Kitplanes

Cover Story

Lancair Evolution

When Joe Bartels bought the company from founder Lance Neibauer in 2003, he knew it was time for a change. The goal was to find a high-performance aircraft that could be flown by the average pilot in the target market. The solution can be found in the company’s newest product, the Pratt & Whitney-powered turbine Evolution.

Flight Reports

Lancair Evolution

When Joe Bartels bought the company from founder Lance Neibauer in 2003, he knew it was time for a change. The goal was to find a high-performance aircraft that could be flown by the average pilot in the target market. The solution can be found in the company’s newest product, the Pratt & Whitney-powered turbine Evolution; by Doug Rozendaal.

Builder Spotlight

Build Your Skills: Fabric

The fabric has been applied to the airplane structure, it’s been tightened properly, and now it’s time to apply the first chemical coat to seal it. Ron Alexander takes you through the process and also introduces the various ways of attaching the fabric.

All About Avionics: Panel Labels

Avionics wiz Stein Bruch discusses the pros and cons of the most popular ways of labeling your panel including placards, decals, rub-on labels, silkscreens and laser etching.

To Launch a Light Sport

In the third part of this series on building a Jabiru J250 Light Sport airplane, author Bob Fritz installs the elevator, trim and aileron cables, paints some of the interior, installs the master break cylinder, and moves on to the rudder pedals and flaps.

DIY Wind Indicator

Chuck Deiterich’s description of a do-it-yourself wind indicator project includes tips, drawings, a parts listing, in-progress photos and a look at the finished product. His experimentation with the highly visible design takes the guesswork out of doing it right.

Unusual Attitude

Oshkosh AirVenture gave Ed Wischmeyer the opportunity to look around at the newest ideas in aviation and to think about the larger implications of what he was seeing. He speculates about what works, what doesn’t and how manufacturers and consumers alike could make the world of flying a better place.

Completions

Builders share their successes.

Shop Talk

The Home Machinist

If your hacksaw has been relegated to the bottom of your toolbox, chances are it’s because you don’t know how to use it properly. Author Bob Fritz offers a primer on the subject that may make you think more highly of this underused tool. A discussion of cam construction and keyless chucks rounds out this installment.

Aero 'Lectrics

Impressed by the quality of the cheap headsets he encountered on a recent commercial airliner flight, Jim Weir dissected the airline unit and has come up with a way to replicate it in your own shop.

Designer's Notebook

Wind Tunnel

Yaw rarely occurs without rolling, and roll rarely occurs without yawing. This month Barnaby Wainfan discusses coupled motion, including adverse yaw, the spiral mode and Dutch roll.

Exploring

Around the Patch

The FAA’s John Hickey and Frank Paskiewicz got an earful at the AirVenture forum assembled to illuminate proposed changes to the 51% rule. Although some of the comments ran far afield, many more homebuilders posed thoughtful and challenging questions in an effort to help them understand where they stand with regard to the new regulations; by Marc Cook.

What's New

AirGizmos offers new gadgets, RDD Enterprises makes speed brakes for the Van’s RV-10, and AeroLEDs offers LED-based nav/strobe lights; edited by Mary Bernard.

Roll Camera!

Leave it to Dick Starks to get his foot in the door of a movie set by supplying WW-I replica aircraft. Once there, leave it to Dick to find trouble, even when he’s not looking for it. No worries, though. All’s well that ends well, and the whole experience makes for a story that’ll have you laughing out loud.

Gear of the Year 2008

Most of the attendees at Oshkosh AirVenture each year seek out the latest, greatest, craziest, most innovative gear they can find, and our KITPLANES crew is no exception. This year we’ve come up with some brand new gadgets and some items that have escaped our attention till now but shouldn’t have; a staff report.

Still Aiming High

Dan Parker aims to capture the world altitude record by flying to 31,051 feet in an aircraft he designed and built, and which weighs less than 200 kilograms. We checked in on him to see how things are progressing.

Down to Earth

You like to think that once you’re finished building, those deliriously long cross-country flights you’ve been craving are near at hand. Enter the DAR, who may or may not agree with that premise. Columnist Amy Laboda and her husband were just such eager beavers, but they soon learned (somewhat reluctantly) that there’s value in listening to the voice of experience.

Light Stuff

This month, Light Stuff columnist Dave Martin briefly reviews the history of single-seat ultralights and predicts their future as ELSAs. Assuming they are neither “fat” nor too fast, getting the required training may still be a stickler.

Kit Bits

Contributors

Letters

List of Advertisers

Builders' Marketplace

The Classified Builder

Kit Stuff

Drawing on experience; by cartoonist Robrucha.