![Oshkosh is more popular than ever with three-quarters of a million people in attendance at AirVenture 2026. [Credit: LeRoy Cook]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/IMG_7321-Topaz-Gigapixel-2x-scale.jpg?w=534&h=462&crop=1 "Wide World of Airplanes"){kind=tracking}
![Maintenance technician William Vergonet conducts an inspection on a Cub. [Credit: Lisa Turner]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/IMG_3535.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Post-Flight Maintenance Debrief")
![Pat McKiernan has found that he and his dad who built this beautiful RV-7 simply learned to enjoy the build. [Credit: Bill Wilson]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Builder.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Life Lessons From Building an Airplane")
![[Credit: AdobeStock]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/AdobeStock_51865118.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "FAA MOSAIC Rule Fully Implemented")
![My 36 year old clipboard from when I started at Boeing. Engineering ruler and fastener/fastener hole cheat sheets. [Credit: Andrew Robinson]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Liaison_clipboard.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "What Is a Liaison Engineer?")
Jam Nut Triple Threat
Jam nuts serve a purpose and that is to prevent actuating arms from becoming disconnected. I found three examples on the same airplane. Two...
COVIDity Blues
As I write this, it is the Ides of March in the year that will live in infamy. We are all aviators or we...
Archive: January 1988
Jim Bede’s BD-5 had, by the late 1980s, still managed to hang onto its Bond-esque glory despite never really finding a good piston powerplant...
What’s Next for Aviation in America? (Hint: No AirVenture)
Never have I wanted a column of mine to become obsolete, inconsequential, a curious blip in time more than this one. In the 30...
Experimental Vs. Certified
As I go through our back issues for our Archive page and relive the world of homebuilding in the 1980s (and, by extension, even...
Where Have All the Homebuilts Gone?
Thousands of E/A-B aircraft have been removed from the rolls, but most of them haven’t existed for decades.
Prepare for a Charge
The battery you install in your homebuilt kit will have nearly the same kind of life as the one in your automobile. It will...
In Case You Missed It
Around the Patch
Whenever hes out and about (or in and on the phone), Editor-in-Chief Marc Cook fields questions from pilots wanting to know the best way to run an engine. His advice? Keep it simple.