KITPLANES The Independent Voice for Homebuilt Aviation

Van's RV-12

Van's Aircraft is coming to the Light Sport market with the RV-12 rather late. There are already 80-some approved Light Sport aircraft out there, but this is the first RV LSA--an airplane emerging from a clean sheet, sketched and thoroughly tested by the folks from arguably the most successful kit company ever.

The RV-12 is offered as an ELSA, meaning you put it together. Everything from hardware to wiring harness is in the box. No poring through catalogs and web pages to outfit your project. In fact, you cannot modify the airplane unless you opt to build your RV under the amateur-built rules rather than assemble it under the ELSA requirement.

Click Here for the full Table of Contents for the October 2008 Issue

Follow these links to visit the web sites of companies you read about in the October issue.

What's New
Air Gyro Aviation
QC Avionix
Trio Avionics

RV-12
Van's Aircraft

Lancair ES-P
Lancair

Build Your Skills: Fabric
SportAir Workshops
Stewart Systems

To Launch a Light Sport
Jabiru Pacific

Home Machinist
The Wright Experience

MGL Avionics Stratomaster Maxi Single E1
MGL Avionics
KS Avionics

VedaloHD Sunglasses
VedaloHD

Light Stuff
Eagle Aircraft

* * * View Reader Links from previous months:
Table of Contents and Reader's Links from December 2006 to Present

Other Aviation Publications
Aviation Consumer
Aviation Safety
AvWeb
IFR Magazine
IFR Refresher
Light Plane Maintenance

Pedal to the Metal (Sonex Waiex)
Waiex is for Y-Tail. We can see you fight the name with all those vowels hung together. Don't say "WAY-ex." Say " WHY-ex," and the name immediately makes sense. That may seem new, but, except for its namesake Y-shaped tail, everything else on the Waiex is identical to the Sonex model the company has sold since it began in 1998.

Final Inspection Checklist
There's no one way to get your plane registered and certified, and each inspector may do things a bit differently. I talked with Joe Gauthier of Cromwell, Connecticut, to get his perspective. Gauthier's credits include EAA Flight Advisor and Tech Counselor and, most significantly, FAA Amateur-Built Designated Airworthiness Representative (ABDAR).

Building a RotorWay 162F, Part 1
It was the spring of 1986, just a few months before I graduated from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Somehow after seeing a 1-inch ad in the back of Popular Mechanics and getting hooked on what seemed like a really cool idea, I skipped classes for the day, took a quick Southwest Airlines flight from Austin to Phoenix, and was now sitting on a RotorWay pad in a little two-seat helicopter that had, inhuge letters, the word experimental stenciled on it.

Headset Buyers Guide, Part 1
Passive noise reduction units under $200.

Headset Buyers Guide, Part 2
Passive noise reduction units over $200.

Headset Buyers Guide, Part 3
Active noise reduction units.

Fly-in Flying
Before you venture out to special events, take to prep.

The Safe Homebuilt
Take these tips into consideration when it comes to safe homebuilding and piloting.

Calculating Weight and Balance
This lazy man's guide removes some of the headaches.

Selling Your Aircraft
These tips will help you market your aircraft.

Selling Aircraft Documents
Prebuy Checklist, Purchase Agreement, Builders Release.

Metal Workshop Setup
Every great homebuilt starts with a comfortable and efficient workshop.

Engine Comparison
Selecting a good alternative engine is about separating fact from fiction.

Engine Spreadsheets
Here's the additional auto and aircraft engine data referred to in the Engine Comparison article.