The homebuilt community has a couple of hidden gems. They really shouldn't be hidden, but it seems that they are. These gems are the EAA Technical Counselor and Flight Advisor programs. These 100 percent volunteer programs have helped thousands of amateur builders do a better and, more importantly, safer job of building, testing, and flying their homebuilts. The Federal Aviation Administration recognizes these programs as enhancements to homebuilt safety and mentions the programs in its advisory circulars and other guidance materials related to amateur-built aircraft.  Read more

History can tell one a lot…about successes and failures. Looking back through my editorials of the past, the "Homebuilder's Corner" that appeared in March 1963 issue of Sport Aviation relative to the EAA Airplane Design Contest brought great interest in our desire to promote free thinking and innovation that could improve light plane development.

The all-wood Pete Bowers Fly Baby took first place; many were built, and some are still flying, and the process of freedom of thought, with hands and mind, has continued our progress. One only has to look at the variety of creations that mark the grounds at your EAA Oshkosh convention each year.

But more is needed in the development of powerplants for these machines of flight. Can EAA of today lead the effort? When I view the NASCAR races, these earthbound vehicles roaring around the tracks at speeds of 180 to 200 mph for hours with few powerplant failures, I not only admire the drivers, but most importantly the craftsmen who with their skills and knowledge build and craft these powerplants. Their talent would be very valuable to our movement. There is a need for reasonable, reliable powerplants that could enhance aviation and, in particular, our movement. Are EAAers up to the task?
  - Paul Poberezny

Along with the rest of the team that puts this e-newsletter together, I’m really proud of the amount of positive comments we’re receiving. This tells us we are heading in the right direction. The amount and the quality of article suggestions we’re receiving are staggering as well, but it will be a tough bill to fill without some serious help from our readers. I’m finding a trend among the Internet savvy; those who in the past would have submitted an article to their favorite aviation publication or type club newsletter are forgoing that step in favor of publishing a web page or posting to their favorite e-mail group.

In either event, print publications and e-newsletters such as Experimenter suffer the consequences by having to search out or otherwise create articles of interest to publish rather than receiving those gems some of you are keeping to yourselves. This lack of submissions may be one reasons for less homebuilding content appearing in these publications.

With that, I ask that you not consider EAA headquarters and/or its publications as the end-all-be-all source of experimental aviation information, but rather a repository for sharing your ideas and submissions. In other words, don’t just sit back and wait for us to find and create what it is you want to read, but rather please let us know what you are doing. By sharing your stories, we will all get to read what our fellow members are doing. That’s where experimental aviation really happens—in our garages, our hangars, our basements—not at the editor’s desk.

So next time you feel the need to update your website or send that killer progress report to your favorite e-mail group (be it positive or negative), please consider sending it to me, too, for inclusion in Experimenter.