Marc Cook

2 weeks ago | kitplanes.com | Marc Cook

Airplane design embodies a wide range of variables even before you consider how it is you’re going to build, sell, service and otherwise support the love child of your aeronautical genius. High on the list: You have to decide what it’s going to do, what is the main mission? To be a delightful handling device for pure aerial fun? To haul the whole family on trips?

3 weeks ago | kitplanes.com | Marc Cook

Artificial intelligence (AI) has succeeded in one thing if nothing else: dominating the tech headlines. If what you want is a regurgitation of factual-sounding information not so much strained through critical review as aggregated from every source (accurate as well as questionable), then AI may suffice for basic information gathering. But it’s also amazingly dumb in that it can’t seem to differentiate the published works of an actual expert from late-night internet flatulence of a prolific crank.

1 month ago | kitplanes.com | Marc Cook

CompAir designer Ron Lueck briefs us on the two CompAir models being shown at Sun ‘n Fun 2025. The piston-powered version, with a 350-hp twin-turbocharged Lycoming, has been seen before. But the newest iteration has a walter 601D on the nose and provides impressive cruise numbers in addition to room for six-plus people inside the cavernous interior. With a simple strutless cantilever wing and fixed gear, the CompAir 6.2 is meant to be easy to fly for its size.

1 month ago | kitplanes.com | Marc Cook

Dynon Avionics showed off its new Corgi electric servos designed for trim and other applications. Already flying in the Vashon Ranger, the Corgis are designed for Experimental and Light Sport application and use the familiar footprint of existing electric servos. Dynon also beefed up the wiring and “connectorized” the system, making it easier on the builder.

1 month ago | kitplanes.com | Marc Cook

VIDEO Ryan Edmark introduces the new AeroLEDS Nano strobe and position lights as well as the recently released SunBeam Equinox rectangular taxi and landing light at Sun ‘n Fun 2025. Marc Cook is a veteran special-interest journalist who started as a staffer at AOPA Pilot in the late 1980s. Marc has built two airplanes, an Aero Designs Pulsar XP and a Glasair Aviation Sportsman, and now owns a 180-hp, recently modernized GlaStar based in western Oregon.