![[Credit: LeRoy Cook]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/IMG_2791.jpg?w=534&h=462&crop=1 "The Safety Triangle: Balancing Skill, Knowledge, and Judgment in Flying")
![A SubSonex personal jet in aerobatic flight. Thea design will expand with a two-place model kit in the months ahead. [Credit: Sonex Aircraft]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/SubSonex_Acro.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Sonex Reopens")
![A CubCrafter’s Carbon Cub headed to Sun ‘n Fun in the time-honored tradition. [Credit: CubCrafters]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Carbon-Cub-UL.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Sun ‘n Fun 2026 Highlights: Electric RV-10, Modular Avionics, and MOSAIC")
![Ten hours of dual instruction in a tailwheel-equipped aircraft is usually required for proficiency. [Credit: AdobeStock]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/AdobeStock_354747155.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Learning How to Drag Your Tail")
![The alternative to bending down as the propeller is pulled through the compression stroke is to keep the back straight and bend the knees slightly, stepping away in a crouch. [Credit: LeRoy Cook]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_1519-scaled.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Manual Starting Methods")
Economics Buffet the Engine Market
Few disagree that the Experimental/Amateur-Built world revolves around gas-burning piston engines. Of course, the legacy engines have had a significant head start but Rotax...
Bingo Fuel
Having more gas on board than needed for a given flight seems easy enough to comprehend, yet every year an alarming number of flights...
A Cautionary Tail
One Monday morning I opened an email from the second owner of a Onex. It was sent at 8:12 p.m. on Saturday. An attached...
My Home Airport
Recently I walked into Van’s Aircraft and kissed the cutest engineer I could find. He didn’t seem that thrilled. I suppose that’s what happens...
Nothing New
Apparently having done something evil in a former life, I’ve been consigned to toil on this magazine’s Engine Buyer’s Guide in this life. I...
Executing the Execution
Airplanes are born of time and tedium. Mostly tedium. A harsh statement, yet a true one. There’s just no way around deburring the thousands...
How I Cross-Country
Way back in the previous century—closer to the middle of the century than the end—I learned that the secret to cross-country navigation was a...
Top Ten Favorite Tools for Maintenance
As I start this article, we are between Baker, Nevada, and Hinckley, Utah, which is quite remote. We are stranded “MOG’’ (motor home on...
Gone Pro
In the last three years I’ve been rewarded by the older of my sons taking up aviation in a most serious way. Every devotee...
In Case You Missed It
Headset Trial: David Clark Pro-X2
In this Avionics Bootcamp video series, we put the David Clark Pro-X2 on the evaluation bench and took them flying for this field report.
Power In a Box
Self-contained digital power distribution systems make for simplified installations and circuit health monitoring.
Build It Better: Building a Team
Sometimes working alone in your hangar is exactly what you want. But other times a helping hand is called for, and then it helps to know you’re part of a worldwide homebuilding community.