![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")
Wingtip To Wingtip
Formation flying offers challenges beyond those you’d encounter on a $100 hamburger run. Dave Klages spends a day with the West Coast Ravens as they put their RVs through their paces.
Alternative Energies
Electric motorgliders are leading the way in low-cost, fuel-efficient flight. In the second installment of his two-part series, Dean Sigler profiles seven designs at the forefront of this emerging field.
Light Stuff
Roy Beisswenger encourages Americans to participate in the World Microlight and World Paramotor Championships to be held in Spain this summer, and discusses what is required to compete.
Letters
Missionary ZealI have been a KITPLANES® subscriber since its inception. Over the years I have watched your publication evolve with the industry and the...
Building as a Group
The Independence Five is an Oregon-based group building a bevy of DH.2s. Dean Sigler explores their approach to building and reports on how the project is progressing.
Headlong For Headers
Tom Wilson, an avowed hot rodder, details his foray into the world of custom exhausts and the performance gains found on his Lycoming IO-540.
Firewall Forward: Choosing Your Engine
Many factors go into choosing the right engine for your homebuilt. In Part 1 of this new series, Dave Prizio provides an overview of the options available in Lycoming and Lycoming-type engines, and what you need to consider when making a decision.
Free Flight
Perfection is unattainable for most builders, yet it is what many strive for. Paul Dye posits that sometimes “good enough” may be just what you need to finally get out of the shop and into flying.
The Dawn Patrol
Dick and Sharon Starks help a fellow member of The Kansas City Dawn Patrol ready his WW-I replica aircraft—a Mariner amphibian in 1918 Curtiss Seagull livery—for its FAA airworthiness inspection.
In Case You Missed It
Archive: September 2001
Over the years, the Kitfox has been a frequent visitor to our cover. This...
