![[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}
Thatcher CX4
If you’re a builder on a budget and don’t aim to do long cross-country trips, the Thatcher CX4 may be worth a look. By Ed Wischmeyer.
Around the Patch
Editor-in-Chief Marc Cook comments on how recent software enhancements improve the performance of the Grand Rapids Technologies Horizon HX EFIS.
What’s New
ShareZen eases shared plane ownership, and marking wires is made easier by Bogerts tool. Edited by Mary Bernard.
Buzzwords
Pilots compensate all the time for aerodynamic effects such as ground effect, often without being conscious of it. By Ed Kolano.
Safety Is No Accident: Auto-Engine Conversions
Ron Wanttaja crunches the numbers to determine whether homebuilts powered by auto-engine conversions are inherently less safe than their traditional engine brethren.
The Dawn Patrol
Threatening weather at the annual Gathering of Eagles event in Gardner, Kansas, failed to subdue the antics of The Dawn Patrol, for better or worse.
Makes You Go Hmmm
Rotary-engine enthusiast Paul Lamar details the benefits and efficiencies of using rotary power for homebuilt aircraft.
Into the Coal Sack
Paul Dye discusses the ins and outs of landing at night on a narrow, obscured by trees private runway.
Letters
Dont Look!Dick Starks Dawn Patrol article, Were going to have to count that as two landings, in the December issue is an illustration of...
All About Avionics
A clear definition of the mission along with a realistic assessment of the type of flying you'll do are key to successfully completing an avionics retrofit. By Stein Bruch.
In Case You Missed It
What’s New
In this months What's New, ECi announces a new extended warranty on its Titan cylinders, and Vesta, Inc. offers a new Experimental aircraft engine conversion based on a V-6 Honda auto engine; edited by Mary Bernard.
IFR GPS Buyer’s Guide: Avidyne and Garmin
Selecting a GPS for your project has never been easy, even in the early...
Letters
Another Catch-22I read with interest the "Forty-Amp Catch-22" article in the December 2017 issue....