Kerry Fores
Kerry Fores was born and raised in Oshkosh, WI and was interested in homebuilding by age 12. Between 1998 and 2003 he scratchbuilt and polished a Sonex, which he named Metal Illness. Kerry logged nearly 500 hours in Metal Illness and was awarded Plans Built Champion at AirVenture 2006. Kerry is retired from a 21-year career at Sonex Aircraft, most of it dedicated to supporting builders. Kerry is on the web at thelifeofdanger.com.
What You Don’t Need to Know Can Hurt You
Building an airplane should be mostly fun, sometimes challenging, and infinitely rewarding, but confidence killers lurk everywhere. For instance, peruse metal-forming websites and textbooks...
Odds and Observations
In a distant land, from which Vikings sailed and some of my forefathers sprang, three aircraft owners gathered and stared at a broken bolt...
Floating Nut Plates
The floating nut plate. It sounds like it should come with an allergy warning, but this is KITPLANES, not Pinterest, so we are discussing...
Take Your Time Taking Delivery
There are identifiable times when flying becomes more dangerous. One that plays out in the homebuilt community is a new owner taking possession of...
Screws Care, So Should You
A drill bit is not an heirloom. But if you have your grandpa's cigar box of drill bits, treat them as such and don't...
Emotions, Expectations, and Execution.
"Strange business this is; what works well for one does not work well for someone else!" I'm not sure the builder who wrote that...
Narrowed Focus
A seemingly complicated part layout can be simplified by narrowing your focus from the part as a whole, to a single hole in...
In Case You Missed It
Wind Tunnel
Columnist Barnaby Wainfan discusses the factors that affect the longitudinal stability of an aircraft during a variety of maneuvers. Designers make compromises to keep stick forces down so that a pilot can control an airplane, but sometimes they go too far, and light control forces can result in problems that are just as serious as those posed by forces that are too heavy. Whats a designer to do? The most important considerations are presented.
Demand and Supply
We’re all tired of talking about the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m certain, but there’s no...
A Higher Velocity
Marc Cook reviews the new twin-turbo Velocity TXL from Velocity Aircraft. Among the benefits of the new configuration, which includes two Garrett turbochargers on the Continental engine, is power that keeps performance consistent well into higher altitudes-to the tune of 250 knots at FL250.
