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.
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.
Free Flight
Acknowledging risk and taking steps to minimize it are safer than denying that it exists.
RV-1 Flies Again
After nearly a year of restoration work by countless volunteers, the first "reflight" of the VanGrunsven RV-1, N5827N, occurred on February 19, 2012 from...
In Case You Missed It
What’s New: Dynon’s New Com Radio and Intercom
X-Series Oil Coolers from Airflow Systems, Belite’s new LED Fuel Gauge.
Metal Magic: Cutting Round Instrument Holes
KITPLANES editor at large Paul Dye continues the Metal Magic series with a tutorial...
RAFE Celebrates Ten Rutan Designs
This year is the 50th anniversary of the VariEze but because the VariEze changed the landscape of homebuilt aircraft, this year is what Burt Rutan likes to call the “composite canard revolution”!
Light Stuff
Dave Martin revisits the Evektor SportStar, and even after a three-year hiatus, he found the Max IFR to be a forgiving and delightful airplane.