Experimental Aircraft / Homebuilts

Reading Ken Scott’s very sound advice to would-be homebuilders in Flying‘s May issue got me thinking about my own experiences, and how things have changed since I got involved in homebuilding. I started thinking about building an airplane around 1963. At that time there were no prefab kits on the market and only a limited […]

Sonex Aircraft has announced that it will make production slots available for its “personal jet,” the single-place SubSonex kitplane. Details on terms of the order process (price, deposits, schedule, refund policy, and so on) are expected to be released at the Sonex Homecoming and Open House Fly-in event, on Sunday, July 28. The event begins […]

Two teams of four high school students each have traveled to Arlington, Washington, for a very different form of summer camp. The eight campers won’t leave until they have built an airplane — at least to the stage where it will start its engine and taxi. Glasair’s “Two Weeks to Taxi” program is designed to […]

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 […]

The ailerons of my homebuilt aircraft, Melmoth 2, are quite similar to those of a 1918 Fokker D.8. You would think that a great deal might have changed in nine decades, but apparently not. Perhaps it’s true, if not in biology then at least in aviation, that “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” — that is, the development […]

Lancair announced a new kit pricing format for the Legacy two-place single, choosing an “all inclusive” model that includes everything needed to build one. The revised pricing is intended to take the guesswork out of budgeting and allow builders to better manage their time. The hope is that more kits become finished airplanes. The Legacy […]

From virtual flight to reality, eight students and their science teachers will travel to the Glasair factory to build a pair of Sportsman kit planes. The General Aviation Manufacturers Association is teaming with BuildAPlane to conduct a nationwide competition for the slots. Teams of students can compete by designing their own aircraft, using free “Fly […]

You may think an airplane as complex as the Evolution doesn’t belong in the amateur-built world. But for a company like Redmond, Oregon-based Lancair International, which has decades of experience producing complex airplane kits, the concept makes total sense. With the Evolution, Lancair has incorporated Part 23 certification procedures into its successful kit business to […]

Considering that kit airplanes often take many years to complete, if they ever do take to the skies, it is difficult to imagine that builders of an airplane as sophisticated as the Evolution can meet the 51 percent rule in a matter of months. What makes this possible is the simplicity of composite construction and […]

Just Aircraft out of Walhalla, South Carolina, is delivering a new short takeoff and landing version of its Highlander — the Highlander SuperStol. This new version has a modified wing design and new, beefier landing gear that allows the airplane to fly into short backcountry airstrips. Tundra tires up to 29 inches can be fitted […]