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Paul Dye

Paul Dye
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Paul Dye, KITPLANES® Editor at Large, retired as a Lead Flight Director for NASA’s Human Space Flight program, with 40 years of aerospace experience on everything from Cubs to the Space Shuttle. An avid homebuilder, he began flying and working on airplanes as a teen and has experience with a wide range of construction techniques and materials. He flies an RV-8 and SubSonex jet that he built, an RV-3 that he built with his pilot wife, as well as a Dream Tundra and an electric Xenos motorglider they completed. Currently, they are building an F1 Rocket. A commercially licensed pilot, he has logged over 6000 hours in many different types of aircraft and is an A&P, FAA DAR, EAA Tech Counselor and Flight Advisor; he was formerly a member of the Homebuilder’s Council. He consults and collaborates in aerospace operations and flight-testing projects across the country.

Remembering Reno

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Aviation just wouldn’t be the same without the races…no matter where they are held.

Stick Bushing

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Things that move wear out. That’s buried in a law of physics I once learned having to do with entropy. In this case, that...

Plug That Hole!

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Got an extra hole in your baffles? In this case, we were removing an unused purge valve return line that had penetrated the baffles...

Excess Horsepower!

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Kitfox’s Super Sport gets more than new pep from Rotax’s turbocharged 916 iS.

Flight Review: Kitfox Super Sport with Rotax’s Turbo 916

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KITPLANES editor at large Paul Dye took a couple of flights with Brandon Petersen in his Kitfox Series 7 Super Sport powered by the...

Minor Surgery

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In my ongoing effort to equip our home fleet of airplanes with as many Angle of Attack systems as possible, we recently upgraded the...

Building the eXenos

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Part 7: Finally, time for flight!

Sometimes, Ya’ Just Gotta’ Fly

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It was almost ten o’clock last night when the text came in from an airpark neighbor—“$2.99 per gallon Avgas at Yerington tomorrow from 0700...

Everything Goes to Tulsa

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Well, everything engine overhaul-related, that is.

Terrified? Or Just Happy to Be Here?

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To quote a great aviation movie from the 1960’s “‘E’s not supposed to carry passengers!” Dee Child flies Race 60, a Glasair that is obviously...

In Case You Missed it

Maintenance Matters

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A clean plane is a safer plane and a source of pride.

Electric Dreams

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Pipistrel’s gift to general aviation.

Eyes That Can See Around Corners

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As builders of our own aircraft,‭ ‬we‭ ‬know there are many enclosed areas‭ ‬inside...

Kit Stuff

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Drawing on experience; by cartoonist Robrucha.