Ken Scott

A homebuilt airplane can be built, as the name suggests, in the comfort of your own garage. (Photo courtesy of Justin Twilbeck)| As we all know, the cost of flying has increased tremendously over the past few decades, and today a factory new airplane is too expensive an option for many would-be airplane owners. While […]

Placing large loads onto small pins using an Erickson Air-Crane, a machine with 9,600 shaft horsepower and a 72-foot rotor, is a bit like threading a needle with a leaf blower. The key is the back-seat driver. Unique among helicopters, the Erickson Air-Crane has a third pilot’s seat, facing aft toward the tail rotor. An […]

The phone rang — it was my dad, and it was bad news. “I’m standing on the sand,” he said, using a phone borrowed from the resident of a Malibu beach house. “I’m looking up the hill and the fire’s heading right for our house. The guys fighting it on the ground can’t get in […]

Since this story was written, Daryl has become a private pilot, built his own RV-9A, and taken several lengthy trips in it. But there was a time when he was new and green… When our company sends its fleet of kitbuilt airplanes to the big fly-ins, we often take people from the office and shop. […]