![[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")
Gathering
Longtime readers may recall that before scribbling in aviation magazines I scribbled in automotive magazines. That seems like someone else’s life a long time...
Some Old Favorites
For those building a new airplane, chances are you’re getting more than familiar with certain tools at different stages of the build. For me,...
Keeping a Battery Current
“With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being...
Caught in the Act
We’ve been working on the development story of the Van’s RV-15 for many months. Paul Dye and I had what I would call exceptional...
How They Build Them in South Africa
During my recent visit to Sling Aircraft in Johannesburg, South Africa, to fly the new High Wing on this month’s cover, I was given...
Second Time Charm
There’s no other way but to admit that I found dozens of reasons to put this project off. By finally tackling it, though, I...
Plug In Power
Years ago a friend of mine was faced with commuting for his airline job from his home in St. George, Utah, to his new...
Can We Talk? (Boy, Can We!)
One of my favorite AirVenture activities is eavesdropping as people tell their buddy about the Sonex product line. They confidently say that Sonex took...
Various and Sundry
Awash with ideas and follow-up chores, the writing workbench is looking about as disheveled as the one out in the hangar, so we’ll take...
In Case You Missed It
Archive: November 1997
Ron Wanttaja sampled the still-new Van’s RV-8 for our cover story in the November...
Homebuilding in South Africa
On an “aviation safari,” Amy Laboda checks out South Africa’s homebuilding activity (and some spectacular scenery) and discovers the industry there is thriving—along with some of the factors that help keep it that way.