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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 they completed. Currently, they are flight testing a Xenos motorglider. A commercially licensed pilot, he has logged over 6000 hours in many different types of aircraft and is an A&P, 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.

Shhhh – I’m Blending In

Walking the pits at Reno, you pass through a few rows of RV’s, Lancairs, and Glasairs, then a couple of aisles of T-6’s. Next,...

Morning Brief

If you think that Reno Racing is just a bunch of guys that hop in their planes and go ripping around the pylons, then...

Reno From Home

We all know that the best way for an aviation enthusiast (especially a homebuilder) to watch the Reno Air Races is in person, with...

RARA and Other Trivia

Wednesday morning greeted the assembled racers and spectators with smoke. Lots of smoke. And not the kind smoke that comes from smoke oil on...

Oil Filter Anti Drainback Valve

For those of you using 48108-2 oil filters on an angle adapter, here’s a bit of trivia for you. Not everyone knows that these...

The Slow Failure

Mechanical fuel pumps are pretty reliable, in general. I know folks who will disagree, having replaced them early in the life of an engine,...

Fighter Squadron

An RV Builder by the name of Charlie Derk posted this opioid online, and when I looked at it, I realized that it looked...

Wrapped

RV builder/owner Tony Kirk took no chances when the predicted storm came though on the first Saturday night of AirVenture. He followed the lead,...

Van’s on Top

A utility-first airplane turns Van’s design chops upside down.

Trying on the Two-Seater

I am probably one of the higher-time SubSonex JSX-2 pilots around, so it was with great interest that I dropped in at the Sonex...

In Case You Missed it

Design Process: Planform Shape

Last month we took a look at the effects of span and aspect ratio....

Still More Mistral Magic

Flying a Glasair III with a Mistral rotary engine.

Archive: December 2002

Eighteen years ago this issue, we put Jack Harper’s single-seat Breezy derivative on the...

Paint Masking

We've all seen those commercials for painter's tape. They make masking look so easy,...