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.
Build It Better: Testing, testing, one, two, three
There's no substitute for real-world testing--;something homebuilders should keep in mind when moving from the theoretical to the actual application.
Light and Capable
There are so many ways to try to keep the weight down in a homebuilt project, but some are better than others.
Restoring the RV-1
The very first Van’s prototype flies again, thanks to months of volunteers’ hard work, and its designer climbs back into the cockpit, some five decades after he built it.
Build It Better: Show Me the Data!
Don’t believe everything you hear when making an important building or maintenance decision—do your homework.
When Good Electrons Go Bad
When wiring up a homebuilt aircraft, it pays to ask: What do I want to protect myself from?
Build It Better: Where’s Your Margin?
How can you give yourself that margin of safety that you hope you'll never need?
Anatomy of a Modification
Paul Dye takes readers through a rework of his RV-3's fuel system to illustrate why some mods are a sound choice.
Simplicity
Countless modifications for homebuilts are available, but does that mean they're right for our projects? Paul Dye discusses the value of keeping things simple.
A Tale of Two Kits
What a difference a few years make. Paul Dye discusses the evolution of kits, using the two he built (Van’s RV-8 and RV-3) as examples.
Build It Better: When 1+1 Does Not Equal 2
Paul Dye explains how to achieve unlike (or dissimilar) redundancy on the various systems in your homebuilt.
In Case You Missed It
Editor’s Log
Change is inevitable, and, in the media world, it’s coming at us hard and fast. Editor in Chief Mary Bernard considers the trends.
Avionics Special: Garmins G3X Engine Monitoring System
Ponying up for the engine-monitoring portion of Garmins G3X EFIS suite requires careful consideration, but the result is a truly integrated solution. By Marc Cook.