![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=534&h=462&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")
![The newly-restored F-24 enjoying the morning sun. [All Images Credited to Mike Davenport]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/DSC_0001.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Golden Age Revival")
![[Credit: AdobeStock]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AdobeStock_176619176.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Instructional Inflexibility")
Hanging up the Spurs
As I write this, it is August 31, 2020, which wouldn’t normally mean anything to anybody, especially me. Except for this particular day is...
A Brief, Un-Researched History of Cockpit Noise Solutions
There are things from our collective past that leave me gob-smacked. Homes were painted (and tainted) with lead paint. Cigarettes were promoted for their...
Forgetting How?
Overheard comments are often the most interesting, probably because your brain is in a more receptive mode than if also occupied trying to one-up...
Elements of Evolution
For this month’s cover story on the updated Van’s RV-14A, I not only got to spend a couple of days flying and photographing the...
Tunnel Vision and Troubleshooting
Confronted with a large task, we often see the whole of it and can’t get started. Cleaning a garage comes to mind. The door...
Sensor Sensibilities
In 2011, when I purchased my engine sensor package for the then new Dynon SkyView system, the sensors of choice for fuel and oil...
Fun With Emissions
Making the rounds on the canned news circuit recently was the EPA announcing it’s going after emission controls for aviation. Oh boy.
As an old...
With a Little Help From Your Friends
In a world where a COVID-19 forces us inside and further emphasizes virtual relationships—with work, with school and with friends—it’s probably no surprise that...
Weighty Matters
We’ve all been taught the five primary forces of flight—lift, thrust, gravity and drag. (Plus money, but it’s more existential.) Let’s focus on gravity,...
In Case You Missed It
The Garage Mahal
If the RV-7 turns out half as well as the workshop in which it is being built, itll be a winner. By Matt Johnson.
Brake Turn
My local airport, Corona Municipal in Southern California, sits in the Prodo Dam basin...
