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.
Welcome to My ‘Tech Guy’ World
At the crossroads of business and hobby, customer and
company, success and failure
Target Fixation Taught by Trees
I was chopping firewood under a dead ash tree, whiffing deep, ax-head-shaped divots into my lawn, when I remembered the time, once upon a takeoff, that a living oak tree nearly got the best of me.
Whimsy
There’s no reason to participate in the hobby—for that matter, any hobby—unless it’s underpinned by fun.
Little Buddy, You Can Fly
As a design matures, more and more “upgrades” and “improvements” are thrust upon successive builders by those who have gone before. What they are thrusting, really, are opinions.
Beyond the Stats
Shoppin’ for a project, are ya? Here are some truths: Factory-stated build times are bare minimums. Double them and then toss that number out...
Inserting Bolts, Installing Nuts
I never set out to write a hardware trilogy, yet here we are. A little ditty on washer usage begat a column on bolt-length...
In Case You Missed It
Family Legend
Starting as a Texas Sport kit, a little Cub with the unlikely name of Scrappy grew, with a host of custom touches and multigenerational effort, into a cherished family heirloom.
Alternator Mods Without Major Surgery
Another way to modify a Nippondenso alternator for use with an external voltage regulator.
![[Credit: AdobeStock]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AdobeStock_176619176.jpg?w=324&h=160&crop=1 "Instructional Inflexibility")