KITPLANES

“LIFE ALWAYS BURSTS THE BOUNDARIES OF FORMULAS.”—ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY A Cub in the Stratosphere On October 28, 2025, the familiar backcountry shape of a Carbon Cub UL took on an utterly unfamiliar context, climbing skyward from the California coast on bush wheels and right out of the familiar domain of Super Cubs, past the oxygen-optional line and up into the flight levels in the company of airliners. Sixty-two minutes after takeoff, Jon Kotwicki leveled off at 37,609 feet—higher than most airline traffic, in a homebuilt bush plane, with ATC listening in bemused disbelief as the Cub checked in on the frequency. Jon’s summation of the flight: “The Cub flew really easy. We were outside the normal realm of operating parameters, so we were proceeding with caution. It was pretty dang…

THERE’S A FLY in MOSAIC’s ointment. A significant number of the country’s flight schools are not fully onboard with all of the FAA’s Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (MOSAIC) rules. The new regulations allow Sport pilots to fly a variety of single engine aircraft that they couldn’t before, but Sport pilots around the country report to Kitplanes that they’re being refused rental of legally applicable GA aircraft. Additionally, prospective Sport students say very few of the schools they’ve contacted are willing to train them even though it’s now easier for flight schools to do Sport instruction. It’s still a disappointing start for Sport aviation enthusiasts. Paul Hamilton, the operator of a flight school in Carson City, NV specializing in Sport Pilot training, says he’s not surprised at the slow start.…

“OH, HE (OR SHE) is just a natural pilot,” is a compliment often bestowed on someone who’s displayed impressive piloting skills. Can it be that certain individuals have been blessed with “bird blood” that courses through their veins, giving them the ability to fly an airplane ever so much more easily than we normal mortals? Of the hundreds of people I’ve guided toward their pilot certifications, not too many displayed such a natural ability to control the aircraft. Most of us learn our trade with painstaking practice, encountering plateaus of stubborn frustration until breaking up onto a higher level of competency. I am, after 65 years into a continuing education in the art, thought of as a capable pilot. But I have to work at it; as I’ve been known…

WHEN HAROLD Chapman first toured the Just Aircraft factory in Walhalla, South Carolina, in August 2019, he knew he had found something special. “I walked out of the plant and I told my wife, ‘I think I want to buy that company one day,’” Chapman recalled. Five years later, on April 18, 2025, that dream became reality when the manufacturing executive with 13 years of experience at Bosch took the reins of one of America’s most celebrated kit aircraft manufacturers. The acquisition opens a new chapter for a company that has shipped more than 850 kits worldwide since its founding in 2002, establishing itself as a dominant force in the short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft market. Under Chapman’s ownership, Just Aircraft continues to offer five (yes five) distinct models—Escapade,…

THE AUTOGYRO, with its unmistakable silhouette and ingenious simplicity, has long fascinated aviation enthusiasts. The concept attracted pilots interested in the idea of rotary-wing flight without the technical complexities and costs associated with the helicopter. Popular interest in the “gyrocopter” soared in the 1950s when Igor Bensen coined the term and introduced the Bensen B-8M. In1955, small ads for the Bensen Gyrocopter began appearing in popular magazines like Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Mechanics Illustrated, and Boy’s Life. Thousands of sets of plans for the machine were sold for $30. And kit builders bought thousands of Bensen B-8M kits from its introduction in 1955 into the 1970s. The B-8M designation set the model apart from the original B-8, an unpowered tow-launched gyro glider. Throughout their history, the gyrocopter—sometimes called “gyroplane” or…

A REMARKABLE HIGH SCHOOL aerospace program in Sandpoint, Idaho, reached a milestone that few youth aviation initiatives ever achieve—FAA airworthiness certification for not one, but two student-built aircraft. Now those planes have taken flight, piloted by a former student who helped build one of them. The morning of October 4, 2025, marked a turning point for the North Idaho High School Aerospace Program (NIHSAP). When the Federal Aviation Administration inspector signed off on airworthiness certificates for a Van’s RV-12 and a Zenith STOL CH 750, it validated years of Saturday morning labor by middle and high school students who’d gathered in rented hangars at Sandpoint Airport to rivet, buck, and wrench their way through two complete aircraft builds. But getting the FAA’s approval stamp was only half the story. The real…