![[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}
What’s New
Brightline Bags introduces the FLEX flight-bag system, Full Lotus Floats has a new owner, and Victor Technologies debuts a multiprocess welding system.
Viewfinder
Vertical Power’s VP-400 stands ready to locate the nearest airports and help you plot and execute an emergency landing—welcome assistance for the pilot experiencing an in-flight failure. By Marc Cook.
Rotax Factory Tour
Paul Bertorelli takes a tour of the Rotax factory in Austria and discusses the company’s new 912 iS engine and what it has to offer to homebuilders.
Light Stuff
Should powered-parachute and trike pilots have the option of earning a commercial license? By Roy Beisswenger.
The Dawn Patrol
Each stalwart member of The Dawn Patrol has had his "day in the hay" (i.e., an off-airport landing). Now Sharon Starks is initiated into that venerable club.
Alternative Energies
Three new aircraft, Synergy, Pipistrel Panthera and Volta Volare, are pushing the innovation envelope with their propulsion systems, performance and fuel economy. By Dean Sigler.
Free Flight
In a short, late-afternoon flight, Paul Dye takes on a particular Houston cloud formation and exalts in the glory of flying an airplane perfectly suited to his whims.
Letters
Magic Carpet RideMr. Dye, I greatly enjoyed and appreciated your skillfully written Free Flight article, "Sacred Ground," published in the March issue. You certainly...
Flight Testing
Personnel roles, emergency contingencies, communications-there are many moving parts involved in the first flight of a homebuilt. Paul Dye catalogs them and offers a sample flight plan that worked for him.
In Case You Missed It
Always Learning
While I see lots of recurring maintenance problems every day, tough ones that require...
Helping Hands in the Plansbuilt Hangar
An appreciation for Steve Wittman's ingenious design and the community of those who build from plans.
