![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")
What’s New
New landing lights from AeroLEDs, a lightweight headset from MGL, the electric Waiex makes its first flight, and FatBoy offers throttle quadrants for Vans RV kit aircraft. Edited by Mary Bernard.
Safety Is No Accident: Fatality Rates for Homebuilt Aircraft
The accident fatality rate for homebuilt aircraft is higher than the GA rate, but why?
One Builder’s Headache is Another’s Project
Sometimes picking up a project that needs a little work is just the ticket for (re)building satisfaction.
Experimotive
Necessity is the mother of invention, and the Corvair engine for aircraft has inspired a host of innovative aftermarket solutions. By Rick Lindstrom.
Free Flight: Embracing New Ideas
Embracing new ideas in avionics and other areas of aviation will allow us to enjoy the benefits and move the industry forward.
Around the Patch
Editor-in-Chief Marc Cook comments on how recent software enhancements improve the performance of the Grand Rapids Technologies Horizon HX EFIS.
What’s New
ShareZen eases shared plane ownership, and marking wires is made easier by Bogerts tool. Edited by Mary Bernard.
Buzzwords
Pilots compensate all the time for aerodynamic effects such as ground effect, often without being conscious of it. By Ed Kolano.
Safety Is No Accident: Auto-Engine Conversions
Ron Wanttaja crunches the numbers to determine whether homebuilts powered by auto-engine conversions are inherently less safe than their traditional engine brethren.
The Dawn Patrol
Threatening weather at the annual Gathering of Eagles event in Gardner, Kansas, failed to subdue the antics of The Dawn Patrol, for better or worse.
In Case You Missed It
DIY Wind Indicator
Chuck Deiterichs description of a do-it-yourself wind indicator project includes tips, drawings, a parts listing, in-progress photos and a look at the finished product. His experimentation with the highly visible design takes the guesswork out of doing it right.
Ask the DAR
Combining parts from multiple kits, N-numbers, using an amphibian for land-only training.
Aero ‘lectrics
Columnist Jim Weir has completed his solar-powered battery charger, and it works! It may not be the fastest charger, but it is certainly up to the task of keeping a battery topped off, even in winter.