Dunnellon is in Marion County, not Ocala but the close proximity helps both. Under airport manager (and pilot) Mike Grawe's leadership through the last six years, X35 has become a thriving facility with energetic new businesses sprouting up.
What may be most important is the presence of new, younger businessmen entering affordable aviation. People like me with decades of experience fill a useful role but we're like disappearing airline captains. We'll be moving on and entry-level aviation needs fresh blood. X35 put out the welcome mat… and it's working.
Randy has taken over an existing operation, is preserving the originator's names 
These two new businesses join the veterans at X35 adding to the success Mike Grawe has been building.
Central-northwestern Florida and its fancy equestrian ranches exist alongside a vibrant 
If I’ve heard one lament repeatedly over a long career, it is that current pilots don’t see enough new pilots coming into aviation. Are you one who worries a little or a lot about that? If not, you are a rare pilot. Is it any wonder, though? The price of aircraft is way, way up. This applies to used aircraft and new — just like it does with your groceries or gasoline. The cost of maintenance is high and rising. Insurance is very expensive (for airplanes as well as cars or houses). Hangars are unavailable with years-long waiting lists at many airports. More than ever it can seem, aviation is an activity for those with fairly thick wallets. The squeeze on modest budgets has rarely been this demanding. Yeah, all that, but this website nonetheless discovers the affordable end of aviation. In that pursuit, I was drawn to an airport with an encouraging twist on the affordability squeeze play.
James came to aviation from the computer business, where the pace isn't fast — it's furious! Over the years Dave and I covered James and his output, we'd make a new video at every airshow, it seemed, as he had moved on from the last design to the next. That's what they do in the world of computers but it made pilots' heads spin.
It also probably slowed sales because, as with computers, why buy this airplane when the next one will be even better?
James founded Belite and began with ideas about carbon fiber tube airframes. It was a marvelous, modern, even exotic idea but it was quite unorthodox for most builders. Plus, in those days, carbon fiber was expensive and a Part 103 aircraft needed to be affordable.
James went on to variations on the theme changing so frequently that he produced few or none of the development models. While he may not have sold large numbers, his fast progress kept the curiosity of pilots sky high. He regularly drew crowds at events.
A caffein-stimulated fury of designs finally seemed to settle down when 
The pair is at an early stage of the development in this project. SkyKicker's website is in process. However, given a design that has already proven itself, and adding the high level of energy Nick and Charlotte are bringing to the task, I doubt it will be long before Chipper becomes a product on the market.
Until their business is fully established, you can contact them by 
The episode discussed how an Alaska pilot had repaired his aircraft after a bear attacked it and clawed the fabric covering in several places (see simulated bear claw). The pilot made repairs with — you guessed it! — duct tape, and flew home successfully.
To test this pilot's claim in their characteristic manner, the Myth Busters team got one of James' airplanes and covered every cloth surface using duct tape (genuine image, not Photoshopped). James successfully flew it for them, though "not very long and not very high."
The show generated so much interest that Belite's website crashed for a few hours.
Here's a fresh video about SkyKicker Aviation and their plans to return Chipper to production, recorded in late April 2024.
https://youtu.be/CqHpPJKEpq0
