![[Credit: Lisa Credit]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Experimental.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Have You Seen Your Oplims?")
![[Credit: Andrew Robinson]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/737_VGs2.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Vortex Generators")
![[Credit: Van's Aircraft]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Vans_RV14A.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Something New On The Horizon")
![[Credit: Lisa Turner]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Chute-Topaz-Gigapixel-2x-scale.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Should You Consider A Whole Aircraft Parachute?"){kind=tracking}
Dakota Super 18
Unparalleled slow-speed handling characteristics set this Cub apart. By Bill Repucci.
Letters
Education and InspirationFor the past few years, I have been working on a one-of-a-kind Super Cub-ish type of aircraft. Guidance comes from various sources,...
Editor’s Log
With so many different types of Experimental/kit aircraft available, Paul Dye explains how KITPLANES tries to include something of interest for everyone.
What’s New: Garmin’s Bold Experimental Push
New equipment from Garmin’s Team X is tailored to the experimental builder’s budget.
Buzzwords: Human Factors—The Basics
Small design considerations can have a big impact on comfort, convenience and safety.
Alternative Energies
The Grand Unified Airplane: Is it possible to extract energy from the act of flight itself? By Dean Sigler.
Down to Earth
Even when built from the same kit, no two aircraft are exactly the same—that’s why you need a builder’s book. By Amy Laboda.
In Case You Missed It
The Home Machinist
Charlie Taylor, the Wright brothers trusted right-hand man and machinist, made their early powered flight experiments possible. And he built the engine using only a drill press, a lathe, a simple scale and more than a little ingenuity; by Bob Fritz.
Flight Review: Lockwood Super Drifter
Like piloting an AirCam, only more so, the Lockwood Super Drifter is for those who can’t get enough of that wind-in-your-hair feeling.
Around the Patch
Editor-in-Chief Marc Cook looks at the potential impact on GA of Lycomings new IE2 engine that features electronic engine management.
![The discomfort of wearing prescription- or sunglasses under an ANR headset is eliminated with Flying Eyes. [Credit: Flying Eyes]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/FlyingEyes-Group.jpg?w=324&h=160&crop=1 "Eyes Forward")