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What’s Ahead?
As we close out 2022 (as I am writing this) and reflect on a year that showed both immense promise—people continue to build and...
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...
In Case You Missed It
Poison Alert
On January 20, 2022, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) petitioned the FAA with...
Building an Addiction
The greatest of a successful builder’s attributes is an unshakable belief in tomorrow.
Engines of Change
It never fails to amaze me, this choice in powerplants for our Experimental aircraft....