Marc Cook
Marc Cook is a veteran special-interest journalist who started as a staffer at AOPA Pilot in the late 1980s. Marc has built two airplanes, an Aero Designs Pulsar XP and a Glasair Aviation Sportsman, and now owns a 180-hp, recently modernized GlaStar based in western Oregon. Marc has 5000 hours spread over 200-plus types and four decades of flying.
Van’s Bankruptcy: How Did They Get Here?
How can the largest and most successful company in the kit-aircraft world find itself in this situation?
Commentary: Why Van’s Shouldn’t Kill the RV-15
Some have suggested that the only “right” thing for Van’s to do is kill (or at least shelve for now) the RV-15.
Van’s Aircraft Files for Chapter 11
Van’s Aircraft, facing multiple crises and a serious cash crunch, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today. According to the company, this is ”a...
Manufacturing Automation at CubCrafters
On a recent visit to CubCrafters to help build a Carbon Cub UL, our editor in chief got a first-hand look at the company's...
Avionics: Do You Document?
A friend at my airport confessed to having some avionics problems. His homebuilt’s instruments include a Garmin G5 for a primary instrument, a BendixKing...
Van’s Offers Recovery Update
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PnpyL9K-lk
On Monday, Van’s Aircraft’s posted a short video on Facebook and YouTube updating builders on the company’s progress. In late October, the company said...
Develop Today, Sell Tomorrow
While the Experimental world has matured greatly in the last few decades, we’re no longer seeing the rapid rate of change experienced in the 1970s and through the ’80s.
DeltaHawk Studies Hydrogen Power
DeltaHawk Engines announced today that it is launching an effort to run its two-stroke, four-cylinder compression-ignition engine on hydrogen. The company says that it...
Cleaveland Tool’s Novel Outreach
The recent slowdown of Van's Aircraft due to issues with laser-cut parts and the ongoing internal review of the business (due to run through...
GAMI G100UL Unleaded Avgas Flying in a Van’s RV-14
Considering the agita surrounding the long-running search for a lead replacement in avgas, it's not surprising that it's often overlooked that GAMI's G100UL unleaded,...
In Case You Missed It
Future Fuels, Part 2
When 100LL phases out, the replacement will almost certainly be a 100-octane equivalent. But which one? By Paul Bertorelli.
Around the Patch
Editor-in-Chief Marc Cook reflects on the past years celebration of KITPLANES first quarter century, and finds that predictions for the next 25 years don't come easily.
Light Stuff
The Sport Pilot rules allow you wide latitude in changing categories of aircraft without a lot of re-training, opening up intriguing options for pilots interested in diversifying their flying. By Roy Beisswenger.
![[Credit: LeRoy Cook]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/IMG_2791.jpg?w=324&h=160&crop=1 "The Safety Triangle: Balancing Skill, Knowledge, and Judgment in Flying")
The Safety Triangle: Balancing Skill, Knowledge, and Judgment in Flying
In the course of giving flying safety lectures before pilot groups, one of my...