![The best builders learn to combine both mindsets. They build like engineers but think like future mechanics. [Credit: Bill Wilson]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IMG_0037.jpg?w=534&h=462&crop=1 "Building vs. Fixing")
![[Credit: Wikimedia Commons]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/F-117_Nighthawk_Front.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Odd and Unusual Aircraft")
![After nearly 75 years, the basic Tailwind design remains sound. [Credit: LeRoy Cook]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IMG_4636.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "The Wittman Tailwind")
![Trimming composites gets the full PPE job. [Credit: Eric Stewart]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/7-2.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "A Few of My Favorite Tools")
![[Credit: AdobeStock]](https://www.kitplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/AdobeStock_125628775.jpg?w=265&h=198&crop=1 "Roll Recovery, Part 2")
Coming of Age at Reno
As I start this month’s column, it hasn’t fully sunk in that I won’t be going back to Reno, but I still feel a...
A Fine Specimen
There’s something you probably can guess about so-called factory airplanes—examples of Experimental aircraft built for design evaluation as well as press and customer exposure—but...
LSA Tail Stand
I decided I needed a tail stand after my transponder inspection last spring. A normal transponder inspection is pretty basic: Turn on the avionics...
Complex Impedance
A loyal reader writes, “I have a homebuilt Bugsmasher with a couple of com radios. They are a FlashBoom 32X and a LoudenWhapper 22A....
Cooling Inlets, Part 2
As we saw last month, an ideal cooling air inlet system should ingest air from the free stream and bring it to rest or...
Archive: August 2014
As our industry continues to mature and anniversaries come hurtling at us, it’s worth recalling that in our August 2014 issue the venerable Van’s...
Inserting Bolts, Installing Nuts
I never set out to write a hardware trilogy, yet here we are. A little ditty on washer usage begat a column on bolt-length...
In Case You Missed It
Starlink In The Air
How to Buy, Install, and Use Starlink in Your Aircraft
The long cross-country got quiet...
Around the Patch
The Editor-in-Chief discusses how the improper cut of his instrument panel affected the performance of his Dynon autopilot; by Marc Cook.