Kitplanes articles from June 2000

Kitplanes archives from June 2000

It's spring, and aviation news is good, mostly.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... We pilots have reason to cheer the passage of AIR-21, the congressional legislation that finally breaks open the coffers of the country's aviation trust fund. AOPA had particular cause to crow as it has worked for more than 10 years to unlock...

Letters.
June 1, 2000... A few simple requests. I would like you to do an article on the 10 best two-place, cross-country-type kitbuilt airplanes for under $15,000 that an average 6-foot-2, 240-pound American male or female can build and fit into. Most of the...

Warner's Winner.(Sportster)
June 1, 2000... The Sportster combines 1930s styling with contemporary comfort First it was the single-seat Spacewalker. Then it was the Spacewalker II, a two-place version of the original, both designs of Jesse Anglin of Henderson, South Carolina. In...

Field of Dreams.(biography Cole Palen vintage aircraft museum)
June 1, 2000... The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome: "Build it, and they will come." Cole Palen's interest in aviation began in the 1930s while reading pulp fiction magazines featuring stories about WW-I airplanes. From there it was on to building model...

To Florida the Elite Way.(pilot's experience flying Murphy Aircraft Rebel Elite)
June 1, 2000... A long cross-country provides a good analysis of the Murphy Aircraft Rebel Elite. The need for a chariot to carry me to and from Lakeland, Florida's big spring fly-in where I could evaluate aircraft for upcoming articles prompted me to...

The Gull Report.(flying building Ultralight aircraft personal narratives)
June 1, 2000... We check out Earthstar and survey some Gull builders. In all of his 46 years, there's not much time that Mark Beierle hasn't been involved in flying. First it was watching and studying seagulls soaring effortlessly along a cliff. Then...

Let's Fly an Odyssey.(piloting the Earthstar Odyssey personal narrative)
June 1, 2000... A "big-airplane" pilot finds this two-seater easy and fun. I got a chance to fly the Earthstar Odyssey at Oshkosh on a gorgeous summer afternoon after a hard day of AirVenturing. Conditions were nearly ideal, with great visibility and...

Designing for laminar flow requires attention to some details.(aircraft remodeling)
June 1, 2000... The use of a laminar-flow airfoil can significantly reduce drag and increase the performance of an airplane. This drag reduction is attractive, particularly for airplanes intended for fast cross-country flying. In aerodynamics, as in all...

Quickie U.S.A.
June 1, 2000... The author flies his homebuilt across the United States in a single day. I felt like I needed a special project, something that would be fun, but that would also present a personal challenge. Earlier this year, I was involved with an...

The 100-hp engine comparison: Which is the fairest of them all?
June 1, 2000... We received an inquiry from a reader, Greg Jones, referring to an article in another magazine about using tuned exhausts for general aviation aircraft. His observation was that this technique has been around on autos for years, and he wonders...

A New Space Race.
June 1, 2000... Thanks to the X Prize, extraterrestrial travel for civilians may be closer than you think. The dream of flight from Icarus to the Wright brothers has been one of the greatest human ambitions. And for generations, we have dreamed of...

Getting the Spirit.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Volunteers build a "sculpture" for San Diego's airport. Ed McKellar, the recently retired director of the San Diego Aerospace Museum, started it all. In late 1997, he approached the woman in charge of deciding on artwork to be displayed...

Flight Test Short Course.(review of a seminar about testing homebuilt airplanes)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Ed Kolano's two-day seminar points would be test pilots in the right directions. What could be better than a room full of homebuilders bent on testing their own airplanes? How about this same group being coached through the process by...

Velocity service center opens in Florida.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Velocity, Inc., has announced the opening of a new builder service center at its home base in Sebastian, Florida, that will help customers finish their kits faster. Company President Duane Swing says that Velocity builders will now be able to...

Buying a Little Help.(airplane builders get technical support from Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft Inc.)
June 1, 2000... We began a series of articles last month on company-sponsored builder assist programs. An overview of FAA rules was there, including the intricacies of the major-portion (51%) rule and the clarification the FAA made in 1996 that said that...

Builders share their successes.(evaluations of three different airplane building kits)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2000... Ernie Stanley's Kitfox Model V This is my Kitfox Model V. I purchased the kit in December 1996 from an individual who could not build the plane. As I was not the original purchaser, I was not certain SkyStar would give me information and...

Check out this new and improved capacitive fuel gauge.(Column)
June 1, 2000... A decade ago I wrote an article on the theory and construction of fuel gauges. My homebrewed version appeared in the September '89 issue of KITPLANES[R]. We used metal capacitor plates in the fuel tank and some electronic gimcrackery to make...