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Flight Reports
Kitfox Super Sport Series 7
Marc Cook flies the capable ready-to-fly Kitfox Super Sport Series 7 SLSA, and spotlights owners John and Debra McBean’s deft handling of the company in a crowded market and rocky economy.

Builder Spotlight
All About Avionics: Wiring Bundles
Anyone can make wiring look good. The bonus is that your installation’s maintenance and future upgrades will be much easier. Stein Bruch shows you how.

Flight Testing: Finding TAS from GPS Data
Math works! Kevin Horton shows you how to use GPS data to calculate true airspeed.

Hell on Wheels
Despite losing the use of his legs to childhood polio, John Deneke has done what he’s always done: found a way to fly, and to build. By Bob Fritz.

Return of the Turbo-Compound
Everything old is new again. Paul Lamar looks at the turbo-compound engine, developed in the post-WW-II era. Thrown over for jet engines, it may yet hold promise today as we search for more energy efficient ways to get the most out of increasingly expensive fuel.

Completions
Builders share their successes.

Shop Talk
Aero’Lectrics
Jim Weir shows you how to create and install LED lights and run them from ship’s power inexpensively and easily.

Designer's Notebook
Wind Tunnel
Barnaby Wainfan explores the optimum size of a wing and the best ways to balance performance and efficiency.

Exploring
Around the Patch
Editor-in-Chief Marc Cook takes note of the good, bad and the uncapitalized in public reactions to a recent aircraft accident. He encourages knowledgeable pilots, builders and enthusiasts to counter the public rantings of armchair crackpots with kindness and courage. Also, a tip of the buttonless cap to Omar Filipovic, KITPLANES.com’s new webmaster, for his savvy work to create a more lively and flexible web site.

What’s New
Lycoming offers zero-time, factory-rebuilt engines to pilots and owners for the cost of a factory overhaul, in exchange for a first-run core; RPX Technologies introduces the simple and straightforward DynaVibe prop and rotor balancer. Edited by Mary Bernard.

25th Anniversary: Rutan’s Take
Burt Rutan’s elegant and efficient aircraft—and spacecraft—designs are in a league of their own. Amy Laboda looks at Rutan’s legacy, what he’s doing now, and why he may never retire.

Insurance Update: Experimentals and LSAs
Despite recent economic traumas, the aviation insurance industry has continued to support Experimental and LSA aircraft. The keys for the builder/pilot? Proficiency, training, and availability of parts and service for the airplane.

Are All Battery Chargers Alike?
Bob Fritz tests battery chargers and desulfation systems, and finds it’s easier to keep a battery in good shape than to raise it from the dead…and that a good charger is a better bet than a new battery.

Fuel Injection 101
Steve Ells immerses himself in the art and science of fuel-injection systems during a weekend course at Airflow Performance headquarters.

Ask the DAR
What’s the difference between the FAA’s SLSA (Special Light Sport Aircraft) and ELSA (Experimental Light Sport Aircraft) designation? DAR Mel Asberry clears it up.

Engine Beat
What makes an excellent Experimental exhaust system? High quality 321 stainless tubes, neat welds and flex points. By Steve Ells.

Light Stuff
Dave Martin finds a Light Sport seaplane at the 2009 Sebring LSA Expo that made a real splash.

Kit Bits
Letters

List of Advertisers

Builders' Marketplace

The Classified Builder

Kit Stuff
Drawing on experience; by cartoonist Robrucha.

Download KITPLANES® in PDF
Download the complete August 2009 issue of KITPLANES® in one PDF file.

Headlines

Enter to Win!


Video Brief: Aircraft Spruce - the leading supplier for the experimental and kit market.


Marc Cook reports on flying the Kitfox LSA.


Dave Martin introduces you to the Lambada powered sailplane


U.S. Sport Aviation Expo 2009: LSA Engine Overview


KITPLANES interviews Advanced Flight Systems president, Robert Hickman, to learn about his company's latest EFIS


Vans' latest design, the RV-12 is a light sport aircraft that is already available


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