![Careful planning and determination will get you to your goal of building and flying your own airplane. [Credit: AdobeStock]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Pulsar-Sunset.jpg?w=534&h=462&crop=1 "Last Bits")
![[Credit: AdobeStock]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/AdobeStock_262642207_AGCuesta.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Winging It")
![Lowell Farrand spent years serving as an FAA DAR and is in the EAA Hall of Fame. He offers sound advise to builders. [Credit: Bill Wilson]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/unnamed-4.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Think Like a Builder")
![The 160 hp turbocharged Rotax 916iS is a four-stroke piston engine with redundant electronic fuel injection and ignition. [Credit: BPR Rotax]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PIC_916-iS_iSc-2.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "2026 Engine Buyer’s Guide")
![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")
Firewall Forward: Tools of the Trade
Here are the tools you'll need during your engine installation, plus suggestions for keeping them organized.
Engine Update: New Life for Old Radials
Barrett Precision Engines has taken the nine-cylinder Vedeneyev M14P radial engine to a whole other level with a fuel-injection upgrade and new ignition system. By Marc Cook.
Build It Better: Show Me the Data!
Don’t believe everything you hear when making an important building or maintenance decision—do your homework.
Aero ‘lectrics
Jim Weir responds to a reader request to find a way to make any cell phone turn on an electrical device.
Wind Tunnel
While two-control airplanes were designed to make a pilot’s life simpler, they come with significant compromises.
Restoring the RV-1
The very first Van’s prototype flies again, thanks to months of volunteers’ hard work, and its designer climbs back into the cockpit, some five decades after he built it.
What’s New
MGL Avionics introduces a V6 com radio, and Grand Rapids Technologies offers a 10.4-inch HXr EFIS.
Viewfinder
Marc Cook considers the relevance of airworthiness directives for homebuilders and reflects on what he learned about the current homebuilt market at Sun ’n Fun.
In Case You Missed It
Around the Patch
Homebuilt aircraft manufacturers are sometimes reluctant to admit that they have created a less than perfect design, let alone offer a fix. Arion Aircrafts Nick Otterback is bucking that tide; by Marc Cook.
Timing
Building an airplane is something that requires not only specific shop skills and experience,...
Supercharging: The Turbo Alternative
Bill Beaton chose a centrifugal supercharger for racing and cruising.