James B. Dabney
James Dabney has been flying for 40 years. He earned his private pilot's license in college via the Air Force ROTC flight instruction program. In the Air Force, he accumulated 1500 hours as a Weapons System Officer (WSO), flying the F-4D and F-4E. He earned his instructor ratings (CFI in single engine, multiengine, and instrument airplane) after retiring from the Air Force Reserve. Jim started building his Pulsar in 1990, with the first flight in 2009. (His EAA Technical Counselor was Paul Dye.) He is now building an RV-14A. After he left active duty, he worked for several years developing flight design software for the space shuttle, and performed independent verification and validation of NASA flight software. Now, his day job is Professor and Chair of Systems Engineering at the University of Houston-Clear Lake.
In Case You Missed It
Wind Tunnel
Accelerate, pull and fly-thats not all there is to the takeoff. Barnaby Wainfan takes a second-by-second look at the aerodynamics of the takeoff: when it works, and when it doesn't.
Letters
Tungsten
In Eric Stewart's article, "Titans of Tungsten" , he mentioned using tungsten as a...
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.
RANS S-19
When new aircraft from two very different designers, in this case Randy Schlitter and Richard VanGrunsven, surface with considerable similarities, consensus about basic design tenets must be blowing in the wind. Certainly Light Sport regs do constrain performance considerations, but human factors are more up for grabs, and thats where one or another design can truly shine; by Marc Cook.