TL;DR: Aviation records must survive for decades, but digital tools rarely do. The most resilient approach for a GA pilot with a single airplane is a hybrid model: keep paper as the master, scan everything important as a backup, and use a lightweight online dashboard for reminders, planning, and analysis. This gives you permanence without losing the benefits of modern tools—and keeps your aircraft’s history under your control, not locked inside a service that may not be around tomorrow.

TL;DR: A controller’s reminder about “procedure turn confusion” led me to build a Garmin Pilot IFR Checklist — a compact, quick-reference list of acronyms and rules we all tend to forget once the checkride is behind us. It’s designed for in-flight reference inside Garmin Pilot, covering items like IM SAFE, CRAFT, MARVELOUS VFR C500, SHARP TT, and more. A small effort for a big boost in proficiency.

TL;DR: Your airplane’s logbooks are more than paper—they’re proof. They certify your airworthiness, protect your wallet, and tell the story of your machine. Whether you fly a certified Cessna or a homebuilt Sling TSi, the same truth applies: if it’s not written, it didn’t happen. This post breaks down what the FAA actually requires, what good record-keeping looks like, and how to turn your logs from a regulatory chore into a mark of craftsmanship.

After nearly a year of research, conversations, spreadsheets, and the occasional late-night rabbit hole, it’s finally time to lock everything in. As the airplane transitions into the paint phase, every configuration choice—from engine to avionics, from parachute to visors—has been (hopefully!) finalized. This post serves as a consolidated reference of all the major and minor configuration decisions for N117ZS. Most of these choices have been discussed in detail in earlier posts, which are linked throughout.

Before there was Slingology blog, before the spreadsheets and the late-night option debates, there was this decision — 915iS or 916iS. When I ordered the kit in November 2024, this was the very first fork in the road. Everything else that followed — from the propeller choice to the intercooler layout — depended on this single, fundamental call. The Rotax 915iS was the proven workhorse: reliable, widespread, well-documented, and backed by tens of thousands of flight hours in the field.

TL;DR: Rotax’s iS-series engines were built for unleaded fuel, not 100LL. MOGAS keeps them cleaner and cheaper to maintain, but avgas is still what most U.S. airports pump. The smart move is to use MOGAS whenever possible and 100LL when you must—add Decalin, use semi-synthetic oil, and stick to 50-hour oil changes. Mixing a bit of 100LL with MOGAS can also reduce vapor-lock risk in hot weather.

When I first decided to build an airplane, I knew I was signing up for a technical challenge—but what I didn’t expect was finding a community that feels like aviation’s beating heart. That community is the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), a nonprofit that exists to promote and support recreational aviation. If you’ve ever been to AirVenture in Oshkosh, you’ve seen it in full color: thousands of aircraft, hundreds of thousands of visitors, and one unifying spirit—the idea that ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they share a passion for flight.

TL;DR: Designing your airplane’s paint scheme is one of the most rewarding parts of the build — and working with a professional studio like Evoke Aircraft Design brings structure, expertise, and precision to the process. In this post, I walk through how the process works, from defining a vision and iterating through renderings to finalizing a paint guide ready for the shop.

It’s been a week since my last visit to Torrance, and the team has been busy! The fuselage and firewall-forward areas are really starting to look like a finished airplane. There are now more oil and cooling hoses snaking their way around the Rotax 916iS, and much of the plumbing we worked on during the past few sessions has been finalized.

I was planning an IFR cross-country from Paine Field (KPAE) to Ellensburg (KELN). This is a trip I’ve flown before, threading across the Cascades into central Washington, but this time I wanted to plan it in Garmin Pilot instead of ForeFlight. Why? Because I recently made the switch. And because Ellensburg has a fun little quirk: an Obstacle Departure Procedure (ODP)

Since my last visit, the Torrance team kept humming along on the engine and cockpit structure. The brake lines are now tucked neatly under the floor skins, pushrods stretch aft to the tail, and more hoses snake their way around the engine bay. It’s the kind of quiet, behind-the-scenes progress that doesn’t make headlines but sets the stage for everything else.

TL;DR: Lead-acid batteries remain the low-cost, proven option: heavy, short-lived, and maintenance-prone, but simple and predictable. Lithium (LiFePO₄) batteries bring major advantages — lighter weight, stronger starts, stable voltage, and longer lifespan — at the price of higher upfront cost and reliance on electronics. The choice comes down to whether you value simplicity and price, or performance and efficiency. Batteries are the heart of a general aviation airplane’s electrical system.

