KITPLANES January 2025

SOME OF YOU may be surprised to see a tenth issue of KITPLANES come to you at the end of 2024. After planning to produce nine this year—the same as many of the other aviation titles in the Firecrown stable—it made sense to squeeze off this special issue that contains our annual kit- and plansbuilt aircraft buyer’s guide. Yes, we’ve done the guide, it seems, since Johannes Gutenberg started playing with movable type in about 1440. I admit that may be an exaggeration. Nevertheless, here we are, looking ahead to the aircraft kits and plans—for airplanes and rotorcraft—available for 2025. As ever, our guide stems from years of work behind the scenes to gather and update critical and often hard-to-find information. Every summer, we contact each manufacturer for updates—what are…

A LOT GOES INTO the decision to build an airplane. The choice often emerges after a long and involved search through a variety of sources (including KITPLANES’ annual buyer’s guide, which starts on Page 8) based on your requirements. For most prospective builders the choice of a design (or kit) is the culmination of years of desire for the perfect airplane, and the culmination of that search is the beginning of a long and rewarding (and sometimes, yes, frustrating) road to completion. Then again sometimes the project chooses you! Our latest project came more than a year after the completion of our previous airplane (the eXenos) and followed the observation from my wife that “You really need a project. You’ve been bouncing around that empty shop doing nothing for far…

WELCOME, ONCE AGAIN, to our annual kit- and plansbuilt-aircraft buyer’s guide. It’s literally the work of a team here at KITPLANES, an effort that begins in the summer and picks up speed rapidly once AirVenture closes and everyone (on the manufacturing side) has had a moment to take a breath and document what may have been introduced at the industry’s one big airshow. It’s been our experience that a lot of companies put all their effort into developing new or revised designs over the winter and spring, debuting their handiwork in Oshkosh—and then take some well-deserved vacation time! We hope to catch them back from a holiday, fresh and ready to go. With this guide, we strive to be the most thorough, accurate and detailed you will find. For starters,…

We hope the data for each aircraft in this guide is easy to understand. The small icons along the bottom of the picture signify, from left to right: number of seats (the number in the first circle), availability of kit components (a K in the second circle), availability of plans (a P in the third circle), availability of quickbuild components (a QB in the fourth circle) and LSA compliance (LSA in the last circle). Not all manufacturers provide all requested specifications (and in some cases a category doesn’t apply), so you’ll see either a dash (—) or an NA in the data fields.…

SINCE THIS IS OUR annual buyer’s guide issue, we thought it might be interesting to check in with a selection of our regulars to see what influenced their decision on what (and even when) to build. After all, the decision-making process is a complicated one—and very individual. Jon Croke: The ELSA Option Sometimes the decision to build transforms into a decision to buy instead. Choosing to purchase a secondhand, ready-to-fly Experimental airplane has some attractive benefits. Someone else has done all of the time-consuming construction work. You can inspect the workmanship or have someone else help you with that. If all goes well, that aircraft may be ready to fly away at a potentially great price. It is common for original builders to put their aircraft up for sale due…

I TELL PEOPLE ALL THE TIME that owning an aircraft is not really any more expensive than many other “hobbies.” Boats, motorcycles and recreational vehicles all cost money. And because all the activities cost money it’s a good idea to take a look at some of the costs of ownership and how to manage them. What are a few of the costs? Fuel, storage and things like engine and avionics reserve are important. But one of the biggest expenses in aircraft ownership is insurance. Not all states require insurance and not all owners buy insurance. But if you are one of those owners who is going to buy insurance there are a few things to think about before you finalize your aircraft purchase. In today’s market you might not be…