![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")
Aero ‘lectrics
If you need a horn to sound when the airspeed drops below a certain level or when the power is cut and the landing gear is still up and locked, an electronic circuitry solution is the lightest, most reliable and most cost-effective way to go.
Flying Qualities and the Horizontal Tail
An airplane's horizontal tail is critical to stabilizing the airplane in pitch, trimming out pitching moments caused by the wing and providing control power for maneuverability.
All About Avionics
More and more pilots are installing all-inclusive engine monitoring equipment in their aircraft, and, fortunately, todays monitors are dully reliable.
Roll Your Own
Weight and balance, taxi tests, first flights and debriefings. This is what it all comes down to when you design and build a one-of-a-kind Experimental aircraft. Happily, the airplane lives up to its builders expectations… and then some.
Build Your Skills: Fabric
Most of the hard work is done, and its time for dope. First, pick the right spray outfit, next find a clean, well-ventilated work area and finish your surface preparation, and then you're ready to spray. By Ron Alexander.
The Eagle Takes Off
Precision Airmotives Eagle EMS brings electronic management to traditional aircraft engines for nearly turn the key and go flying. By Marc Cook.
Ask the DAR
As a builder gets ready for his airworthiness inspection, he wonders if he can hire a DAR who is familiar with his design but lives in another state. And what if your airplane doesn't pass inspection?
ViperJet Redux
Before you think to yourself, "I couldn't afford that, let alone fly it" relax a little and let your imagination run wild. The ViperJet offers glove leather interior, rosewood inlay, and performance to spare. Doug Rozendaal completes the picture.
Around the Patch
Whenever hes out and about (or in and on the phone), Editor-in-Chief Marc Cook fields questions from pilots wanting to know the best way to run an engine. His advice? Keep it simple.
Down to Earth
The break-in and fly-off periods are nearly complete for the Vans RV-10, and now its time for paint and soon an unplanned cross-country trip; by Amy Laboda.
In Case You Missed It
Electronic Ignitions
As electronic ignitions become more popular, some homebuilders will want to consider making the switch (especially given the potential savings in fuel costs). Tom Wilson provides an overview of the marketplace and offers a “cost-benefit” analysis.
Light Stuff
Heres one instance where the sound of silence (as in no engine noise) wont signal the need to start scoping out a place to set down. The Urban Air motorglider offers a compromise that makes the best of both worlds: fuel-efficient powered cruising and exciting powered-off soaring.
