![[Credit: Lisa Credit]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Experimental.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Have You Seen Your Oplims?")
![[Credit: Andrew Robinson]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/737_VGs2.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Vortex Generators")
![[Credit: Van's Aircraft]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Vans_RV14A.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Something New On The Horizon")
![[Credit: Lisa Turner]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Chute-Topaz-Gigapixel-2x-scale.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Should You Consider A Whole Aircraft Parachute?"){kind=tracking}
![SR-1 cowl being integrated with spinner and cooling ducts. The cowl is assembled to itself/to the fuse primarily with countersunk #8 screws. [All images credited to Eric Stewart]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/1KP.jpg?w=324&h=235&crop=1 "Custom Cowl Fabrication: Building the SR-1 Composite Cowl")
Custom Cowl Fabrication: Building the SR-1 Composite Cowl
The cowl for the SR-1 was the last set of molds to be produced for the project. I had originally planned to use a...
![R.T. Searfoss shows off his magnificent workmanship in the Pietenpol Air Camper he built over the span of 12 years. There is much to love in classic tube and fabric aircraft which harken back to an earlier time of aircraft construction. Masterful craftsmanship is everywhere you look in R.T.’s work. [Credit: Bill Wilson]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/unnamed-2.jpg?w=324&h=235&crop=1 "Choosing Your Aircraft Construction Material")
Choosing Your Aircraft Construction Material
Walk through the rows of aircraft at any fly-in, and you’ll quickly notice that homebuilt airplanes are as different as the people who created...
![Roscoe Turner, a pilot who defined flamboyance with his waxed mustache, a uniform that included jodhpurs, and a pet lion named Gilmore that flew with him. [Credit: Associated Press]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Colonel_Roscoe_Turner_and_Gilmore_1930.jpg?w=324&h=235&crop=1 "Colorful and Notable Characters in Aviation")
Colorful and Notable Characters in Aviation
Most of our dads were/are characters to varying degrees, everything between a genial 1950s TV dad to Clark Griswold in Family Vacation. As I...
![The Spirit Engineering SE-1 gleaming in repose. [Credit: Andrew Robinson]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/IMG_8605.jpg?w=324&h=235&crop=1 "Spirit Engineering SE-1")
Spirit Engineering SE-1
I will admit to having a weak spot for polished aircraft, particularly vintage aircraft, whether it be a DC-3, an original Electra, a P-51,...
![The Hatz Biplane, NX71VH, re-engineered to be powered by a 124 hp radial engine. [Credit: Hatz Biplane Association]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Hatz-Bantam-Radial-124hp_1000004521-Topaz-Gigapixel-2x-scale.jpg?w=324&h=235&crop=1 "Airplane Almost No One Knows, Part One"){kind=tracking}
Airplane Almost No One Knows, Part One
Ask a hundred pilots to name a plans-built open-cockpit biplane and most will land on the Pitts, the Starduster, or the Skybolt. Very few...
![[Credit: CubCrafters]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/DSC04228.jpg?w=324&h=235&crop=1 "CubCrafters’ New Turboprop MOSAIC LSA")
CubCrafters’ New Turboprop MOSAIC LSA
There is a unique sound a turbine engine makes on start—a rising whistle, followed by a smooth, spooling hush. Until this summer you had...
![A compact H3R Halon 1211 extinguisher, sized for a two-seat cockpit and safe on energized electrical fires. [Credit: H3R Aviation]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/mfr_H3R_A344T_Halon_1p25lb.jpg_preview-Topaz-Gigapixel-2x-scale.jpg?w=324&h=235&crop=1 "Choosing the Right Cockpit Fire Extinguisher for Your Aircraft"){kind=tracking}
Choosing the Right Cockpit Fire Extinguisher for Your Aircraft
It’s easy to think of a fire extinguisher as a last-minute accessory: buy one, bolt it somewhere convenient, and move on. But in a...
![The Zenith CH701 outside the hangar at SMX, fresh from paint. The stars-and-stripes theme marks America’s 250th and the CH701’s 40th anniversary. [Credit: Carson Stilson]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/IMG_1726.jpg?w=324&h=235&crop=1 "Zenith CH 701: A Proof of Concept Homebuilt on a Budget")
Zenith CH 701: A Proof of Concept Homebuilt on a Budget
I remember driving home from the hangar in March when I got a call from my wife. She told me that a letter had...
![Low-level aerial view of AirVenture, looking down the main thoroughfare toward Boeing Plaza, with the flightline and runway 18/36 beyond. [Credit: LeRoy Cook]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/IMG_4521.jpg?w=324&h=235&crop=1 "AirVenture 2026 in Review")
AirVenture 2026 in Review
For the e-ab community, the biggest stories at AirVenture 2026 were found in the places Oshkosh has always mattered most to builders: the homebuilt...
![Builder and pilot Mark Farver stands alongside his Continental IOX-340 powered RANS S-21. [Credit: Mark Farver]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Copy-of-build-38-Topaz-Gigapixel-2x-scale.jpg?w=324&h=235&crop=1 "Cross-Country in a Homebuilt RANS S-21 Outbound to Oshkosh"){kind=tracking}
Cross-Country in a Homebuilt RANS S-21 Outbound to Oshkosh
The call came a half mile out from FISK.
"High wing, half mile from Fisk, rock your wings."
Mark Farver rocked them.
"Good rock. Welcome to Oshkosh."
He...
In Case You Missed It
Wind Tunnel
When the airflow separates from a surface, the result can be unsteady forces or turbulent wake shedding, neither of which is desirable.
Down to Earth
When something doesn’t feel (or sound) right, trust your gut and stay on the ground. A stuck valve recently demonstrated this lesson to Amy Laboda.
