Kitplanes magazine

[Bryan Cotton]

Does anybody else subscribe? I have not read the whole thing yet but looks like a fantastic issue. Lots of homebuilder shop stuff. I think their editorial staff is headed in the right direction.

[vigilant104]

I agree. The recent issues have had much more info on building tips and info of real use to homebuilders. I'm sure their reviews of new airplanes will still be a bit sugar-coated, but all in all I still think it is much better than it was. And, as it sits there on newsstands it also helps publicize homebuilt aviation to "the masses". Anything that gets the word out to a new generation is a good thing.

[MichaelFarley56]

I don't have an actual subscription (I should), but I pick up a copy of Kitplanes at the local book store nearly every month. I completly agree with you and Mark; the magazine is great! At this point I find it a lot more useful for homebuilders as compared to Sport Aviation. The senior publisher, Paul Dye, is an RV guy (RV-3, RV-8) so I assume we'll be hearing a lot more about RV's than anything else, but he's a great writer and was a NASA Shuttle Director, so I'm sure he's seeen some pretty cool stuff! I enjoyed his review on the Panther this month; it looks like a fun airplane!

[Sonerai13]

I've always had a love/hate relationship with Kitplanes. They do have some great "how-to" stuff in most issues, but in the past many of their articles have played fast and loose with the regulations, often highlighting something or some program that fell "outside the box" as far as regulations were concerned. I am hoping that Mr. Dye will keep a little better watch on what they feature and how they feature it with regard to what's actually legal and what's not.

[kmacht]

Wasn't exactly a stellar write-up back when they reviewed the Waiex. I remember that Sonex had some pretty stern words to say about Kitplanes at the time. I do agree that there seems to be alot of good how-to articles in there. I like the guy who does the electronics column. I probably won't build what he writes about but it is interesting to read how he goes about selecting components and the why behind each part of the project.

If you aren't signed up for it the monthly EAA experimener online magazine is pretty good as well.

Keith

[142YX]

I've always had a love/hate relationship with Kitplanes. They do have some great "how-to" stuff in most issues, but in the past many of their articles have played fast and loose with the regulations, often highlighting something or some program that fell "outside the box" as far as regulations were concerned. I am hoping that Mr. Dye will keep a little better watch on what they feature and how they feature it with regard to what's actually legal and what's not.

Can you give some examples of outside the box as far as regulations type stuff? I have never quite picked up on this.

[Sonerai13]

Can you give some examples of outside the box as far as regulations type stuff? I have never quite picked up on this.

Mostly my comments were directed at several features Kitplanes has run over the years on "builder assist" programs, most of which were actually pro builders who were knowingly or unknowingly circumventing both the spirit and the letter of the requirements for amateur builders to DO the major portion of the tasks. While I know that this type of thing has, is, and will continue to go on, I don't think publicizing or glorifying it does the homebuilt movement any good in the big picture.

Just my own $.02 US. As always, your mileage may vary.

Cheers!

[SvingenB]

I subscribe to Kitplanes, the digital issues. While it is the best magazine for homebuilding, it has some rather way off stuff. The last one had a large article about engines. When it came to ULPower the table about the engines was all guess work that went horrible bad. It was not based on any facts at all even though all the facts and figures about these engines are readily available on their web site.

[rbarber]

I have it on good authority that the April issue is going to be something extra cool...

Rob.
N157SX

[Bryan Cotton]

I will look for that. I have read more of the issue and saw the cool shop stuff was Maule Aircraft. It reminds me of how Schweizer used to be.