the life of inventor Lawrence Sperry, whose childhood fascination with a spinning top led to his development of critical flight control systems...and even the aircraft seat belt.
Practical Electrical
Battery facts and fables for the aircraft builder–Part 1. By Robert L. Nuckolls, III.
Ask the DAR
Phase I testing not completed, understanding operating limitations, non-TSOd position lights.