TL;DR: I’m moving from ForeFlight to Garmin Pilot because it offers a cleaner, more ergonomic UI, genuinely rethought instrument charts (SmartCharts), better pricing without locking safety features behind the top tier, seamless Garmin avionics integration with valuable EIS data, and a company trajectory that feels focused on development rather than monetization. Every pilot has their loyalties: Lycoming vs. Rotax, nosewheel vs.

It’s been a week since my last build session in Torrance, and while the progress might not look as dramatic this time, a lot of detailed work took place—especially in the fuselage and firewall-forward area. Think of it as less “big leaps” and more “careful choreography.” During the week in between my visits, the Sling team focused on the elevator rigging…

I’ve just finished transcribing the latest Sling TSi POH revision 3.2 (2023-12-13) into Garmin Pilot. If you fly a Sling TSi and use Garmin Pilot on your mobile device, you can now drop the file straight into your app and have the full checklist at your fingertips. You probably will want to customize the checklist for your equipment and workflows.

After much deliberation (and a fair bit of back-and-forth with both spreadsheets and forum threads), I’ve decided to move forward with the Airmaster AP431HCTF constant speed propeller for my Sling TSi. I already walked through the technical debate in detail in an earlier post, but here’s the short version of why this decision makes sense for me: Modern vs. legacy solution…

First week at the Airplane Factory: complete. Walking into the factory on Monday morning felt a little surreal—this airplane I’ve been dreaming about wasn’t just an idea on a blog anymore, it was there, sitting in a hangar with its landing gear already bolted on and its fuselage gleaming in semi-finished form. The Sling quick-build kit does a lot of the heavy lifting: the fuselage comes mostly assembled, the wings are largely complete, and even some of the tricky parts—like the parachute cables and canopy frame—are already in place.

I’ve been talking about building my Sling TSi for months. I’ve picked avionics, argued with myself over propellers, and researched boost pumps at 1 am. Now, finally, the day is almost here—on August 18th, the build officially begins at The Airplane Factory in Torrance, California. And here’s a little twist I didn’t expect: my airplane kit has already made its YouTube debut.

TL;DR: The Sling TSi’s 12V system works, but a 24V setup — common in modern certified GA — would double electrical capacity, allow lighter wiring, and improve cold starts. It could make big loads like A/C or TKS easier to handle and reduce the need for an external alternator, but would require the 24V Rotax B-model and a few component changes.

TL;DR: The Sling TSi uses push‑pull rods for ailerons, elevator, and flaps, and steel cables for the rudder. This hybrid setup delivers crisp pitch and roll control while keeping the rudder light and easy to route. It needs less frequent adjustment than all‑cable systems but still requires careful inspection of rod ends, bearings, and cable tension. One of the first things I noticed when digging into the Sling TSi’s design is that it doesn’t stick to just one way of moving its control surfaces.

Flying is one of those passions you want to hold on to for as long as possible. But the reality for many of us—especially those with a few more hours in the logbook and years on the calendar—is that medical certification can become the biggest threat to staying in the left seat. That’s why the MOSAIC rule is more than just an interesting regulatory update for me.

TL;DR: The FAA’s MOSAIC rule isn’t just a regulatory update for Light Sport and Experimental aircraft—it’s a potential turning point for the General Aviation (GA) industry. From flight schools and aircraft manufacturers to insurance providers and weekend pilots, the ripple effects will be felt across every layer of GA. What follows is a detailed analysis of how the industry is likely to evolve, drawn from a longer white paper exploring the market, economic, and competitive implications of MOSAIC.

TL;DR: MOSAIC brings long-awaited changes for Experimental Amateur-Built (E-AB) aircraft—legalizing compensated instruction, allowing non-builders to earn a Repairman Certificate, and clarifying commercial use boundaries. These updates significantly improve the utility, resale value, and ecosystem around E-AB aircraft. Expect ripple effects in training, maintenance, and aircraft value. The E-AB World Before MOSAIC Before MOSAIC, E-AB aircraft lived in a regulatory gray zone.

TL;DR: The FAA just issued MOSAIC—Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification—a long-overdue overhaul of how we build, fly, and think about light aircraft. It expands Light Sport Aircraft limits, opens new doors for Experimental Amateur-Built (E-AB) builders, and gives pilots more flexibility. It doesn’t fix everything, but it’s the most significant regulatory change in decades. In this series, I’ll walk through what it means for builders, the broader GA market, and folks like me who want to keep flying well into their 70s.

TL;DR: After months of configuration decisions, I’ve officially approved the final avionics panel for my Sling TSi. Designed and built by the talented team at Midwest Panel Builders, this setup brings together modern ergonomics, crisp integration, and future-facing flexibility. Here’s a guided tour of what’s on the panel—and why I think it’s the functional, ergonomic, and elegant. Already covered: