![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")
Fuelventure 400
Last years Copperstate Fly-In was the occasion for a race where speed was only one of the factors in winning. By Patrick Panzera.
Product Review: BrightLine Pilot Bag
The BrightLine Bag is the ideal accessory for pilots who like a place for everything and everything in its place. By Marc Cook.
Tweaking an Engine/Airframe For Efficiency
When an aircraft engine is tightly cowled without cowl flaps, running hot can be a problem. But there are solutions, as author Amy Laboda found out after much research and experimentation.
Engine Beat
UL Power of Belgium adds two new engines to its product line that are distinguished by the inclusion of Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC). By Steve Ells.
Ask the DAR
Are computer software programs sufficient documentation of a build, and what do you do when a DARs request seems unreasonable?
Light Stuff
This years Sebring Expo was a harbinger of the future for Light Sport Aircraft, and it appears relatively steady. By Dave Martin.
Letters
Expletive Not Deleted (Best Letter)Dagnabbit! Tarmac is a material, not a place. Are you fed up with the medias ignorance? Places on airports have...
Vacuum-Bagging for Homebuilders
The first installment of a new series introduces you to the materials and equipment you'll need to tackle vacuum-bagging projects at home.
