Builder Spotlight

Heres something to ponder: By the time you get to the point where you are ready to build the panel in your homebuilt aircraft, you've already mastered many of the skills and techniques you'll need to do it by virtue of completing the airframe. That statement is all the more credible when it comes from someone with a vested interest in the subject, our own avionics expert Stein Bruch.

Almost from the beginning of aviation, the idea of a plane you could drive/car you could fly has captured both the popular imagination and the hearts of some dedicated experimentalists. The dream remains alive, and realization, the author says, is fettered only by the lack of willing investors; by Murry L. Rozansky.

Author Bob Fritz got the bad news that he would likely not pass his FAA medical and was faced with a choice: Finish the RV he was working on and resign himself to flying with a partner, or try to find a suitable Light Sport Aircraft that he could build and fly solo. In this first installment in the series, he details his search for the right design and reveals the decision he ultimately made.

Builders share their experiences.

Who knew there was so much to consider when selecting a fabric for your aircraft project? Cotton or polyester? Light weight or heavy? STCs, TSOs, PMAs, FAA requirements. Poly-Fiber or Ceconite systems? Ron Alexander unravels the alphabet soup and explains how and why each fabric may be the way to go for a specific project.

Much of our focus in this series has been on the latest and greatest electronic gadgetry. But traditional instrument packages, the so-called six-pack, have their benefits. Avionics wizard Stein Bruch extols their virtues and explains their vices in this months installment.

Owners of a certain type of Continental engine, the cam-at-the-bottom variety, are undoubtedly familiar with the annoying seepage of oil from swaged pushrod tubes and rubber pushrod seals. Now there's a cure, and author Ron Darcey describes the fix.

A technology developed by ham radio operators, called automatic position reporting system (APRS), coupled with low-cost GPS receivers, a decent antenna and the World Wide Web, have made it possible to track light-aircraft flights without incurring access or subscription fees. Yes, you'll need to get a Technician license for radio operators, but thats a minor obstacle if this system is something you want or need to use.

Builders share their successes.

History's first aircraft were, for the most part, designed and built by individuals or a small group of experimenters. They were what we think...